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<p><a href="" type="internal">Larry Bruce</a>&#160;|&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Shutterstock.com</a></p>
<p />
<p>Fifteen years ago on 9/11, Al Qaeda terrorists changed the course of history, and the consequences of what happened on that day are still very much with us, and are arguably even growing more complex and more dangerous.</p>
<p>On 11 September 2001, 19 young Arab militants affiliated to Al Qaeda who had received rudimentary flying instruction in the United States hijacked and flew two passenger aircraft at the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one at the Pentagon in Washington and another aircraft was allegedly also flying towards the White House or the Capitol but it was brought down before it reached its target.</p>
<p>Nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed as the result of those terrorist outrages. In response, America launched the “War on Terror” that has killed upward of a million people, destroyed many Middle Eastern countries, ruined the lives of tens of millions, killed nearly 7,000 US troops and injured another 50,000, and has cost the United States a staggering six trillion dollars.</p>
<p>This was the first time in US history that the American mainland had been attacked after the British troops had set fire to the White House in 1814 during the war between the United States and England. Even during the Second World War the continental United States did not receive any direct attacks, and the closest that the Japanese got was to attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.</p>
<p>Of course, during the past few decades there have been numerous terrorist attacks on the US and other targets, the most notable being the attack carried out by Timothy McVeigh on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which claimed 168 lives and left over 800 people injured. McVeigh too had religious motivations for his attacks.</p>
<p>He was a religious fanatic and a follower of David Koresh, and he bombed the federal building on the anniversary of the destruction of the Branch Davidian camp in Waco by federal forces, as the result of which Koresh, 54 other adults and 21 children were burnt alive</p>
<p>One can think of the massacre of close to a million Tutsis and Hutus in Burundi and Rwanda. A Human Rights Watch analysis estimated that 77% of the Tutsi population of Rwanda was slaughtered in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.</p>
<p>Apart from the initial slaughter of hundreds of Palestinians and the ethnic cleansing of nearly 70% of the Palestinian population in 1948, we had the slaughter of as many as 3,500 Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila Camps in Lebanon by the Christian Phalangists between the 15 and 16 September 1982, under the supervision of the invading Israeli forces led by Ariel Sharon.</p>
<p>However, the 9/11 attacks have assumed a significance far greater than all other terrorist acts in the world.</p>
<p>Most Americans believe that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were unprovoked and came out of the blue. However, a quick glance at the history of American military involvement in the Middle East shows that many Muslims in the Middle East had been on the receiving end of many violent American invasions and attacks.</p>
<p>To name just a few, during the First Persian Gulf War, (2 August 1990&#160;– 28 February 1991), codenamed&#160;“Operation Desert Shield”, more than 100,000 sorties were flown dropping 88,500 tons of bombs, many against Iraqi targets not only in Kuwait but in Baghdad. Between 20,000 and 26,000 Iraqi military personnel were killed and 75,000 others were wounded, and there were at least 3,500 civilian fatalities from bombing.</p>
<p>Apart from the attack on a bunker in Amiriyah, causing the deaths of 408 Iraqi civilians who were in the shelter, there was the attack on the fleeing Iraqis between Kuwait and Basra (known as Highway of Death), when between 1,400 and 2,000 vehicles were hit and up to 10,000 soldiers and civilians were killed.</p>
<p>The U.S. soldiers who bombed Iraqi forces even after they had surrendered on the field of battle in Operation Desert Storm laughed about their actions, calling the strafing “a turkey shoot,” and likening it to “shooting fish in a barrel.” As one American officer put it: “It’s the biggest Fourth of July show you’ve ever seen. And to see those tanks just ‘boom,’ and more stuff keeps spewing out of them … it’s wonderful.”</p>
<p>There was an earlier 9/11, namely the US-supported coup in Chile and the bombing of La Moneda on 11 September 1973. President Richard Nixon had ordered economic warfare against the elected Socialist President Salvador Allende, culminating in a military coup led by army chief, Augusto Pinochet. Tens of thousands of people were arrested during the coup, many hundreds were detained, questioned, tortured and in some cases murdered.</p>
<p>It is important to remember that the CIA played a significant role in the creation of the Mujahedin fighters, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. When Soviet forces attacked Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States and her regional allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, created, trained and armed the Mujahedin (Holy Warriors) to fight against Russian forces.</p>
<p>The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted for ten years with some 14.453 Soviet forces killed and tens of thousands wounded. Between one and a half and two million Afghans were also killed. There were two million internally displaced persons and another five million became refugees in Iran and Pakistan, and the country was devastated.</p>
<p>In addition to the Afghan Mujahedin, a large number of Muslim militants from neighboring Arab countries were also organized and sent to Afghanistan to join the fight against Soviet forces.</p>
<p>Osama bin Laden, a member of a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, became a prominent organizer and financier of those foreign volunteers, with enormous assistance from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and tacit support from the United States. Under the CIA’s “Operation Cyclone”,&#160;from 1979 to 1989, the United States and Saudi Arabia&#160;provided $40 billion worth of financial aid and weapons to almost 100,000 Mujahidin and “Afghan Arabs” through Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence.</p>
<p>After the defeat and withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden turned his attention to the other superpower, the United States, with the aim of allegedly freeing Muslim lands from Western occupation. In a message issued on 23 February 1998, announcing his intention to fight against what he called “the crusader armies”, bin Laden complained: “…despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded one million… despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation. So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.”</p>
<p>Of course, what Osama bin Laden said was morally reprehensible. At the same time, many militant Muslims find some remarks by Western politicians equally worrisome and insensitive. For instance, when the then Secretary of State Madeline Albright was asked on camera if the death of half a million Iraqi children as the result of the sanctions had been worth it, her response was an emphatic “it was worth it.”</p>
<p>The aim of referring to other atrocities apart from 9/11 is not to belittle its significance, but merely to point out that it was not the only terrorist or violent act in the course of recent history. It is also to point out that the “War on Terror” was not the best way of dealing with an event, which was merely a criminal act carried out by a few deranged fanatics.</p>
<p>After all, Osama bin Laden had said that one of his main aims was to lure American forces to wars in the Middle East so that they could bleed in the same way that Soviet forces had bled. Unfortunately, President George W. Bush fell into that trap.</p>
<p>Joel Beinin, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Stanford University, was criticized for anti-American remarks when he simply said: “If Osama bin Laden is confirmed to be behind the attacks, the United States should bring him before an international tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity.”</p>
<p>Had Osama bin Laden been treated as a violent criminal, and had he been tried and brought to justice instead of President Bush launching a “War on Terror”, he would have been exposed and condemned in the eyes of his supporters, millions of lives and trillions of dollars would have been saved and the world would not be facing the intensified scourge of terrorism that has been mainly an outcome of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Of course, it is not possible to set the clock back, but we can only contemplate what could have been if a different course had been pursued, and also we can learn a lesson about the fight against terrorism in the future. After all, ideas, even distorted and extremist ideas, cannot be bombed away.</p>
<p>The only way to fight against them is to hold a dialogue, educate and enlighten the fanatics, and above all to hold fast to our principles. And most importantly, to understand why people become terrorists in the first place and do something about the reasons they do, if we can.</p>
<p>What will defeat the terrorists is adherence to law, freedom, democracy and a society that accommodates all the different voices.</p>
<p>As Mike Lofgren stated in his book <a href="" type="internal">The Deep State</a>, ”The tangled, millennia-old story of Syria and Iraq or Afghanistan, or the complex ethnic hatreds of the Balkans vanish before a few sonorous phrases like ‘regime change,’ ‘responsibility to protect,’ or ‘humanitarian intervention.’ This mind-set leads to predictable disasters from which the political establishment never learns the appropriate lessons.”</p>
<p>If we wish to avoid further disasters we must learn the appropriate lessons from our mistakes.</p> | true | 4 | larry bruce160160 shutterstockcom fifteen years ago 911 al qaeda terrorists changed course history consequences happened day still much us arguably even growing complex dangerous 11 september 2001 19 young arab militants affiliated al qaeda received rudimentary flying instruction united states hijacked flew two passenger aircraft twin towers world trade center new york one pentagon washington another aircraft allegedly also flying towards white house capitol brought reached target nearly 3000 innocent people killed result terrorist outrages response america launched war terror killed upward million people destroyed many middle eastern countries ruined lives tens millions killed nearly 7000 us troops injured another 50000 cost united states staggering six trillion dollars first time us history american mainland attacked british troops set fire white house 1814 war united states england even second world war continental united states receive direct attacks closest japanese got attack us naval base pearl harbour hawaii december 7 1941 course past decades numerous terrorist attacks us targets notable attack carried timothy mcveigh alfred p murrah federal building oklahoma city claimed 168 lives left 800 people injured mcveigh religious motivations attacks religious fanatic follower david koresh bombed federal building anniversary destruction branch davidian camp waco federal forces result koresh 54 adults 21 children burnt alive one think massacre close million tutsis hutus burundi rwanda human rights watch analysis estimated 77 tutsi population rwanda slaughtered rwandan genocide 1994 apart initial slaughter hundreds palestinians ethnic cleansing nearly 70 palestinian population 1948 slaughter many 3500 palestinian refugees sabra shatila camps lebanon christian phalangists 15 16 september 1982 supervision invading israeli forces led ariel sharon however 911 attacks assumed significance far greater terrorist acts world americans believe terrorist attacks 911 unprovoked came blue however quick glance history american military involvement middle east shows many muslims middle east receiving end many violent american invasions attacks name first persian gulf war 2 august 1990160 28 february 1991 codenamed160operation desert shield 100000 sorties flown dropping 88500 tons bombs many iraqi targets kuwait baghdad 20000 26000 iraqi military personnel killed 75000 others wounded least 3500 civilian fatalities bombing apart attack bunker amiriyah causing deaths 408 iraqi civilians shelter attack fleeing iraqis kuwait basra known highway death 1400 2000 vehicles hit 10000 soldiers civilians killed us soldiers bombed iraqi forces even surrendered field battle operation desert storm laughed actions calling strafing turkey shoot likening shooting fish barrel one american officer put biggest fourth july show youve ever seen see tanks boom stuff keeps spewing wonderful earlier 911 namely ussupported coup chile bombing la moneda 11 september 1973 president richard nixon ordered economic warfare elected socialist president salvador allende culminating military coup led army chief augusto pinochet tens thousands people arrested coup many hundreds detained questioned tortured cases murdered important remember cia played significant role creation mujahedin fighters taliban al qaeda afghanistan soviet forces attacked afghanistan december 1979 united states regional allies saudi arabia pakistan created trained armed mujahedin holy warriors fight russian forces soviet war afghanistan lasted ten years 14453 soviet forces killed tens thousands wounded one half two million afghans also killed two million internally displaced persons another five million became refugees iran pakistan country devastated addition afghan mujahedin large number muslim militants neighboring arab countries also organized sent afghanistan join fight soviet forces osama bin laden member wealthy family saudi arabia became prominent organizer financier foreign volunteers enormous assistance saudi arabia pakistan tacit support united states cias operation cyclone160from 1979 1989 united states saudi arabia160provided 40 billion worth financial aid weapons almost 100000 mujahidin afghan arabs pakistans interservice intelligence defeat withdrawal soviet forces afghanistan osama bin laden turned attention superpower united states aim allegedly freeing muslim lands western occupation message issued 23 february 1998 announcing intention fight called crusader armies bin laden complained despite great devastation inflicted iraqi people crusaderzionist alliance despite huge number killed exceeded one million despite americans trying repeat horrific massacres though content protracted blockade imposed ferocious war fragmentation devastation come annihilate left people humiliate muslim neighbors course osama bin laden said morally reprehensible time many militant muslims find remarks western politicians equally worrisome insensitive instance secretary state madeline albright asked camera death half million iraqi children result sanctions worth response emphatic worth aim referring atrocities apart 911 belittle significance merely point terrorist violent act course recent history also point war terror best way dealing event merely criminal act carried deranged fanatics osama bin laden said one main aims lure american forces wars middle east could bleed way soviet forces bled unfortunately president george w bush fell trap joel beinin professor middle eastern history stanford university criticized antiamerican remarks simply said osama bin laden confirmed behind attacks united states bring international tribunal charges crimes humanity osama bin laden treated violent criminal tried brought justice instead president bush launching war terror would exposed condemned eyes supporters millions lives trillions dollars would saved world would facing intensified scourge terrorism mainly outcome invasions iraq afghanistan course possible set clock back contemplate could different course pursued also learn lesson fight terrorism future ideas even distorted extremist ideas bombed away way fight hold dialogue educate enlighten fanatics hold fast principles importantly understand people become terrorists first place something reasons defeat terrorists adherence law freedom democracy society accommodates different voices mike lofgren stated book deep state tangled millenniaold story syria iraq afghanistan complex ethnic hatreds balkans vanish sonorous phrases like regime change responsibility protect humanitarian intervention mindset leads predictable disasters political establishment never learns appropriate lessons wish avoid disasters must learn appropriate lessons mistakes | 903 |
<p>Not only did conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard lose the election last Saturday, he may have lost his seat as well.</p>
<p>Labor now controls all nine Australian governments: State, Territory and federal.</p>
<p>Industrial relations was the key issue in the election.</p>
<p>Years of campaigning against the anti-Aboriginal and xenophobic racism of the conservative Coalition of the Liberal and National Parties turned what had been their most effective political tool into a liability.</p>
<p>The Australian union movement has been successfully mobilizing against the Government since over its 2005 legislation that dramatically undermined workers’ rights to organize and forced them onto individual contracts. The new law banned ‘pattern bargaining’ (industry-wide campaigns) and deciding on industrial action at mass meetings. It restricted union officials’ access to members at work and abolished the prohibition of unfair dismissals.</p>
<p>The conservatives’ last, desperate racist maneuver was the distribution in one marginal electorate of a fake leaflet from a non-existent Muslim organization, which endorsed the Labor Party because it supposedly forgave the Islamist bombers who killed many Australians visiting Bali in 2003 and supported the construction of a new mosque.</p>
<p>A member of the State Liberal Party council and the husbands of the retiring Liberal member and the Liberal candidate were caught stuffing the flyer into letterboxes three days before the election.</p>
<p>Since before it won office at the federal level in 1996, the Coalition has drawn on and reinforced widespread racism in Australia to boost its popularity. In the 1996 and 1998 election campaigns, it attacked the land rights and organizations of Indigenous Australians. Invasion, genocidal policies and ongoing racism mean that Aborigines live 17 years less than other Australians, suffer far worse health_not matched by government expenditure on health services for them_have fewer years in formal education and are many times more likely to be imprisoned and unemployed.</p>
<p>The Howard government legislated to restrict new Aboriginal land rights granted by the High Court. It abolished the elected, peak Indigenous representative body and many specialized services run for and by Aborigines. In June 2007, it intervened to seize control of Aboriginal land and organizations in the Northern Territory, and limited the right of Indigenous Australians there to decide on what they spent their welfare payments.</p>
<p>In 2000 hundreds of thousands marched in favor of reconciliation between Aboriginal and other Australians, after Howard refused to apologize for the history of racist policies. Even though the Labor opposition endorsed the Northern Territory intervention, there were substantial protests against it earlier this year.</p>
<p>After intensifying the previous Labor government’s policy of locking up refugees who arrived in Australia on leaky boats in concentration camps, the Coalition Government whipped up paranoia about them to win the 2001 election. Scandals in the detention system, including the deportation of a citizen, and especially the growing refugee solidarity movement forced it to soften its policies in 2005.</p>
<p>So the conservatives started to explicitly target Muslims. Australia’s participation in the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and carefully crafted, but implicit messages from the Government had already reinforced anti-Muslim prejudices. Commenting on mob violence against Muslims and Arabs in the Sydney beach-side suburb of Cronulla in late 2005, Howard denied that there was ‘underlying racism in this country’.</p>
<p>But a majority of people in Australia now oppose not only involvement in Iraq but also in Afghanistan. While Labor has promised to bring the troops home from Iraq, the new Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will keep Australian forces in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The Government’s attempts to use race in the run up to the election fell flat. People were not impressed by a new citizenship test, supposedly about ‘Australian values’, that amounts to a quiz on Australian history and sport.</p>
<p>Mohamed Haneef, an Indian doctor working in Australia, was targeted because he was the cousin of one of the people involved in the terrorist attacks in the UK at the end of June. The trumped up case against him fell apart.</p>
<p>In October the Immigration Minister announced that he had cut the intake of the mostly Christian refugees from Sudan because they weren’t integrating. This may have played well with convinced racists, but did not strike a chord with wider sections of the electorate.</p>
<p>The return of class issues</p>
<p>Australia has not had a recession since the early 1990s. The economy has been particularly buoyed by mining exports to China. Average real wages have been rising for years and unemployment is below five percent. These factors, largely beyond the Government’s control, helped keep Howard in office for years.</p>
<p>Yet he has failed to live up to his 1996 claim that he would make Australians ‘comfortable and relaxed’.</p>
<p>While the labor market is tight, most job growth under the Coalition has been in casual and part-time work. The conservatives’ industrial relations policies have led to declining job security and a vast growth in the amount of unpaid overtime. Meanwhile, inequality has increased, profits rates have climbed and managerial salaries have soared.</p>
<p>Levels of household indebtedness are high. Howard won the 2004 election on the promise that only he could keep interest rates on home loans down. But, in response to rising inflation, the Reserve Bank increased official rates several times this year. The latest rise occurred during the election campaign.</p>
<p>Concerns about debt have intersected with worries about work.</p>
<p>Levels of strike action in Australia are at their lowest levels since before World War I, while trade union density has been falling for thirty years. Yet, even before the introduction of the Government’s ‘WorkChoices’ legislation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions organized large rallies. These continued and expanded after the law was passed. Some participants stopped work to attend what were the largest union demonstrations in Australian history.</p>
<p>Early this year the ACTU campaign shifted from mobilizing unionists in direct action to election campaigning. Its slogan changed from ‘Your rights at work: worth fighting for’ to ‘Your rights at work: worth voting for’. Most union leaders even fell in behind the Labor Party’s very weak industrial relations policy, dubbed ‘WorkChoices Lite’ because it promised not to repeal the conservatives’ fundamental attacks on union rights.</p>
<p>Although Howard has been defeated on a class issue, the Australian Labor Party today is more right wing, its connections with the working class weaker than ever before.</p>
<p>Rudd (accurately) describes himself as ‘an economic conservative’. He has promised to ‘take a meat axe’ to the public service, is committed to the US alliance, to keeping troops in Afghanistan and endorses Australian imperialism in south-east Asia and the Pacific. Unions are still affiliated with the ALP, but the influence of union officials in the Party has declined and its working class membership is residual.</p>
<p>It is symptomatic that Rudd was himself a very senior public servant and consultant before entering parliament, while his wife’s business earned her millions selling employment services which had been contracted out by the Coalition Government.</p>
<p>Australian workers will lose out if they rely on the good will of the Rudd Government. Events during the election campaign indicated that preparedness to act in their own interests can achieve results. Nurses in Victoria took militant, illegal and successful action, that shut down many hospital beds, against the State Labor Government over wages and conditions. Three days before the election, ten thousand Victorian teachers struck over their claims.</p>
<p>If other workers, their self-confidence boosted by Howard’s defeat, follow this lead they will not only improve their lives at work but also rebuild the union movement. RICK KUHN is a member of Socialist Alternative and a reader in political science at the Australian National University. He won the 2007 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize for his Henryk Grossman and the recovery of Marxism. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:Rick.Kuhn@anu.edu.au" type="external">Rick.Kuhn@anu.edu.au</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | conservative australian prime minister john howard lose election last saturday may lost seat well labor controls nine australian governments state territory federal industrial relations key issue election years campaigning antiaboriginal xenophobic racism conservative coalition liberal national parties turned effective political tool liability australian union movement successfully mobilizing government since 2005 legislation dramatically undermined workers rights organize forced onto individual contracts new law banned pattern bargaining industrywide campaigns deciding industrial action mass meetings restricted union officials access members work abolished prohibition unfair dismissals conservatives last desperate racist maneuver distribution one marginal electorate fake leaflet nonexistent muslim organization endorsed labor party supposedly forgave islamist bombers killed many australians visiting bali 2003 supported construction new mosque member state liberal party council husbands retiring liberal member liberal candidate caught stuffing flyer letterboxes three days election since office federal level 1996 coalition drawn reinforced widespread racism australia boost popularity 1996 1998 election campaigns attacked land rights organizations indigenous australians invasion genocidal policies ongoing racism mean aborigines live 17 years less australians suffer far worse health_not matched government expenditure health services them_have fewer years formal education many times likely imprisoned unemployed howard government legislated restrict new aboriginal land rights granted high court abolished elected peak indigenous representative body many specialized services run aborigines june 2007 intervened seize control aboriginal land organizations northern territory limited right indigenous australians decide spent welfare payments 2000 hundreds thousands marched favor reconciliation aboriginal australians howard refused apologize history racist policies even though labor opposition endorsed northern territory intervention substantial protests earlier year intensifying previous labor governments policy locking refugees arrived australia leaky boats concentration camps coalition government whipped paranoia win 2001 election scandals detention system including deportation citizen especially growing refugee solidarity movement forced soften policies 2005 conservatives started explicitly target muslims australias participation invasions occupations afghanistan iraq carefully crafted implicit messages government already reinforced antimuslim prejudices commenting mob violence muslims arabs sydney beachside suburb cronulla late 2005 howard denied underlying racism country majority people australia oppose involvement iraq also afghanistan labor promised bring troops home iraq new labor prime minister kevin rudd keep australian forces afghanistan governments attempts use race run election fell flat people impressed new citizenship test supposedly australian values amounts quiz australian history sport mohamed haneef indian doctor working australia targeted cousin one people involved terrorist attacks uk end june trumped case fell apart october immigration minister announced cut intake mostly christian refugees sudan werent integrating may played well convinced racists strike chord wider sections electorate return class issues australia recession since early 1990s economy particularly buoyed mining exports china average real wages rising years unemployment five percent factors largely beyond governments control helped keep howard office years yet failed live 1996 claim would make australians comfortable relaxed labor market tight job growth coalition casual parttime work conservatives industrial relations policies led declining job security vast growth amount unpaid overtime meanwhile inequality increased profits rates climbed managerial salaries soared levels household indebtedness high howard 2004 election promise could keep interest rates home loans response rising inflation reserve bank increased official rates several times year latest rise occurred election campaign concerns debt intersected worries work levels strike action australia lowest levels since world war trade union density falling thirty years yet even introduction governments workchoices legislation australian council trade unions organized large rallies continued expanded law passed participants stopped work attend largest union demonstrations australian history early year actu campaign shifted mobilizing unionists direct action election campaigning slogan changed rights work worth fighting rights work worth voting union leaders even fell behind labor partys weak industrial relations policy dubbed workchoices lite promised repeal conservatives fundamental attacks union rights although howard defeated class issue australian labor party today right wing connections working class weaker ever rudd accurately describes economic conservative promised take meat axe public service committed us alliance keeping troops afghanistan endorses australian imperialism southeast asia pacific unions still affiliated alp influence union officials party declined working class membership residual symptomatic rudd senior public servant consultant entering parliament wifes business earned millions selling employment services contracted coalition government australian workers lose rely good rudd government events election campaign indicated preparedness act interests achieve results nurses victoria took militant illegal successful action shut many hospital beds state labor government wages conditions three days election ten thousand victorian teachers struck claims workers selfconfidence boosted howards defeat follow lead improve lives work also rebuild union movement rick kuhn member socialist alternative reader political science australian national university 2007 isaac tamara deutscher memorial prize henryk grossman recovery marxism reached rickkuhnanueduau 160 160 | 750 |
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/technology/ellen-pao-reddit-chief-executive-resignation.html" type="external">The resignation of Reddit CEO Ellen Pao</a> is terrible news for anyone interested in making the internet less toxic. After a month-long torrent of abuse that fixated on Pao’s race and gender stemming from her reforms to the site, gender advocacy, and the fact that the executive chair of the board&#160;fired a popular employee, Victoria Taylor, who managed the site’s well-known Ask Me Anything board, she’s decided to take her leave from the social media site.&#160;</p>
<p>At present, the more defensive, mostly male Redditors stress that sexism had nothing to do with their antipathy to Pao, only that she was “incompetent” — a fig leaf if there ever was one. No one has credibly demonstrated any incompetence on her part that merited such an aggressive outcry. The one bad decision many point to was Taylor’s firing. She was a prominent community manager, plugged into the Ask Me Anything (AMA) board, who served as a go-between for the celebrities the board often interviewed and the wider community. By all accounts she was skilled and well liked, and she was also unceremoniously sacked by Reddit co-founder and executive Alexis Ohanian.</p>
<p>Despite Ohanian’s <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/3cucye/an_old_team_at_reddit/csz2p3i" type="external">&#160;admission of his culpability here</a>, the <a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/07/13/former-reddit-ceo-alleges-co-founder-alexis-ohanian-fired-victoria-taylor-not-pao/" type="external">blame was laid at Pao’s door</a>. A Change.org petition that gathered over 200,000 signatures called for Pao’s resignation but never mentions Ohanian. To be sure, in any hierarchy the buck stops with the leader, but the context of recent weeks suggests that there was far more at work in the targeting of Pao.</p>
<p>Two issues, more than any other, set the stage for the scapegoating of Pao: her unsuccessful gender discrimination lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and her forthright anti-harassment initiatives on Reddit. Outspoken women, especially non-white women like Pao, are instant targets if they publicly acknowledge the existence of prejudice, worse still if they purport to do something about it. Even a cursory glance at the invective against Pao reveals deep-seated antipathy about the lawsuit, casting Pao as an evil money-grubber using feminist ideas to ruin peoples’ lives and mask her own incompetence. In other words, one of the most popular stock characters in the misogynist imagination.</p>
<p>“A vast majority of the Reddit community believes that Pao, ‘a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top’, has overstepped her boundaries and fears that she will run Reddit into the ground,” wrote the author(s) of the Change.org petition. While it may be too much to say that “a vast majority of the Reddit community” believed this, it’s a certainty that a majority of the vocal, swarming mob that attacked Pao believed it.</p>
<p>Then there was what many, myself included, hoped was the beginning of a new approach to harassment on Reddit. The site <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/10/reddit-bans-five-subreddits-harrassment-concerns" type="external">announced that it was formally banning five subreddits for fomenting targeted harassment</a> that spilled beyond the subreddits’ borders. This included the fat-shaming forum r/FatPeopleHate (which does what it says on the tin) and r/ShitNiggersSay. In a move that surprised no one, these particularly odious forums became martyrs for the cause of “free speech” on the site. Their closure, further, led to the cresting of misogynist and racist hatred for Pao — rape and death threats, as well as fantasies of violence, came pouring in, and the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=Chairman+Pao&amp;safe=off&amp;rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS438US438&amp;espv=2&amp;biw=1591&amp;bih=856&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=XqmhVYXBE4vq-AGhqq-AAQ&amp;ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ" type="external">“Chairman Pao”</a> meme was generated, which quickly cluttered the front page and even became its own subreddit, r/ChairmanPao.</p>
<p>Pictured: “Free speech” at work.</p>
<p>The front page was also flooded by partisans for r/FatPeopleHate, mocking anyone who was overweight, and also turning them into targeted attacks on Pao by photoshopping her head onto pornography and photos of obese people, as well as titling threads with epithets against Pao like “Saviour of the Ham Beasts” (see above) that demonstrated Reddit users’ unquestionable expertise in efficiently stated bigotry.</p>
<p>This is the “legitimate criticism” that some Redditors are now celebrating because “the great evil has been slain” by it, in the words of one commenter. In a moment that could only be described as the distilled essence of the site, the first Reddit commenter on the site’s post about Pao’s resignation was from a white supremacist named “DylanStormRoof” who wrote “Pao! Right in the kisser!” He was upvoted thousands of times before a vote war began on his comment due to the negative attention it received.</p>
<p>But make no mistake, the ones celebrating the hardest right now are those who have the most to gain from the continuation of Reddit’s toxic laissez faire policy on harassment and speech; <a href="http://gawker.com/how-reddit-became-a-worse-black-hole-of-violent-racism-1690505395" type="external">particularly the white supremacists who’ve made Reddit a home to rival sites like Stormfront</a>.</p>
<p>Draining the Swamp</p>
<p>This is the problem Pao was trying to address — and it’s an open question whether or not the changes she spearheaded are in jeopardy because of her departure. She understood, unlike the site’s founders, that Reddit’s problems were not confined to Reddit. The site’s toxic reputation was not merely the result of antagonistic reporting by morally-panicking outsiders, but rather because Reddit’s toxicity had mutated to the point where it routinely imposed itself on those far beyond the site’s bounds. It had become a breeding ground.</p>
<p>The feverish harassment of former BioWare game dev Jennifer Hepler began from rumors and escalating outrage ginned up in the r/Gaming subreddit after someone posted a then-six-year-old interview with her to the forum. The GamerGate movement-cum-harassment campaign, meanwhile, maintains a staging ground on the subreddit r/KotakuInAction, whose name is an homage to anti-feminist boards like r/TumblrInAction, both of which serve to organize and direct harassment at approved ideological targets. Meanwhile, the role of white supremacist boards in amplifying and deepening race hatred is increasingly well documented, and as the namesake of&#160;the first celebrant of Pao’s firing makes clear, such ideological indoctrination has consequences that go well beyond trolling on an internet message board.</p>
<p>Even if one ignored the site, as some of the site’s users claim we should, we still have to deal with its noxious output. It’s akin to&#160;telling malaria&#160;victims to simply&#160;ignore the swamp where all the pestilent mosquitoes are breeding. Solving the problem requires going to the source.</p>
<p>Pao was beginning the process of draining Reddit’s swamp. Many criticized the site for not going further (subreddits like r/CoonTown remain), but I was hopeful that the first wave of bans marked&#160;a tentative first step. Now, however, it’s quite clear that subreddits like that will be kept on because Reddit’s remaining <a href="https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman/status/619979351983919104" type="external">leadership believes they can be “quarantined.”</a> Even if this were so (it isn’t; the most toxic parts of websites come to define them, 4chan began its life as board for sharing anime images, after all), it boggles the mind that the vile nature of the content there is allowed to continue flying under the Reddit banner.</p>
<p>Worse, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/self/comments/3cudi0/resignation_thank_you/" type="external">Pao’s stated reasons for her resignation</a> were that “the board asked me to demonstrate higher user growth in the next six months than I believe I can deliver while maintaining reddit’s core principles.” Reading between the lines here, what this likely means is that she was under pressure to keep growing the site’s userbase while hewing to Reddit’s classic “free speech” ethos that prizes and shelters hatred and harassment. Pao’s strategy hitherto has been a sensible one: attract more users by making the site less toxic. Reddit is popular, but <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/11/reddit-is-not-the-front-page-of-the-internet.html" type="external">also overwhelmingly young, white, male, and hardly representative of the internet as a whole</a>. But now&#160;it seems the site will continue catering to the id of its entitled population and its exercise in amoral pseudodemocracy will continue.</p>
<p>Women’s Work</p>
<p>But there’s a final issue that needs to be addressed, and it involves former employee Victoria Taylor. Many revolting Redditors claimed to be attacking Pao in her name, but now seem to be quieting down after Pao’s departure. The site is down two talented women and Reddit’s revolters now seem to be quite content. Beyond that, however, is that one of the reasons that Taylor’s firing was so troublesome has entirely escaped discussion: community management is both a highly feminized profession in the tech industry and one of its least valued despite being incredibly important.</p>
<p>Redditors were not wrong to identify Taylor as a keystone to the site’s success. The work she did in coordinating the AMAs, keeping the uglier parts of the site at bay, and becoming part of the community herself, were all essential. Indeed, one could suggest that part of why she was so well liked was that she was one of the most visible and accessible members of Reddit’s otherwise aloof staff. This is not unusual for community moderators; swimming in the community is part of their job. What is also not unusual is that their work is dramatically undervalued and seen as expendable; they’re often the first to go when cuts are made.</p>
<p>The Redditors who use Taylor’s gender as a shield for their own misogyny will not acknowledge that one of the structural forces that made even a phenom like Taylor expendable was the institutional sexism that undervalues emotional labour as a professional skill.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the site&#160;has lost two dedicated, watchful women who were both forces for making the site less toxic and more productive. Each acted as a pair of sharp eyes for the rest of us, always on the lookout for ways to make the site better, rather than kowtowing to bullies and their bottomless entitlement. Neither prized those toxic users’ concerns as the bleeding edge of free speech. Both, from their respective offices, were trying to make Reddit’s vaunted community a positive place and <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/11/reddit-s-terrorists-have-won-ellen-pao-and-the-failure-to-rebrand-web-2-0.html" type="external">neither bought into the Silicon Valley ethos about “the wisdom of crowds.”</a> Communities need ideals and standards beyond the mere expectoration of accountability-free speech.</p>
<p>Instead, Redditors just set one of those watchmen ablaze and used the other as a cover for it; now they are celebrating the whole sordid affair&#160;and the rest of us must live in fear of what this mob will be allowed to do next.</p>
<p>Editorial Note:&#160;Added language that better reflects Alexis Ohanian’s position at Reddit.</p>
<p>Header image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</p> | true | 4 | resignation reddit ceo ellen pao terrible news anyone interested making internet less toxic monthlong torrent abuse fixated paos race gender stemming reforms site gender advocacy fact executive chair board160fired popular employee victoria taylor managed sites wellknown ask anything board shes decided take leave social media site160 present defensive mostly male redditors stress sexism nothing antipathy pao incompetent fig leaf ever one one credibly demonstrated incompetence part merited aggressive outcry one bad decision many point taylors firing prominent community manager plugged ask anything ama board served gobetween celebrities board often interviewed wider community accounts skilled well liked also unceremoniously sacked reddit cofounder executive alexis ohanian despite ohanians 160admission culpability blame laid paos door changeorg petition gathered 200000 signatures called paos resignation never mentions ohanian sure hierarchy buck stops leader context recent weeks suggests far work targeting pao two issues set stage scapegoating pao unsuccessful gender discrimination lawsuit venture capital firm kleiner perkins caufield byers forthright antiharassment initiatives reddit outspoken women especially nonwhite women like pao instant targets publicly acknowledge existence prejudice worse still purport something even cursory glance invective pao reveals deepseated antipathy lawsuit casting pao evil moneygrubber using feminist ideas ruin peoples lives mask incompetence words one popular stock characters misogynist imagination vast majority reddit community believes pao manipulative individual sue way top overstepped boundaries fears run reddit ground wrote authors changeorg petition may much say vast majority reddit community believed certainty majority vocal swarming mob attacked pao believed many included hoped beginning new approach harassment reddit site announced formally banning five subreddits fomenting targeted harassment spilled beyond subreddits borders included fatshaming forum rfatpeoplehate says tin rshitniggerssay move surprised one particularly odious forums became martyrs cause free speech site closure led cresting misogynist racist hatred pao rape death threats well fantasies violence came pouring chairman pao meme generated quickly cluttered front page even became subreddit rchairmanpao pictured free speech work front page also flooded partisans rfatpeoplehate mocking anyone overweight also turning targeted attacks pao photoshopping head onto pornography photos obese people well titling threads epithets pao like saviour ham beasts see demonstrated reddit users unquestionable expertise efficiently stated bigotry legitimate criticism redditors celebrating great evil slain words one commenter moment could described distilled essence site first reddit commenter sites post paos resignation white supremacist named dylanstormroof wrote pao right kisser upvoted thousands times vote war began comment due negative attention received make mistake ones celebrating hardest right gain continuation reddits toxic laissez faire policy harassment speech particularly white supremacists whove made reddit home rival sites like stormfront draining swamp problem pao trying address open question whether changes spearheaded jeopardy departure understood unlike sites founders reddits problems confined reddit sites toxic reputation merely result antagonistic reporting morallypanicking outsiders rather reddits toxicity mutated point routinely imposed far beyond sites bounds become breeding ground feverish harassment former bioware game dev jennifer hepler began rumors escalating outrage ginned rgaming subreddit someone posted thensixyearold interview forum gamergate movementcumharassment campaign meanwhile maintains staging ground subreddit rkotakuinaction whose name homage antifeminist boards like rtumblrinaction serve organize direct harassment approved ideological targets meanwhile role white supremacist boards amplifying deepening race hatred increasingly well documented namesake of160the first celebrant paos firing makes clear ideological indoctrination consequences go well beyond trolling internet message board even one ignored site sites users claim still deal noxious output akin to160telling malaria160victims simply160ignore swamp pestilent mosquitoes breeding solving problem requires going source pao beginning process draining reddits swamp many criticized site going subreddits like rcoontown remain hopeful first wave bans marked160a tentative first step however quite clear subreddits like kept reddits remaining leadership believes quarantined even isnt toxic parts websites come define 4chan began life board sharing anime images boggles mind vile nature content allowed continue flying reddit banner worse paos stated reasons resignation board asked demonstrate higher user growth next six months believe deliver maintaining reddits core principles reading lines likely means pressure keep growing sites userbase hewing reddits classic free speech ethos prizes shelters hatred harassment paos strategy hitherto sensible one attract users making site less toxic reddit popular also overwhelmingly young white male hardly representative internet whole now160it seems site continue catering id entitled population exercise amoral pseudodemocracy continue womens work theres final issue needs addressed involves former employee victoria taylor many revolting redditors claimed attacking pao name seem quieting paos departure site two talented women reddits revolters seem quite content beyond however one reasons taylors firing troublesome entirely escaped discussion community management highly feminized profession tech industry one least valued despite incredibly important redditors wrong identify taylor keystone sites success work coordinating amas keeping uglier parts site bay becoming part community essential indeed one could suggest part well liked one visible accessible members reddits otherwise aloof staff unusual community moderators swimming community part job also unusual work dramatically undervalued seen expendable theyre often first go cuts made redditors use taylors gender shield misogyny acknowledge one structural forces made even phenom like taylor expendable institutional sexism undervalues emotional labour professional skill meantime site160has lost two dedicated watchful women forces making site less toxic productive acted pair sharp eyes rest us always lookout ways make site better rather kowtowing bullies bottomless entitlement neither prized toxic users concerns bleeding edge free speech respective offices trying make reddits vaunted community positive place neither bought silicon valley ethos wisdom crowds communities need ideals standards beyond mere expectoration accountabilityfree speech instead redditors set one watchmen ablaze used cover celebrating whole sordid affair160and rest us must live fear mob allowed next editorial note160added language better reflects alexis ohanians position reddit header image credit justin sullivangetty images | 919 |
<p>PAJU, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a border village on April 27, the South announced Thursday, for a rare summit that could prove significant in global efforts to resolve the decades-long standoff over the North’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>The announcement was made after officials of the two countries met at the border village of Panmunjom. The Koreas plan to hold another preparatory meeting on April 4 to discuss security, protocol and media coverage issues, according to a statement released by the countries.</p>
<p>Leaders of the two Koreas have held talks only twice since the 1950-53 Korean War, in 2000 and 2007, under previous liberal governments in South Korea. The Korean Peninsula was divided in 1945 into a U.S.-dominated south and Soviet-backed north, which became sovereign nations three years later.</p>
<p>Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, one of three South Korean participants in Thursday’s talks, told reporters beforehand that setting up discussions between the leaders on the North’s nuclear disarmament would be a critical point.</p>
<p />
<p>After the meeting, Cho told South Korean reporters there was a “sufficient exchange of opinions” on the agenda for the summit, but didn’t provide a clear answer on whether discussions of the nuclear issue will be included.</p>
<p>“Both sides agreed to prepare for (the summit) in a way that would allow sincere and heartfelt discussions (between the leaders). If there’s a need, we decided to continue discussions on the summit agenda through follow-up high-level meetings in April,” Cho said.</p>
<p>“Both sides will continue working-level discussions (on the agenda) while focusing on the issues surrounding the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the stabilization of peace and the development of relations between the South and North.”</p>
<p>When asked whether such issues would shape the discussions between Kim and Moon, Cho said “Yes.”</p>
<p>The North’s three delegates were led by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of a state agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. The countries earlier this month agreed to hold a leaders’ summit on the southern side of the border village. Thursday’s meeting was held to determine the date and other issues.</p>
<p>After the meeting, Ri hailed the agreement on the summit, which he said provides “immense expectations and new hope for the entire nation that desires peace on the Korean Peninsula.” He called for officials from both countries to do their best to “perfectly secure the historic meeting between the leaders.”</p>
<p>The countries also agreed to hold a separate meeting to discuss communication issues, such as setting up a telephone hotline between Moon and Kim, and maintain working-level discussions, according to the statement.</p>
<p>The South’s delegation arrived in Panmunjom after their vehicles crossed the heavily guarded border near the southern city of Paju.</p>
<p>Greeting the South Korean officials at the North Korean-controlled Tongilgak building, Ri said the past 80 days have been filled with “unprecedented historic events” between the rivals, referring to the resumption of dialogue between the Koreas before the Winter Olympics in the South and the agreement to hold a summit.</p>
<p>Cho, in response, said officials should do their best to arrange a successful summit as the “current situation was created by decisions by the highest leaders of the North and South.”</p>
<p>The talks follow a surprise meeting this week between Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping which appeared to be aimed at improving both countries’ positions ahead of Kim’s planned summits with Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>In setting up separate talks with Beijing, Seoul, Washington, and potentially Moscow and Tokyo, North Korea may be moving to disrupt any united front among its negotiating counterparts. By reintroducing China, which is North Korea’s only major ally, as a major player, the North also gains leverage against South Korea and the United States, analysts say.</p>
<p>In his talks with Xi, Kim may have discussed economic cooperation or requested a softening of the enforcement of sanctions over the North’s nuclear weapons and missiles. North Korea also wants Beijing to resist tougher sanctions if the talks with Washington and Seoul fall apart and the North resumes testing missiles.</p>
<p>Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi is spending two days in Seoul briefing South Korean officials on the results of the talks between Kim and Xi. Yang met with presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong on Thursday and is to meet President Moon on Friday. Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, said in a statement that Seoul welcomes the meeting between Kim and Trump and called it an encouraging sign that Kim expressed a firm willingness to engage in dialogue with South Korea and the United States during his visit to Beijing.</p>
<p>“President Xi exchanged opinions with Kim Jong Un over a long period of time,” Yang said through a translator in his meeting with Chung. “We believe this meeting will prove helpful in solving the problems surrounding the Korean Peninsula through political discussions and agreements on the peninsula’s denuclearization and establishment of peace and security.”</p>
<p>Cho said there was no specific discussion of the Kim-Xi meeting during the talks at the border village.</p>
<p>North Korea has yet to officially confirm its interest in a summit between Kim and Trump. In its coverage of the Kim-Xi meeting, the North’s state media didn’t mention Kim’s reported comments about opening a dialogue with the United States that were carried in Chinese state media.</p>
<p>It’s unclear whether the leaders’ meetings will lead to any meaningful breakthrough.</p>
<p>The North’s diplomatic outreach comes after an unusually provocative year in which it conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the U.S. mainland. The change in tactics could be an attempt to ease pressure from heavy sanctions and improve its economy.</p>
<p>Washington and Seoul have said Kim previously told South Korean envoys that he was willing to put his nuclear weapons up for negotiation in his talks with Trump. However, the North has yet to officially confirm its interest in a summit between Kim and Trump.</p>
<p>There’s deep skepticism among some analysts that the North, after years of dogged weapons development, will commit to real denuclearization and agree to a robust verification regime. North Korea over the past two decades has been repeatedly accused of using disarmament talks as a way to ease outside pressure and win badly needed aid, while continuing to secretly push ahead with weapons development.</p>
<p>The Koreas agreed to a summit when Moon’s envoys visited Kim in Pyongyang earlier this month. The meeting followed a sudden period of inter-Korean warmth over February’s Winter Olympics in the South, to which the North sent hundreds of officials, including Kim’s sister who met with Moon to convey her brother’s desire for a summit.</p>
<p>On a subsequent visit to the United States, Moon’s envoys brokered a potential meeting between Kim and Trump, who said he would meet the North Korean leader “by May.”</p>
<p>The planned summit between Moon and Kim will be preceded by performances by South Korean pop singers in North Korea this Sunday and Tuesday.</p>
<p>About 70 South Korean officials and technicians flew to Pyongyang on Thursday to set up the performance equipment. The South Korean artists performing in the North include some of the country’s most popular pop singers, including Cho Yong-pil, who performed in Pyongyang during a previous era of detente, and girl band Red Velvet.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Kim reported from Seoul.</p> | true | 4 | paju south korea north korean leader kim jong un meet south korean president moon jaein border village april 27 south announced thursday rare summit could prove significant global efforts resolve decadeslong standoff norths nuclear program announcement made officials two countries met border village panmunjom koreas plan hold another preparatory meeting april 4 discuss security protocol media coverage issues according statement released countries leaders two koreas held talks twice since 195053 korean war 2000 2007 previous liberal governments south korea korean peninsula divided 1945 usdominated south sovietbacked north became sovereign nations three years later unification minister cho myounggyon one three south korean participants thursdays talks told reporters beforehand setting discussions leaders norths nuclear disarmament would critical point meeting cho told south korean reporters sufficient exchange opinions agenda summit didnt provide clear answer whether discussions nuclear issue included sides agreed prepare summit way would allow sincere heartfelt discussions leaders theres need decided continue discussions summit agenda followup highlevel meetings april cho said sides continue workinglevel discussions agenda focusing issues surrounding denuclearization korean peninsula stabilization peace development relations south north asked whether issues would shape discussions kim moon cho said yes norths three delegates led ri son gwon chairman state agency deals interkorean affairs countries earlier month agreed hold leaders summit southern side border village thursdays meeting held determine date issues meeting ri hailed agreement summit said provides immense expectations new hope entire nation desires peace korean peninsula called officials countries best perfectly secure historic meeting leaders countries also agreed hold separate meeting discuss communication issues setting telephone hotline moon kim maintain workinglevel discussions according statement souths delegation arrived panmunjom vehicles crossed heavily guarded border near southern city paju greeting south korean officials north koreancontrolled tongilgak building ri said past 80 days filled unprecedented historic events rivals referring resumption dialogue koreas winter olympics south agreement hold summit cho response said officials best arrange successful summit current situation created decisions highest leaders north south talks follow surprise meeting week kim chinese president xi jinping appeared aimed improving countries positions ahead kims planned summits moon us president donald trump setting separate talks beijing seoul washington potentially moscow tokyo north korea may moving disrupt united front among negotiating counterparts reintroducing china north koreas major ally major player north also gains leverage south korea united states analysts say talks xi kim may discussed economic cooperation requested softening enforcement sanctions norths nuclear weapons missiles north korea also wants beijing resist tougher sanctions talks washington seoul fall apart north resumes testing missiles chinese state councilor yang jiechi spending two days seoul briefing south korean officials results talks kim xi yang met presidential national security director chung euiyong thursday meet president moon friday moons spokesman kim euikyeom said statement seoul welcomes meeting kim trump called encouraging sign kim expressed firm willingness engage dialogue south korea united states visit beijing president xi exchanged opinions kim jong un long period time yang said translator meeting chung believe meeting prove helpful solving problems surrounding korean peninsula political discussions agreements peninsulas denuclearization establishment peace security cho said specific discussion kimxi meeting talks border village north korea yet officially confirm interest summit kim trump coverage kimxi meeting norths state media didnt mention kims reported comments opening dialogue united states carried chinese state media unclear whether leaders meetings lead meaningful breakthrough norths diplomatic outreach comes unusually provocative year conducted powerful nuclear test date testlaunched three intercontinental ballistic missiles designed target us mainland change tactics could attempt ease pressure heavy sanctions improve economy washington seoul said kim previously told south korean envoys willing put nuclear weapons negotiation talks trump however north yet officially confirm interest summit kim trump theres deep skepticism among analysts north years dogged weapons development commit real denuclearization agree robust verification regime north korea past two decades repeatedly accused using disarmament talks way ease outside pressure win badly needed aid continuing secretly push ahead weapons development koreas agreed summit moons envoys visited kim pyongyang earlier month meeting followed sudden period interkorean warmth februarys winter olympics south north sent hundreds officials including kims sister met moon convey brothers desire summit subsequent visit united states moons envoys brokered potential meeting kim trump said would meet north korean leader may planned summit moon kim preceded performances south korean pop singers north korea sunday tuesday 70 south korean officials technicians flew pyongyang thursday set performance equipment south korean artists performing north include countrys popular pop singers including cho yongpil performed pyongyang previous era detente girl band red velvet ___ kim reported seoul | 744 |
<p>Former Congresswoman CYNTHIA McKINNEY delivered this address March 6 at a UC Berkeley conference titled “The Role of Law &amp; Policy: Africa, the Caribbean &amp; the U.S.” sponsored by the African-American Law and Policy Report.</p>
<p>Nowhere do we see the impotence of Black America played out before our eyes and those of the world as we now see in the case of Haiti. But let me add that it hasn’t always been this way, and it doesn’t have to be this way.</p>
<p>First of all, as I see it, the correct call is not just for investigation, but also for reinstallation. Just as the U.S., in the 1950s, launched its policy of rollback for communism, so too must Americans of good conscience call for the Bush gang of thieves to roll back the coup in Haiti.</p>
<p>If you will recall, the United States and Haiti have been in this exact same place before. Gen. Raul Cedras had stolen power in a coup against the democratically elected priest who worked in the barrios of Port-au-Prince. Haitian Americans in Florida and New York and elsewhere worked non-stop to reinstall Father Aristide to power.</p>
<p>The Republican Justice Department had just overseen the largest expansion of the Congressional Black Caucus since the passage of the Voting Rights Act as it forced Southern legislatures to draw districts that would allow rural Blacks finally to elect candidates of their choice. Black voters, with a massive turnout, had turned George Bush’s father out of the White House and elected Bill Clinton instead.</p>
<p>So the stage was set on the inside and on the outside for a massive shift in U.S. policy toward Haiti, leaving the Republican antipathy for Aristide behind. This shift so infuriated at least one small group in white America that, in the Florida redistricting case, the plaintiff actually wrote that the increased strength of the Congressional Black Caucus had actually changed U.S. policy toward Haiti, and for that reason, among others, the size of the CBC had grown too large, thus the lawsuit against the district of Congresswoman Corrine Brown.</p>
<p>The brief of the Florida plaintiffs provides a smoking gun for the effectiveness of the larger, stronger, younger Black Caucus that entered Washington with an agenda grounded in the people. It also places in stark relief what is possible when Black America has authentic leaders, well placed, in politics.</p>
<p>Eventually, Cedras was given money and escorted out of Port-au-Prince while some of the leaders of FRAPH, the CIA-inspired tonton macoute replacement, found refuge in the U.S., the Dominican Republic and other places. With most of his term spent out of office, Aristide eventually was triumphantly returned to office. Upon the expiration of his term, Aristide left office and ran for reelection after the end of the term of his successor, Rene Preval.</p>
<p>Now, according to one of my investigative sources, one of the contracts that Preval put in place was with the Steele Foundation to provide presidential security. The Steele Foundation, headquartered here in the Bay Area, is reportedly very close to the Pentagon, with its former leader coming directly from the Pentagon’s Office of Intelligence. Interestingly, it reportedly maintains an office in Miami, the home of the headquarters of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which was reportedly involved in training the rebels who ousted Aristide. So, at the time of Aristide’s “capture,” he supposedly was protected by a Pentagon-sanctioned security team that just happened to fail to secure him.</p>
<p>Additionally, according to this same source, some of the Dominican troops and Spanish and English-speaking paramilitaries trained by the U.S. during last year’s Operation Jaded Task in the Dominican Republic were fighting alongside Haitian rebels in the north and on the southern coast of Haiti. We are told further that Haitian government authorities intercepted vans carrying new M-16s across the border from the Dominican Republic. According to the report I have received, Haitian authorities began intercepting vans carrying the weapons from the Dominican Republic beginning last year, and shortly after the U.S. military delivered 20,000 M-16s to the Dominican Army.</p>
<p>Haiti was about to celebrate its bicentennial. I remember how happy this country was when it celebrated its bicentennial. That joy has been denied to the Haitian people. Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s slogan during the country’s commemorative campaign was restitution, reparation, celebration. And he had declared Haiti an African country.</p>
<p>Aristide was no COINTELPRO leader. No “clean Negro.” And, in the language of J. Edgar Hoover, he “excited the Negroes.” So now, understanding who Jean Bertrand Aristide really is, and at the same time knowing how our country deals with authentic leaders like him, we can’t be surprised by what happens. We should, however, be dismayed if our collective power is not able to restore Aristide to power once again.</p>
<p>Haiti’s lawyer charged that the U.S. government was directly involved in the coup and that the coup leaders were armed, trained, employed by the intelligence services of the United States.</p>
<p>An eye witness, Aristide’s caretaker, told French radio that “the American army came to take him away at two in the morning. The Americans forced him out with weapons.”</p>
<p>After having spoken directly with President Aristide, Congresswoman Maxine Waters reported that Aristide was surrounded by the military. “It’s like he’s in jail. He says he was kidnapped,” she said.</p>
<p>Randall Robinson also spoke to President Aristide. Robinson said that Aristide emphatically denied that he had resigned.</p>
<p>Rev. Jesse Jackson got Aristide on the phone with an Associated Press reporter, and Aristide himself said that he was forced to leave. He said, “They came at night. There were too many. I couldn’t count them.” He said that agents told him that if he didn’t leave, they would start shooting and killing. Aristide is quoted as describing these agents who threatened him as “white Americans, white military.”</p>
<p>Donald Rumsfeld said that the idea of an abduction was just totally inconsistent with everything he heard or saw. The White House dismissed allegations that Aristide had been kidnapped by U.S. forces eager to force him to resign and flee into exile. Colin Powell said flatly that Aristide was not kidnapped. Powell said, “We did not force him on the airplane.”</p>
<p>Now, I don’t know about you. But it is clear to me by now that I can’t believe Donald Rumsfeld. I can’t believe the White House. And I can’t believe Colin Powell.</p>
<p>But even more than that, notice Powell’s use of the word “we.”</p>
<p>And therein lies the essence of our predicament.</p>
<p>On March 1, 2004, the Washington Times headlined Colin Powell’s comment, “I am on the President’s agenda.” Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell have provided a Black face for policies that have devastated the global community and our American community. Progressive America and the global community need a strong, vibrant and activist Black community.</p>
<p>A recent report in the New York Times found that 50 percent of the Black male adults in New York City are unemployed. According to the State of the Dream 2004 report, if current rates of progress remain the same, it will take eight years for America to close the Black-White gap in high school graduation. It will take 73 years to close the college graduation gap, 190 years to close the imprisonment gap, 581 years to close the per capita income gap, and 1,664 years to close the home ownership gap. Clearly progress on important quality of life indices is not being made quickly enough.</p>
<p>But we won’t see that portrayed on UPN, FOX, CNN or the WB. Increasingly, prominent leaders tell us that we don’t need a movement any more and that agitators who concentrate on these facts are passe.</p>
<p>And to them I only ask one question. What becomes of a community that rewards those who pick the fruit up but fails to protect those who shake it down?</p>
<p>Tree shakers are all over the globe trying to uplift their communities. Only through our active and informed participation in the political process here will we be able to stop the powers that produce pernicious policies. Only through our participation in the political process will we be able to protect the global community – like Haiti, like Venezuela – from the vicissitudes of powerful people acting in our name who don’t care one whit about the values that we hold dear.</p>
<p>Black America, vibrant with authentic leaders, in active partnership with all progressives, can change what is happening here at home and the policies being implemented abroad.</p>
<p>And so I end with a plea and a charge for us as a people to stand up, speak truth to power, don’t cower, and say to those who control this awful machine, “It’s time for you to stop, right now.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | former congresswoman cynthia mckinney delivered address march 6 uc berkeley conference titled role law amp policy africa caribbean amp us sponsored africanamerican law policy report nowhere see impotence black america played eyes world see case haiti let add hasnt always way doesnt way first see correct call investigation also reinstallation us 1950s launched policy rollback communism must americans good conscience call bush gang thieves roll back coup haiti recall united states haiti exact place gen raul cedras stolen power coup democratically elected priest worked barrios portauprince haitian americans florida new york elsewhere worked nonstop reinstall father aristide power republican justice department overseen largest expansion congressional black caucus since passage voting rights act forced southern legislatures draw districts would allow rural blacks finally elect candidates choice black voters massive turnout turned george bushs father white house elected bill clinton instead stage set inside outside massive shift us policy toward haiti leaving republican antipathy aristide behind shift infuriated least one small group white america florida redistricting case plaintiff actually wrote increased strength congressional black caucus actually changed us policy toward haiti reason among others size cbc grown large thus lawsuit district congresswoman corrine brown brief florida plaintiffs provides smoking gun effectiveness larger stronger younger black caucus entered washington agenda grounded people also places stark relief possible black america authentic leaders well placed politics eventually cedras given money escorted portauprince leaders fraph ciainspired tonton macoute replacement found refuge us dominican republic places term spent office aristide eventually triumphantly returned office upon expiration term aristide left office ran reelection end term successor rene preval according one investigative sources one contracts preval put place steele foundation provide presidential security steele foundation headquartered bay area reportedly close pentagon former leader coming directly pentagons office intelligence interestingly reportedly maintains office miami home headquarters us special operations command reportedly involved training rebels ousted aristide time aristides capture supposedly protected pentagonsanctioned security team happened fail secure additionally according source dominican troops spanish englishspeaking paramilitaries trained us last years operation jaded task dominican republic fighting alongside haitian rebels north southern coast haiti told haitian government authorities intercepted vans carrying new m16s across border dominican republic according report received haitian authorities began intercepting vans carrying weapons dominican republic beginning last year shortly us military delivered 20000 m16s dominican army haiti celebrate bicentennial remember happy country celebrated bicentennial joy denied haitian people jeanbertrand aristides slogan countrys commemorative campaign restitution reparation celebration declared haiti african country aristide cointelpro leader clean negro language j edgar hoover excited negroes understanding jean bertrand aristide really time knowing country deals authentic leaders like cant surprised happens however dismayed collective power able restore aristide power haitis lawyer charged us government directly involved coup coup leaders armed trained employed intelligence services united states eye witness aristides caretaker told french radio american army came take away two morning americans forced weapons spoken directly president aristide congresswoman maxine waters reported aristide surrounded military like hes jail says kidnapped said randall robinson also spoke president aristide robinson said aristide emphatically denied resigned rev jesse jackson got aristide phone associated press reporter aristide said forced leave said came night many couldnt count said agents told didnt leave would start shooting killing aristide quoted describing agents threatened white americans white military donald rumsfeld said idea abduction totally inconsistent everything heard saw white house dismissed allegations aristide kidnapped us forces eager force resign flee exile colin powell said flatly aristide kidnapped powell said force airplane dont know clear cant believe donald rumsfeld cant believe white house cant believe colin powell even notice powells use word therein lies essence predicament march 1 2004 washington times headlined colin powells comment presidents agenda condoleeza rice colin powell provided black face policies devastated global community american community progressive america global community need strong vibrant activist black community recent report new york times found 50 percent black male adults new york city unemployed according state dream 2004 report current rates progress remain take eight years america close blackwhite gap high school graduation take 73 years close college graduation gap 190 years close imprisonment gap 581 years close per capita income gap 1664 years close home ownership gap clearly progress important quality life indices made quickly enough wont see portrayed upn fox cnn wb increasingly prominent leaders tell us dont need movement agitators concentrate facts passe ask one question becomes community rewards pick fruit fails protect shake tree shakers globe trying uplift communities active informed participation political process able stop powers produce pernicious policies participation political process able protect global community like haiti like venezuela vicissitudes powerful people acting name dont care one whit values hold dear black america vibrant authentic leaders active partnership progressives change happening home policies implemented abroad end plea charge us people stand speak truth power dont cower say control awful machine time stop right 160 | 799 |
<p>photo: 9/11 Photos</p>
<p>In August 2010 the story of the “Ground Zero Mosque,” as it was inaccurately labeled by big media, saturated the news. Driving the coverage were conservative pundits and politicians who denounced the proposal for an Islamic cultural center to be built on “hallowed ground”—within a few blocks of the former site of New York City’s World Trade Center (Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">10/10</a>).</p>
<p>Treated on Fox News and talk radio as a harbinger of an American caliphate (Beck, 8/23/10) and the imposition of sharia law (Hannity, 8/17/10), the “Ground Zero Mosque” was 2010’s Swift Boat story—a dishonest, demagogic campaign to gin up GOP support in the doldrums of late summer news cycles. It served its purpose well. Public opinion opposing the center soared. Stirring up Islamophobia in advance of a major election is always a plus for the right.</p>
<p>Since then, the center’s promoters continue to plan and raise money, and the small Muslim-bashing blogs that gave birth to the story continue to slug away at the project in the fever swamps of the right.</p>
<p>But the story has all but fallen off the corporate media map. As leading conservative pundits and politicians have stopped talking about it, the outrage has been dialed down. While “ground zero mosque” garnered more than 1,000 mentions in U.S. newspaper and wire stories in August 2010, according to a search of the Nexis news database, by January that number had fallen to 50. (And most of those were newsy updates, containing little of the outrage found in many of the August 2010 stories.)</p>
<p>Has the hallowed ground of the September 11 terror attacks become less sacred?</p>
<p>Since George W. Bush emerged from hiding to stand astride the smoldering World Trade Center ruins and assure Americans that the country would strike back at “the people who knocked these buildings down,” September 11 has become something of a holy charm, a talisman for conservatives to wave over policy debates to ensure victory.</p>
<p>They would use it to justify civil liberties–trashing policies like the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping at home, and unspeakable crimes abroad. By March 2003, Bush and his allies had leveraged the tragic attacks into a dubious war against Afghanistan (for harboring a small population of Al-Qaeda suspects) and an utterly unrelated war against Iraq.</p>
<p>Right-leaning pundits did their part by helping their political allies make policy hay of the tragedy, and by denouncing any deviation from their brand of reverence (Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">5–6/03</a>). Opponents of the one true interpretation of September 11, 2001, as the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol (Fox News Sunday, 11/24/02) put it early on, “don’t take seriously the fact that we’re at war…. They just don’t want to face up to the fact that 9/11 changed everything.”</p>
<p>That contention became something of a mantra for the right. “9/11 changed everything,” said Bill O’Reilly (O’Reilly Factor, 4/30/03). “We want to be protected now. We’re willing to give up a little civil rights, a little protection under the Constitution to protect our families from killers.”</p>
<p>September 11’s power and meaning was elastic; it could be invoked broadly in support of issues tangentially related—or unrelated—to the attacks. “OK, so 9/11 changed everything,” said O’Reilly (O’Reilly Factor, 4/30/03).</p>
<p>And the rest of the corporate media seem willing to play along, following the right’s framing on everything from the “ground zero mosque” to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As FAIR’s studies of the wars in Iraq (Extra! Update, <a href="" type="internal">4/03</a>; Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">5–6/03</a>) and Afghanistan (Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">12/09</a>) show, pro-war voices have been routinely overrepresented and antiwar voices marginalized on nightly news shows and op-ed pages.</p>
<p>In perhaps the most bizarre manipulation of 9/11, Rudolph Giuliani erased the attacks from Bush’s watch when he explained to Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos (1/8/10) that Bush’s record on terrorism was superior to Barack Obama’s because, “We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama.” Giuliani’s little memory lapse, which was hardly noticed in other corporate media, went uncorrected on Good Morning America (though Stephanopoulos did mention the error on his comparatively obscure blog— <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/01/giuliani-update.html" type="external">1/8/10</a>).</p>
<p>But the hallowed memory of September 11 is a conservative sham. While the attacks may be the gift that keeps on giving for GOP politics—when politically useful—the right frequently permits itself to diminish or deride the memory and symbols of the attacks for its own convenience.</p>
<p>In December, with talk of a “Ground Zero Mosque” on “hallowed ground” a fading memory, Republicans blocked passage of a bill providing aid to ailing 9/11 responders. O’Reilly, with GOP strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove (O’Reilly Factor, 12/21/10), defended the GOP’s obstructionism, accusing Democrats of “demagoguing” the issue. Republican opposition was overcome, ironically, when liberal comedian Jon Stewart campaigned for its passage on the Daily Show (New York Times, 12/20/10).</p>
<p>Attacking September 11 family members who failed to share the right-wing understanding of 9/11’s meaning became something of a sport for conservative pundits. O’Reilly (2/4/03) set aside the sacred memory of 9/11 to bully and menace apostate guest Jeremy Glick, whose father died in the World Trade Center attacks, for his opposition to the “War on Terror.” “You are mouthing a far-left position that is a marginal position in this society,” O’Reilly harangued Glick:</p>
<p>I don’t really care what you think…. I’ve done more for the 9/11 families by their own admission…than you will ever hope to do…. So you keep your mouth shut when you sit here exploiting those people.</p>
<p>Responding to complaints some 9/11 family members had about the government’s response, Glenn Beck declared on his national radio show (Glenn Beck Program, 9/9/05):</p>
<p>You know it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims’ families? I don’t hate all of them. I hate probably about 10 of them. But when I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, “Oh, shut up!” I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining. And we did our best for them.</p>
<p>Ann Coulter crudely accused a group of September 11 widows, dubbed “the Jersey Girls,” of “enjoying their husbands’ deaths” after the women insisted on more transparency from the Bush administration about what went wrong on 9/11.</p>
<p>That these surly quotes received such light coverage suggests a corporate press that agrees that the right owns the September 11 tragedy and all of its meanings.</p> | true | 4 | photo 911 photos august 2010 story ground zero mosque inaccurately labeled big media saturated news driving coverage conservative pundits politicians denounced proposal islamic cultural center built hallowed groundwithin blocks former site new york citys world trade center extra 1010 treated fox news talk radio harbinger american caliphate beck 82310 imposition sharia law hannity 81710 ground zero mosque 2010s swift boat storya dishonest demagogic campaign gin gop support doldrums late summer news cycles served purpose well public opinion opposing center soared stirring islamophobia advance major election always plus right since centers promoters continue plan raise money small muslimbashing blogs gave birth story continue slug away project fever swamps right story fallen corporate media map leading conservative pundits politicians stopped talking outrage dialed ground zero mosque garnered 1000 mentions us newspaper wire stories august 2010 according search nexis news database january number fallen 50 newsy updates containing little outrage found many august 2010 stories hallowed ground september 11 terror attacks become less sacred since george w bush emerged hiding stand astride smoldering world trade center ruins assure americans country would strike back people knocked buildings september 11 become something holy charm talisman conservatives wave policy debates ensure victory would use justify civil libertiestrashing policies like patriot act warrantless wiretapping home unspeakable crimes abroad march 2003 bush allies leveraged tragic attacks dubious war afghanistan harboring small population alqaeda suspects utterly unrelated war iraq rightleaning pundits part helping political allies make policy hay tragedy denouncing deviation brand reverence extra 5603 opponents one true interpretation september 11 2001 weekly standards bill kristol fox news sunday 112402 put early dont take seriously fact war dont want face fact 911 changed everything contention became something mantra right 911 changed everything said bill oreilly oreilly factor 43003 want protected willing give little civil rights little protection constitution protect families killers september 11s power meaning elastic could invoked broadly support issues tangentially relatedor unrelatedto attacks ok 911 changed everything said oreilly oreilly factor 43003 rest corporate media seem willing play along following rights framing everything ground zero mosque wars iraq afghanistan fairs studies wars iraq extra update 403 extra 5603 afghanistan extra 1209 show prowar voices routinely overrepresented antiwar voices marginalized nightly news shows oped pages perhaps bizarre manipulation 911 rudolph giuliani erased attacks bushs watch explained good morning america host george stephanopoulos 1810 bushs record terrorism superior barack obamas domestic attacks bush weve one obama giulianis little memory lapse hardly noticed corporate media went uncorrected good morning america though stephanopoulos mention error comparatively obscure blog 1810 hallowed memory september 11 conservative sham attacks may gift keeps giving gop politicswhen politically usefulthe right frequently permits diminish deride memory symbols attacks convenience december talk ground zero mosque hallowed ground fading memory republicans blocked passage bill providing aid ailing 911 responders oreilly gop strategist fox news contributor karl rove oreilly factor 122110 defended gops obstructionism accusing democrats demagoguing issue republican opposition overcome ironically liberal comedian jon stewart campaigned passage daily show new york times 122010 attacking september 11 family members failed share rightwing understanding 911s meaning became something sport conservative pundits oreilly 2403 set aside sacred memory 911 bully menace apostate guest jeremy glick whose father died world trade center attacks opposition war terror mouthing farleft position marginal position society oreilly harangued glick dont really care think ive done 911 families admissionthan ever hope keep mouth shut sit exploiting people responding complaints 911 family members governments response glenn beck declared national radio show glenn beck program 9905 know took year start hating 911 victims families dont hate hate probably 10 see 911 victim family television whatever im like oh shut im sick theyre always complaining best ann coulter crudely accused group september 11 widows dubbed jersey girls enjoying husbands deaths women insisted transparency bush administration went wrong 911 surly quotes received light coverage suggests corporate press agrees right owns september 11 tragedy meanings | 642 |
<p>Every week the Truthdig editorial staff selects a Truthdigger of the Week, a group or person worthy of recognition for speaking truth to power, breaking the story or blowing the whistle. It is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, we’re looking for newsmakers whose actions in a given week are worth celebrating.</p>
<p>In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 film “Lifeboat,” based on a story by John Steinbeck, several British and American survivors of a steamship’s run-in with a Nazi U-boat discover they’ve brought one of the enemy ship’s officers aboard the dingy that saved them. After some discussion, some of the group’s members persuade the others to let the man live, arguing that their common humanity and shared interest in survival will compel cooperation among people otherwise at war. This view is revealed to be optimistic when the group discovers the officer has been aiming them toward a German fleet, rather than the band of islands to which they had agreed to go. A scuffle breaks out and the subversive officer is thrown overboard and drowns. “What do you do with people like that?” one of the characters, exhausted, asks.</p>
<p>Contrariwise, in the short view, members of every level of the National Basketball Association, buoyed by support <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/sports/basketball/poll-shows-approval-of-clippers-owners-punishment.html?_r=0" type="external">ostensibly</a> from the entire nation, made quick work of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling this week, fining him $2.5 million and banning him from the league for life after a <a href="" type="internal">recording</a> of him asking a girlfriend not to bring black people to his games surfaced on the Internet.</p>
<p>In the long view, however, Sterling’s ouster wasn’t rapid at all. Public knowledge of his racism — as well as the human cost it’s exacted — date at least as far back as 2003, when he was <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2542741" type="external">sued</a> by various parties for trying to drive blacks and Latinos out of apartment buildings he owned in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. He was taken to court <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jones/060810" type="external">again</a> in 2006, this time by the Justice Department, for refusing to rent apartments to black people and families with children. Sterling <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/sports/basketball/clippers-owner-donald-sterling-has-public-record-of-bad-behavior.html" type="external">paid</a> $2.7 million to settle in the latter case. “That’s because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they’re not clean,” he reportedly <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4187729" type="external">told</a> a supervisor of one of the buildings he bought. “And it’s because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day. … We have to get them out of here.”</p>
<p />
<p>These ugly events and the language that accompanied them were not merely matters of people not getting to live where they wished. Debarment from neighborhoods that are desirable for one reason or another can have a profound disordering effect upon the disadvantaged’s lives. As Travis Waldron <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/04/29/3432139/sterling-housing-discrimination/" type="external">explained</a> at ThinkProgress last month, “housing discrimination and educational segregation go hand-in-hand.” And the problems “exacerbated by discrimination — poverty, violence, teen pregnancy, drug use” go “on and on.”</p>
<p>In the NBA itself, Sterling’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/sports/basketball/clippers-owner-donald-sterling-has-public-record-of-bad-behavior.html" type="external">record of sins</a> is comparable. In 2004 he refused to cover Clippers assistant coach Kevin Hughes’ $70,000 surgery for prostate cancer. (The tab was picked up by four players.) He was sued in 2009 by former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor for envisioning “a Southern plantation-type structure” for the team. Baylor, who lost the lawsuit, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/sports/basketball/given-cause-to-make-a-stand-the-clippers-settle-for-a-gesture.html" type="external">claimed</a> that Sterling had once told a player’s agent: “I’m offering you a lot of money for a poor black kid.” Former head coach Mike Dunleavy sued Sterling in 2010 for refusing to pay him money he was owed after he was fired. The team paid Dunleavy $13 million a year later.</p>
<p>So, when racist and antisocial attitudes begin harming lives, when the Donald Sterlings of this world work to harm us, what do we do? For large numbers of NBA players, league associates and others who sensed an opportunity, the answer was to quickly organize a massive campaign committed to making an example of the man by ejecting him from the league. The Clippers considered refusing to take the court for subsequent playoff games, but <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/sports/basketball/given-cause-to-make-a-stand-the-clippers-settle-for-a-gesture.html" type="external">settled</a> for wearing their warm-up jerseys inside out in an act of silent protest before playing. Some former players, including Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley, condemned Sterling in media appearances and on Twitter. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/sports/basketball/columnists-react-to-the-donald-sterling-punishment.html" type="external">asked</a> why the reaction took so long. Why didn’t anyone act during the housing discrimination lawsuits and the years of Sterling’s other known misbehavior?</p>
<p>Perhaps most significantly in strategic terms, Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star who now serves as the mayor of Sacramento, Calif., <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/sports/basketball/how-kevin-johnson-influenced-the-donald-sterling-ruling.html?hpw&amp;rref=sports&amp;_r=0" type="external">acted</a> as a representative both for black Americans and the players union in the ordeal, pressuring NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to hit Sterling swiftly and decisively with the maximum punishment possible. Silver <a href="" type="internal">slapped</a> Sterling with the consequences Tuesday. The whole unpleasant story, from the spotlighting of Sterling’s bad character to the dealing out of discipline, took less time than a workweek. It was a remarkable mobilization of people and resources.</p>
<p>The NBA is not strapped for cash; its players are not what we in post-2008 America would call struggling workers. But their role in the Sterling saga can be seen as that of members of a community working in cooperation to rid themselves — and their profit-concerned directors — of a serious source of trouble. A lot of possibilities for action were considered and decisions made behind the scene, of course. We do not have a full account of the process of their accomplishment. But Americans light on hope and in need of inspiration have a major contemporary example of what they can achieve if they work together. And since America’s problems are bigger than the Donald Sterlings, the David and Charles Kochs, or the Barack Obamas of the world — they in fact consist of the conditions that create them — those of us who would like to have and enjoy a collective future must give their best effort to do so. For bringing our attention to that, everyone involved in throwing Donald Sterling out of the boat is a Truthdigger this week.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | every week truthdig editorial staff selects truthdigger week group person worthy recognition speaking truth power breaking story blowing whistle lifetime achievement award rather looking newsmakers whose actions given week worth celebrating alfred hitchcocks 1944 film lifeboat based story john steinbeck several british american survivors steamships runin nazi uboat discover theyve brought one enemy ships officers aboard dingy saved discussion groups members persuade others let man live arguing common humanity shared interest survival compel cooperation among people otherwise war view revealed optimistic group discovers officer aiming toward german fleet rather band islands agreed go scuffle breaks subversive officer thrown overboard drowns people like one characters exhausted asks contrariwise short view members every level national basketball association buoyed support ostensibly entire nation made quick work los angeles clippers owner donald sterling week fining 25 million banning league life recording asking girlfriend bring black people games surfaced internet long view however sterlings ouster wasnt rapid public knowledge racism well human cost exacted date least far back 2003 sued various parties trying drive blacks latinos apartment buildings owned los angeles koreatown taken court 2006 time justice department refusing rent apartments black people families children sterling paid 27 million settle latter case thats blacks building smell theyre clean reportedly told supervisor one buildings bought mexicans sit around smoke drink day get ugly events language accompanied merely matters people getting live wished debarment neighborhoods desirable one reason another profound disordering effect upon disadvantageds lives travis waldron explained thinkprogress last month housing discrimination educational segregation go handinhand problems exacerbated discrimination poverty violence teen pregnancy drug use go nba sterlings record sins comparable 2004 refused cover clippers assistant coach kevin hughes 70000 surgery prostate cancer tab picked four players sued 2009 former clippers general manager elgin baylor envisioning southern plantationtype structure team baylor lost lawsuit claimed sterling told players agent im offering lot money poor black kid former head coach mike dunleavy sued sterling 2010 refusing pay money owed fired team paid dunleavy 13 million year later racist antisocial attitudes begin harming lives donald sterlings world work harm us large numbers nba players league associates others sensed opportunity answer quickly organize massive campaign committed making example man ejecting league clippers considered refusing take court subsequent playoff games settled wearing warmup jerseys inside act silent protest playing former players including magic johnson charles barkley condemned sterling media appearances twitter kareem abduljabbar asked reaction took long didnt anyone act housing discrimination lawsuits years sterlings known misbehavior perhaps significantly strategic terms kevin johnson former nba star serves mayor sacramento calif acted representative black americans players union ordeal pressuring nba commissioner adam silver hit sterling swiftly decisively maximum punishment possible silver slapped sterling consequences tuesday whole unpleasant story spotlighting sterlings bad character dealing discipline took less time workweek remarkable mobilization people resources nba strapped cash players post2008 america would call struggling workers role sterling saga seen members community working cooperation rid profitconcerned directors serious source trouble lot possibilities action considered decisions made behind scene course full account process accomplishment americans light hope need inspiration major contemporary example achieve work together since americas problems bigger donald sterlings david charles kochs barack obamas world fact consist conditions create us would like enjoy collective future must give best effort bringing attention everyone involved throwing donald sterling boat truthdigger week | 544 |
<p>In Ann Arbor, Michigan, you can observe in the movement the desire to bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and the other 600 bases, the release of political prisoners, the establishment of a commons at the library-lot, opposition to the blatant racism in Benton Harbor, freedom for Palestine, support (rather than dismissals) of school teachers, opposition to the proliferation of asphalt parking lots in favor of gardening and bicycles, more trees (remembering the name of our burg), and support for the upcoming Detroit Social Forum.&#160; A loose network here called ‘Bringing It Back, Taking It Forward” has helped to revive our movement.</p>
<p>More and more of us understand that war and the banking scandal, sickness and home foreclosures, are symptoms of a civilization that is finished, yet neither the Christian militia nor the Tea Party is our bag. The scholars among us lament the closure of Shaman Drum, a great book-store, and we ruefully note that an excellent English language book-store flourishes in Oaxaca, Mexico.&#160; Who is ‘backward’ now?</p>
<p>Alan Haber was a founder of Students for a Democratic Society fifty years ago here in Ann Arbor and nowadays he directs the Megiddo Project which seeks to replace the God of Battles with peaceful conversation at a round table he has built.&#160; He asked me to sketch out a short May Day pamphlet bringing together, first, the history of May Day, second, a celebration of the jubilee, or the 50th anniversary, of both the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and SDS, and third, an invitation to Barack Obama who is to speak on May Day at the Michigan football stadium to join the immigrant rights march in the afternoon in Detroit. No problem, I ventured to Alan.&#160; How are we to bring together the three subjects of students, immigrants, and power?&#160;&#160; To begin with we need a methodology.</p>
<p>Our first methodological principle starts with Aneurin Bevan, the Welsh coal miner who went on to install the national health system in Britain.&#160; He would remind himself and everyone else, not to forget that everything starts “at the point of the pick.”&#160; This was in the days before the continuous miner when coal was hewed, even “crafted” he said, from the underground coal-face.&#160; The energy of industrialization began there. The methodological principle puts the worker at the center of history, and the coal miner at the center of the industrial working class.</p>
<p>We&#160; also need a symbol of reproduction, and Vandana Shiva, the Indian feminist advocate, can suggest one, for she issued the international warning against the taking of the seeds from the women and thus their power.&#160; “The seed, for the farmer, is not merely the source of future plants and food; it is the storage place of culture and history.” The bowl of seeds had to be hidden against the “scientific” agronomists who were in the pay of Monsanto or other international genetic engineers (‘the knights of the gene snatchers,’ quips Alan).&#160; The invisible work of reproduction surrounds history.&#160; The commons, often invisible and generally in the care of women, is the second methodological principle.</p>
<p>So, let us proceed in our methodology on the basis of ‘the point of the pick’ and ‘the seeds in the bowl’ (the hammer and the sickle having had their day).&#160; Because the pick takes things apart, it may act as a metaphor for analysis, and because the bowl holds stuff together it may stand for synthesis. If the Pick be analysis and the economics of production, it thrives in the realm of the inanimate. If the Bowl be synthesis and social reproduction, its realm is the animate.&#160; These are both crucial operations of historical thinking.</p>
<p>Consider the history of May Day.</p>
<p>Merry Mount</p>
<p>In north America it began with immigrants, the English immigrants to Massachusetts, and they were of two minds.&#160; The gloomy Puritans wanted to isolate themselves (“the city on the hill”) and having accepted hospitality of the native people either made them sick or went to war against them.&#160;&#160; Thomas Morton, on the other hand, arriving in 1624, wanted to enjoy life together with the natives.&#160; He envisioned life based on abundance rather than scarcity.&#160; Three years later he celebrated May Day with a giant Maypole, “a goodly pine tree of eighty feet long was reared up, with a pair of buckhorns nailed on somewhat near unto the top of it”.</p>
<p>William Bradford, coming over on the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth Rock. He thought Indians were instruments of anti-Christ.&#160; Of Thomas Morton and his crew, he wrote, “They also set up a maypole, drinking and dancing about it many days together, inviting the Indian women for their consorts, dancing and frisking together like so many fairies, or furies, rather; and worse practices.&#160; [It was] as if they had anew revived the celebrated the feats of the Roman goddess Flora, or the beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians…” Because Morton taught the Indians how to use fire-arms, the Puritan, Myles Standish, attacked and destroyed this early rainbow gathering. Morton was twice deported by the Puritans, and twice exonerated in England. He died in Maine.</p>
<p>Bradford gets one thing right.&#160; May Day is very old, and nearly universal (in one form or another).&#160; It is a festival of planting, of fertility, of germination.&#160; It is a community rite of social reproduction. Years later Nathaniel Hawthorn bemoaned this road not taken.&#160; Not taken yet, we might add.&#160; The circular bowl of seeds symbolizes the day in several senses. Picking away at time we easily find the commons.</p>
<p>Haymarket</p>
<p>From Merry Mount (1627) to Haymarket (1886) two and half centuries passed.&#160; An empire diminished (England 1776), a nation was founded, bankers established themselves, slavery advanced, an army and a navy manifested “destiny.” With the pick of analysis we take up with the coal miners, the railroad builders, the ditch diggers.&#160; With the bowl of synthesis we apprehend how all together make a force in history.&#160; As a force it includes the commons, the space of autonomy, independent of capital and privatization.</p>
<p>In 1886 the iron workers of the Molder’s Union struck at the McCormick’s Works in Chicago setting in train the events that led to the infamous Haymarket bombing, the hanging of four workers, and our modern May Day.&#160; Let’s pick it apart.&#160; First, these workers struck for an 8-hour day.&#160; This had been at the center of the post Civil War movement of industrial workers:</p>
<p>We want to feel the sunshine; We want to smell the flowers’ We’re sure God has willed it. And we mean to have eight hours.</p>
<p>We’re summoning our forces from Shipyard, shop and mill; Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, Eight hours for what we will.</p>
<p>Second, many of them were Irish immigrants and as such brought knowledge of the Famine and knowledge of the struggle by the Molly Maquires in the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania the decade earlier.&#160; They remembered the Day of the Rope (June 1877), the first of a series of more than twenty hangings against the Irish coal miners of Pennsylvania.&#160; Third, in Chicago the workers were making a machine to reap the grasses, the grains of the north American prairies.&#160; The machine presupposed the robbery of lands from the indigenous people – the Lakota, the Comanche, the Apache, the Métis in Canada -this is the fourth point of analysis.&#160; Its so-called productivity would result in a) the globalization of food as both grain and meat passed through Chicago and the Great Lakes into the hungry bellies of Europe, and b) the short-sighted agriculture which would result in the disastrous Dust Bowl two generations later. Chicago was both a hub of world food organization and a forward base in the conquest of the common lands of the prairies.</p>
<p>The strike was suppressed by soldiers and a worker was killed.&#160; The class conscious workers of Chicago protested.&#160; Irish and Poles, socialists and anarchists, Catholics and communards, former Blues (Yankees) and former Grays (confederates) joined in a howl of outrage.&#160; Albert Parsons the former confederate soldier whose consciousness was awakened by the Civil War to join forces with the former slave-slaves and present wage-slaves (marrying Lucy Parsons, part African American, part native American) summarized the Haymarket gathering, “We assembled as representatives of the disinherited.”</p>
<p>Truly, in one way or another the immigrants had been dispossessed, not only from their present means of production (capital), but from their past subsistence (commons) in the lands of their origins.&#160; Furthermore, the soldiers attacking the Chicago workers had learned how to kill in the Indian wars and to expropriate the indigenous peoples from their communal systems.&#160; This was the era when the critique of capitalism was elaborated by many hands.&#160; Few at the time swung the pick with greater point than Karl Marx who, unlike pure theorists, asked the workers what they thought in an inquiry of more than a hundred questions.</p>
<p>At Haymarket in Chicago a stick of dynamite was thrown into the crowd (did the police do it?&#160; was it the deed of an anarchist or socialist activist?) and all hell broke loose.&#160; A spectacular and terrible trial was held, unfair in every respect, and Sam Fielden, Augustus Spies, Albert Parsons, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, and Louis Lingg were found guilty.&#160; On&#160; November 11, 1887, despite an international campaign, four of them were hanged, preparing the way for the Gilded Age of American capitalism.</p>
<p>Chicago has never been the same, nor has the world labor movement.&#160; On the one hand, Chicago became the center of brutish capitalism, led by gangsters such as Al Capone, on the other hand a multi-ethnic working class arose from Mississippi, Mexico, Poland, or Ireland and writers such as Carl Sandburg, Nelson Algren, or Richard Wright told us about it.&#160; The ‘Chicago Idea’ is not quite dead, the notion that revolutionary unionism can combine militant union with mass action.&#160; In remembrance of ‘los mártires’ May Day became the world-wide day of the workers and the 8-hour day.</p>
<p>The pick (the workers) and the bowl (the commons) must take us to the jubilee of SDS and SNCC.&#160; But the path is not direct. The coal miners had to overcome the ethnic and language divisions deliberately instilled by the bosses. The United Mine Workers of America was formed in 1890.&#160; Mother Jones was born on May Day 1838 in co. Cork, Ireland.&#160; In 1901 she was in Pennsylvania urging the wives of the miners to form a militia wielding brooms and banging pots and pans.&#160; The prosecutor called her “the most dangerous woman in America.”&#160; In 1905 in Chicago she helped found the Wobblies, the I.W.W. or Industrial Workers of the World, whose preamble stated “The working class and the employing have nothing in common.&#160; There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.”&#160; Mother Jones herself urged us “to pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”</p>
<p>Common lands was not within their program. &#160;Yet, the commons (of land and labor) became an anti-capitalist dream. The rulers will try to establish control over reproduction with walls, fences, ICE, terror, detention.&#160; The rulers will do so by population policy, controlling birth rates and death rates, eugenics, family allowance, maternity leave, abortion, and what John Ruskin called illth, the opposite of health and wealth.&#160; The rulers attempt to organize the structures of labor markets, the skill-sets and levels by education and immigration policies.&#160;&#160; In American history slaughter and disease are weapons against the indigenous; slavery and immigration are weapons against workers.&#160; In fact terror has always been the instrument against the commons.</p>
<p>I believe that in early agreements with the bosses, in addition to his own birthday, the coal miner’s mother’s and mother-in-law’s birthdays, were paid days off.&#160; It indicates that a community of women backed up the miners.&#160;&#160; Oscar Ameringer, an immigrant, often called ‘the Mark Twain of American socialism,’ wrote for the miner’s union in Illinois under the pseudonym of “Adam Coaldigger.” He acknowledged that the miner had access to a commons of hunting and fishing yet the miner couldn’t mine all day and half the night and then go hunt and fish! It was the coal miners who backed the union organizing during the Great Depression.</p>
<p>The epic, the decisive, event of the 20th century (at least one of them) was the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia of 1917.&#160; The Cold War of the USA against the USSR occupied the ideas, the institutions, and the politics of the world.&#160; (The USA went so far as to shift the workers’ holiday to the first of September and pretended that May Day was a Russian holiday!)&#160; After the Russian Revolution Communism was interpreted as a matter of State or the government far, far removed from actual commoning experiences which were dismissed as belonging to either a “primitive social formation” or “backward,” “undeveloped,” economies.&#160; This began to change in 1955 as the second great theme of the 20th century – the national liberation struggles of colonies from European empires – congealed on the world stage.&#160; These two themes – the Communist Revolution and the national liberation struggles – provide essential background to the birth of SNCC and SDS.&#160; Again, let us take up the pick and the bowl.</p>
<p>Indonesia</p>
<p>In 1955 a meeting of Asian and African nations met in Indonesia.&#160; They were seeking a third way, neither Communist nor Capitalist, aligned with neither the USSR nor the USA.&#160; Chou en Lai (China), Nehru (India), Nasser (Egypt), and Sukarno (Indonesia) were some of the leaders present.&#160; This movement of ex-colonies formed the block of non-aligned nations in 1960 that met in Belgrade. These independent entities were results of that liberation, Yugoslavia after World War One, India and Indonesia after World War Two.</p>
<p>Richard Wright was present at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955 and wrote a book about it, The Color Curtain. Wright was the writer who understood racism, the working-class, and Chicago.&#160; He was born in 1908 in Mississippi, the grandchild of slaves.&#160; He moved to Chicago and joined the Communist Party. His 1940 photo essay of the workers in the American south was an eloquent visual preliminary to the Civil Rights movement of the Rosa Parks generation and the Montgomery bus boycott.&#160; In 1940 too he composed Native Son, the unparalleled study of male proletarian rage in a racist society.&#160; In the Sixties, however, Third Worldism was the American optic of internationalism.&#160; It was deliberately and self-consciously revolutionary in its rejection of the U.S.A.</p>
<p>He saw it as a meeting of “The despised, the insulted, the hurt, the dispossessed – in short, the underdogs of the human race were meeting.”&#160; Of the American newsmen he met “they had no philosophy of history with which to understand Bandung.”&#160; He prepared himself for the trip by devising a questionnaire and using it as a basis of conversation with fellow travelers on trains and planes (78 of these questions are included in The Color Curtain). Were you educated by missionaries?&#160; What do you think of capital punishment?&#160; Is it ever justifiable to use the atomic bomb?&#160; Do national inferiority feelings find expression in your country?&#160; Do you want to see your country industrialized?&#160; Do you think that a classless society, in an economic sense, is possible?&#160; Here again is the empirical pick at work:&#160; the student asks questions, the student interrogates her subject, and then listens.</p>
<p>“With us land has always been communal,” replied one Indonesian.&#160; Not one of the Asians he spoke to defended “that most sacred of all Western values: property.”&#160; An Indonesian man summed up the recent history of his country, “Now the common people are not getting benefits from that revolution.&#160; That’s why today we are threatened with another revolution.”</p>
<p>90 per cent of the land in the outer islands was under shifting cultivation or swidden agriculture; they had no notion of private property in land nor was production for commerce.&#160; It was common.&#160; High bio-diversity is maintained, with very high nutrient content stored in soil and in the biotica.&#160; The swidden plot is not a “field” but a miniature forest.&#160; By contrast Java and inner Indonesia under rice cultivation, or sawah, depends on terraces and elaborate irrigation systems carrying water, algae, and nitrogen.&#160; Seeds from nurseries instead of broadcast. The 1870 Agrarian Land Law proclaimed that “waste” land was government property.&#160; It inaugurated the Corporate Plantation.&#160; Pepper, rubber, and coffee were produced on the plantation for export.&#160; Village lands were pre-empted.&#160; The involution of life, the ranking system, and evisceration of village rights followed.&#160; In 1950s local peasants took over roughly half the plantations but made dense, vague, and dispirited communities.</p>
<p>Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1924-2006), the Indonesian novelist of Dutch imperialism, was imprisoned on Buru island between 1965 and 1979.&#160; He describes life there in The Mute’s Soliloquy, “But the Buru interior was not empty; there were native people living off that piece of earth long before the arrival of the political prisoners forced them to leave their land and huts behind.&#160; Then, as the prisoners converted the savanna into fields, the native people watched their hunting grounds shrink in size.&#160; Even the area’s original place names were stolen from them and they, too, were calling the area ‘Unit 10.’”&#160; He was lucky I suppose, because perhaps one million, certainly several hundred thousand, Indonesians were massacred between 1965 and 1966.&#160; Henry Kissinger and the CIA was complicit in this mass slaughter.</p>
<p>Kenya</p>
<p>In 1952 the indigenous movement for independence from the British empire began in Kenya.&#160; Guerrilla forces in the forests attacked the imperialists on the plantations.&#160; They formed the Land and Freedom Army but the British called them Mau Mau, and the name stuck.&#160; The colonials ruling Kenya adopted the Swynnerton Plan in 1954, a massive land grab.&#160; Cash cropping and land titling destroyed traditional communal economies in favor of a system based on commodity production.&#160; It effectively led to the confiscation of lands and “the consolidation and enclosure”. Public grazing lands were closed. Forced labor terraced the land to make coffee plantations. “One no longer feared to push aside traditional customs.”&#160; Women and children suffered most.&#160; Women’s entitlement to communal lands disappeared. A million men and women were forced into detention centers and concentration camps.&#160; It is against a background of mass hangings and concentration camps part of the notorious British campaign against the Land Freedom Army. &#160;Male leaders failed to articulate a position in favor of women’s access to land.&#160; Kenya attained independence in 1963.</p>
<p>The experience of Mau Mau is partly described in Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Weep Not Child (1964) and A Grain of Wheat (1967).&#160; In Detroit, 14 February 1965, Malcolm X explained that Mau Mau frightened the white man throughout the colonial world. The U.S. FBI Counterintelligence Program and J. Edgar Hoover warned that “an effective coalition of black nationalist groups might be the first step toward a real ‘Mau Mau’ in America, the beginning of a true black revolution.” Malcolm, ‘our shining black prince,’ was assassinated a week later.</p>
<p>SNCC</p>
<p>The number of students doubled in the decade of the 1960s; there were actually more students than farmers.&#160; The University had become the focal point of national growth. These youngsters were militants, the militants were students. University at the time didn’t cost much.&#160; There were however fewer of them. Still, students were relatively privileged.</p>
<p>In the spring of 1960 there was the execution in San Quentin of Caryl Chessman by gassing.&#160; There was the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa.&#160; These shocked the young idealists of the time.&#160; Then there was the approval of the birth control pill which seemed to open the way to massive love-making.&#160; Ed Sanders wrote,</p>
<p>“two roads seemed to split the American vista fun revolution”</p>
<p>Revolution or fun, were the alternatives in America.&#160; The fun corrupted into porn, the revolution into its opposite.&#160; The American vista became an ugly horizon of terror.</p>
<p>The jubilee we observe is one for students not for the New Left which in any case began in 1956. SNCC and SDS sang their songs, expressed their hopes, plotted their campaigns, danced their dances, took the hand of history saying good-bye to the old. These new dances started out as a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. It was fifty years ago.&#160; Now fifty years is the jubilee of something.&#160; Jubilee used to mean (the pick digs deep) emancipation, debt cancellation, return of lands, the reclamation of commons, and rest.&#160; In ‘bringing it back and taking it forward’ we could do worse than these ancient near eastern practices.</p>
<p>February 1, 1960 the sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and a few weeks later in April Ella Baker brought together the students who founded SNCC.&#160; Howard Zinn, a young professor, helped out the SNCC students.&#160; He wrote of them, “They have no closed vision of the ideal community.&#160; They are fed up with what has been; they are open to anything new and are willing to start from scratch.”&#160; “They are young radicals; the word ‘revolution’ occurs again and again in their speech.&#160; Yet they have no party, no ideology, no creed.”&#160; They believed in action, and their actions spoke louder than words.</p>
<p>A 19-year old white student wrote, “the University is not much different than a giant marketplace of mediocrity, an extension of a corrupt, warped, illusion-ridden, over-commercialized, superficial society … whose basic purpose seems to be turning out students to be good citizens – dead, unconscious automatons in our hysterically consuming society…&#160; I want to work in the South as this seems to be the most radical (to the core), crucial, and important place to begin to try and enlarge the freedom of humanity.”</p>
<p>SNCC stood for non-violent direct action, the ‘beloved community,’ and for anti-racism. As students they stayed up all night talking about existentialism, philosophy, theology, French literature.&#160; They did it in jail not the class room.&#160; From its credo composed at Raleigh, N.C., 1960.&#160; “We affirm the philosophical or religious ideal of nonviolence as the foundation of our purpose, the presupposition of our faith, and the manner of our action … Love is the central motif of nonviolence … “ They appealed to conscience and the moral nature of human existence.&#160; It was philosophy, or spirituality, or love that enabled them to take a beating and by doing so beat down segregation.</p>
<p>Howard Zinn wrote that the best approach is boldness in moving into a situations where interracial contact will take place, and then patience in letting them develop.”&#160; Things began to get desperate in the winter of 1960-61 in McComb County, Mississippi, as local forces prevented even Federal food from being provisioned to the hungry and starving.&#160; Instead caravans of clothing and food from Michigan, some from Ann Arbor, began to arrive.&#160; This was a kind of commoning, though no one called it that at the time.</p>
<p>Staughton Lynd remembers a SNCC staff meeting in 12 June 1964.&#160; He wrote, “Several staff members said this week: I’m ready to die, but I need a program worth dieing for.&#160; … I think that both for the movement’s effectiveness and for its morale there really must be more thinking as to program.”&#160; A few days later Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney were assassinated.&#160; So, voter registration and membership in the Democratic Party became the “program” as a default for want of having done that thinking as to program, and even they were betrayed at the Atlantic City convention that summer, by the Dems, the liberals, and the UAW.&#160; The question remains, What is the Program to Die for?</p>
<p>SDS</p>
<p>In 1901 Upton Sinclair spoke at the founding of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society which was to become League for Industrial Democracy.&#160; “Since the professors would not educate the students, it was up to the students to educate the professors.”&#160; Early on Jack London said, “Raise your voices one way or the other; be alive.”</p>
<p>In August 1959 SLID (Student League for Industrial Democracy) changed its name to SDS and in the following spring the first SDS convention was held here in Ann Arbor. “Human Rights in the North” was the conference’s name. SNCC vitalized the meeting.&#160; The students were black and white, from the north and south.&#160; The UAW provided a grant. “To look for radical alternatives to the inadequate society.”&#160; Dwight MacDonald spoke on “The Relevance of Anarchism.” The students asked, “What is happening to us, where are we going, what can we do?”</p>
<p>The preamble to its constitution affirmed that SDS “maintains a vision of a democratic society, where all levels the people have control of the decisions which affect them and the resources on which they are dependent.”&#160; At the beginning they are drawing upon and revising classic socialist and anarchist ideas but without taking a stand in the stultifying Cold War ideologies.&#160; Al Haber wrote in 1961 “The synthesis continually in our mind is that which unites vision and relevance.”</p>
<p>Ed Sanders, the poet, summarized the Port Huron Statement (1962), which, he writes,</p>
<p>“cut free of Cold War commie-noia &amp; free of the do-nothing component of the labor movement”</p>
<p>The Statement was produced in an interesting way.&#160; In the summer of 1961 questionnaires were sent out to the entire membership asking it for its views. The answers were then sent to all asking for changes.&#160; These became the basis of another submission to the membership and further review.&#160; Tom Haydon prepared a draft for the Port Huron conference.&#160; There workshops discussed each issue, and both big issues (bones) and little ones (widgets) were submitted for discussion and vote at a plenary meeting.&#160; This then became the basis of a final draft.</p>
<p>“We are the inheritors and the victims of a barren period in the development of human values.”&#160; “the role of the intellectuals and of the universities (and therefore, I think, SDS) is to enable people to actively enjoy the common life and feel some sense of genuine influence over their personal and collective affairs”</p>
<p>SDS members were questioners whose investigations thoughtfully and empirically gathered knowledge in a way similar to that followed by Karl Marx or Richard Wright.&#160; And then they attempted to put this knowledge to work.&#160; SDS formed economic research and action projects (ERAP). “Student” comes from Latin, meaning to be eager, or zealous, or diligent.</p>
<p>SDS it stood for participatory democracy and anti-anti-communism. SNCC stood for anti-racism and the ‘beloved community.’ Thus each came close to naming the commons.&#160; Both may be considered heirs of Merry Mount and Haymarket.&#160; However, both skirted the idea in important ways, one with a nimbus of spirituality and the other with the convolution of a double-negative (anti-anti-communism) which made it difficult to grasp and develop the idea.</p>
<p>After the summer of 1964 the Movement began to change under the impact of the looming war in Vietnam and then the nefarious activity of the COINTEL program of the FBI.&#160; SNCC began to respond to the call for ‘Black Power’ which issued from the black proletariat of the northern cities and at the same time it became increasingly conscious of the international dimension of national liberation movements.&#160; Martin Luther King moved to Chicago.&#160; SDS began to disintegrate after the Democratic Convention of 1968 when the blue meanies of Chicago ran amok.</p>
<p>Black Panthers</p>
<p>Although the symbol itself arose from the voter registration campaigns of the south (Lowndes county), the Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, quickly became an organization of the urban north and west, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego, Denver, Newark, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington D.C. The Party’s Ten Point program included employment, housing, health care, justice, peace, and education.&#160; It began as a self-defense organization against police brutality and quickly developed other forms of autonomous living, most notably, the free breakfast programs for children, the free medical clinics for the sick and infirm, the door-to-door health services, and the free schooling.&#160; The Panthers began to wield both ‘the point of the pick’ in recovering African American history, and ‘the bowl of seeds’ in the creation of equitable community. In Chicago Fred Hampton was effective in bringing about a nonaggression pact among the street gangs persuading them to desist from crime and by teaching the elements of solidarity in the class struggle.&#160; He formed alliances with other organizations.&#160; It was he who coined the expression “the rainbow coalition.”&#160; The Chicago police and the FBI assassinated him in December 1969.&#160; He had said, “You can kill the revolutionary but not the revolution.”</p>
<p>Now, having sketched the history of May Day and linked it to the jubilee of SNCC and SDS, we arrive at the third task of this sketch, the invitation of Pres. Barack Obama to join the immigrants rights march in Detroit this afternoon of May Day, after having completed his Commencement address to the students at Michigan’s Big House.&#160; By all means let him come, but let him come as one man, a person among many, but not as Prez. As such he is too entangled in the toils of the ruling class.&#160; A few days ago for instance he directed the largest immigration raid in American history, 800 officers of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in South Tucson.</p>
<p>Obama and You</p>
<p>Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995), is a compelling biography, and it remains a commercial success.&#160; Notice it is about “dreams.”&#160; It is a “story.”&#160; It is about an “inheritance.” The biographical approach underestimates historical forces. In searching for his father in Indonesia, Kenya, and to a father-like patrimony in Chicago he underestimates the historical experience of the fathers. Both in Kenya and in Java the fathers avoided the deaths attendant on the terrorizing enclosure of common lands, but the defeat nevertheless affected them, even while they seemed to prosper in new petroleum-related jobs. &#160; We need to understand the dreams of his fathers’ generation before they were wiped out by terror, massacre, imprisonment, loss. We want to see through Obama as if he were a window and not a mirror of our projections.&#160; We are a collective subjectivity.&#160; Moreover, the surge of historical change makes it possible in long-life times to pass through individual changes. America is full of second-acts, and make-overs.&#160; Can we grasp the living spirit of human experience, hold it in our hand?</p>
<p>Our identity stems not just our fathers, it is not just our family; our humanity must scale upwards beyond genetic lineages. Who are we to become? The big forces – war, globalization, climate change, automobilism, expropriation from land – arise through time and the conflict of classes:&#160; between the rulers and the ruled (power), the many and the few (numbers), the haves and the have-nots (possessions), the working-class and the capitalist class (20th century), the privatizer and the commoner (21st century).&#160; Prophetic generalization requires us to adhere to historical specificity.</p>
<p>When the boy, Obama, arrived in Indonesia his stepfather fetched him.&#160; “We stopped at the common, where one of Lolo’s men was grazing a few goats….”&#160; Obama learned how to box, to take a punch, and to deal with beggars but the commons was being expropriated.&#160; Silence awaited him.&#160; What were the dreams, not from his father, but of his father? Obama’s step-father in Indonesia had survived the massacres of 1965-6.&#160; Moreover, he prospered to the extent that he obtained employment in the petroleum industry.&#160; By the time he enters the young Obama’s life, he has put the past behind him. Yet, the present is nothing more than the accumulated past.</p>
<p>Obama’s biological father in Kenya also survived and prospered during the struggle for freedom from the imperial government of Great Britain. Fanon taught us to understand these movements as both freedom movements or movements of bourgeois nationalism. What were the aspirations of Mau Mau?&#160; For if bourgeois nationalism expressed the right-wing aspect of the liberation struggle, what was the left-wing aspect?&#160; It depended on a relationship to the forest and commoning.&#160; They were smashed by British terrorism, i.e. concentration camps and hangings.&#160; When Obama came to Chicago, there too he fell into a time of silence, repression, defeat.</p>
<p>In Indonesia, Africa, and Chicago the writers, Toer, Fanon, and Wright provide us the materials, the clues, to understanding the structural silences through which Obama’s fathers suffered. For in all of those writers it is not difficult to discern elements of commoning as a relation to land, to community, and to class. The anchors of doctrine, or union-and-party, or schooling provided no purchase in the storm. Neither political programs nor the movements to the commons could any longer maintain the revolutionary struggle.</p>
<p>Class consciousness is the knowledge that emancipation is ours.&#160; Class struggle is the fight for it, the fight to be a class, and then the fight to abolish the class system.&#160; It is not economistic; it is historical.&#160; It was concrete not abstract. It was expressed in real voices, voices of the past and voices of the present. The skill is in the listening.</p>
<p>The pick pierces the soil or shale.&#160; The pick also acts as a lever.&#160; Thus, the usefulness of the pick arises from two functions.&#160; It penetrates its subject, and it dislodges it.&#160; As historians we do the same.&#160; It takes energy from the past to heat and light the present.&#160; The lever-and-fulcrum uses distance to increase force. The class of working people can move the world.&#160; We need to recognize one another.&#160; The bowl of seeds is an artefact of preservation.&#160; It permits a future life. So, look at these seeds from our past – the 8-hour day, commoning, non-violent direct-action, one big union, song, satyagraha, participatory democracy – and watch them grow.&#160;&#160; They require sufficient aeration which we provide by talking and debate; they require plenty of watering which our considered and righteous action supplies. Then, they germinate in many forms, horizontal unionism, solidarity economics, commoning, autonomous living, and the Detroit Social Forum.</p>
<p>Fellow-worker Obama is welcome, not his executive power, not his personification of sovereignty.&#160; Our power however arises from our class, and it is that which we must make.&#160; Hence, you and I are urgently needed in Detroit.</p>
<p>PETER LINEBAUGH teaches history at the University of Toledo. <a href="" type="internal">The London Hanged</a> and (with Marcus Rediker) <a href="" type="internal">The Many-Headed Hydra: the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic</a>. His essay on the history of May Day is included in <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external">Serpents in the Garden</a>. His latest book is the <a href="" type="internal">Magna Carta Manifesto</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:plineba@yahoo.com" type="external">plineba@yahoo.com</a></p>
<p />
<p>Further Reading</p>
<p>Leigh Brownhill, Land, Food, Freedom: Struggles for the Gendered Commons in Kenya (Africa World Press: Trenton, N.J., 2009)</p>
<p>Clifford Geertz, Agricultural Involution: The Process of Ecological Change in Indonesia (Berkeley, 1963)</p>
<p>James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the first Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America (Pantheon Books: New York, 2006)</p>
<p>Andrej Grubacic (ed.), From Here to There: The Staughton Lynd Reader (Oakland: PM Press, 2010)</p>
<p>Thomas Morton, The New English Canaan (1637).</p>
<p>Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (New York, 1995).</p>
<p>Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS (New York, 1973)</p>
<p>Ed Sanders, America: A History in Verse: The 20th Century, 4 volumes (Woodstock, N.Y., 2000, 2004, 2008)</p>
<p>Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply (Boston: South End Press, 2000)</p>
<p>Pramoedya Ananta Toer, The Mute’s Soliloquy, translated by Willem Samuels (Penguin, 1999)</p>
<p>Richard Wright, The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference (Cleveland, 1956)</p>
<p>Howard Zinn, The New Abolitionists (South End Press, 2002)</p>
<p>PETER LINEBAUGH teaches history at the University of Toledo. <a href="" type="internal">The London Hanged</a> and (with Marcus Rediker) <a href="" type="internal">The Many-Headed Hydra: the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic</a>. His essay on the history of May Day is included in <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external">Serpents in the Garden</a>. His latest book is the <a href="" type="internal">Magna Carta Manifesto</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:plineba@yahoo.com" type="external">plineba@yahoo.com</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external" /> &#160;</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | ann arbor michigan observe movement desire bring troops home iraq afghanistan 600 bases release political prisoners establishment commons librarylot opposition blatant racism benton harbor freedom palestine support rather dismissals school teachers opposition proliferation asphalt parking lots favor gardening bicycles trees remembering name burg support upcoming detroit social forum160 loose network called bringing back taking forward helped revive movement us understand war banking scandal sickness home foreclosures symptoms civilization finished yet neither christian militia tea party bag scholars among us lament closure shaman drum great bookstore ruefully note excellent english language bookstore flourishes oaxaca mexico160 backward alan haber founder students democratic society fifty years ago ann arbor nowadays directs megiddo project seeks replace god battles peaceful conversation round table built160 asked sketch short may day pamphlet bringing together first history may day second celebration jubilee 50th anniversary student nonviolent coordinating committee sds third invitation barack obama speak may day michigan football stadium join immigrant rights march afternoon detroit problem ventured alan160 bring together three subjects students immigrants power160160 begin need methodology first methodological principle starts aneurin bevan welsh coal miner went install national health system britain160 would remind everyone else forget everything starts point pick160 days continuous miner coal hewed even crafted said underground coalface160 energy industrialization began methodological principle puts worker center history coal miner center industrial working class we160 also need symbol reproduction vandana shiva indian feminist advocate suggest one issued international warning taking seeds women thus power160 seed farmer merely source future plants food storage place culture history bowl seeds hidden scientific agronomists pay monsanto international genetic engineers knights gene snatchers quips alan160 invisible work reproduction surrounds history160 commons often invisible generally care women second methodological principle let us proceed methodology basis point pick seeds bowl hammer sickle day160 pick takes things apart may act metaphor analysis bowl holds stuff together may stand synthesis pick analysis economics production thrives realm inanimate bowl synthesis social reproduction realm animate160 crucial operations historical thinking consider history may day merry mount north america began immigrants english immigrants massachusetts two minds160 gloomy puritans wanted isolate city hill accepted hospitality native people either made sick went war them160160 thomas morton hand arriving 1624 wanted enjoy life together natives160 envisioned life based abundance rather scarcity160 three years later celebrated may day giant maypole goodly pine tree eighty feet long reared pair buckhorns nailed somewhat near unto top william bradford coming mayflower landed plymouth rock thought indians instruments antichrist160 thomas morton crew wrote also set maypole drinking dancing many days together inviting indian women consorts dancing frisking together like many fairies furies rather worse practices160 anew revived celebrated feats roman goddess flora beastly practices mad bacchanalians morton taught indians use firearms puritan myles standish attacked destroyed early rainbow gathering morton twice deported puritans twice exonerated england died maine bradford gets one thing right160 may day old nearly universal one form another160 festival planting fertility germination160 community rite social reproduction years later nathaniel hawthorn bemoaned road taken160 taken yet might add160 circular bowl seeds symbolizes day several senses picking away time easily find commons haymarket merry mount 1627 haymarket 1886 two half centuries passed160 empire diminished england 1776 nation founded bankers established slavery advanced army navy manifested destiny pick analysis take coal miners railroad builders ditch diggers160 bowl synthesis apprehend together make force history160 force includes commons space autonomy independent capital privatization 1886 iron workers molders union struck mccormicks works chicago setting train events led infamous haymarket bombing hanging four workers modern may day160 lets pick apart160 first workers struck 8hour day160 center post civil war movement industrial workers want feel sunshine want smell flowers sure god willed mean eight hours summoning forces shipyard shop mill eight hours work eight hours rest eight hours second many irish immigrants brought knowledge famine knowledge struggle molly maquires anthracite fields pennsylvania decade earlier160 remembered day rope june 1877 first series twenty hangings irish coal miners pennsylvania160 third chicago workers making machine reap grasses grains north american prairies160 machine presupposed robbery lands indigenous people lakota comanche apache métis canada fourth point analysis160 socalled productivity would result globalization food grain meat passed chicago great lakes hungry bellies europe b shortsighted agriculture would result disastrous dust bowl two generations later chicago hub world food organization forward base conquest common lands prairies strike suppressed soldiers worker killed160 class conscious workers chicago protested160 irish poles socialists anarchists catholics communards former blues yankees former grays confederates joined howl outrage160 albert parsons former confederate soldier whose consciousness awakened civil war join forces former slaveslaves present wageslaves marrying lucy parsons part african american part native american summarized haymarket gathering assembled representatives disinherited truly one way another immigrants dispossessed present means production capital past subsistence commons lands origins160 furthermore soldiers attacking chicago workers learned kill indian wars expropriate indigenous peoples communal systems160 era critique capitalism elaborated many hands160 time swung pick greater point karl marx unlike pure theorists asked workers thought inquiry hundred questions haymarket chicago stick dynamite thrown crowd police it160 deed anarchist socialist activist hell broke loose160 spectacular terrible trial held unfair every respect sam fielden augustus spies albert parsons oscar neebe michael schwab adolph fischer george engel louis lingg found guilty160 on160 november 11 1887 despite international campaign four hanged preparing way gilded age american capitalism chicago never world labor movement160 one hand chicago became center brutish capitalism led gangsters al capone hand multiethnic working class arose mississippi mexico poland ireland writers carl sandburg nelson algren richard wright told us it160 chicago idea quite dead notion revolutionary unionism combine militant union mass action160 remembrance los mártires may day became worldwide day workers 8hour day pick workers bowl commons must take us jubilee sds sncc160 path direct coal miners overcome ethnic language divisions deliberately instilled bosses united mine workers america formed 1890160 mother jones born may day 1838 co cork ireland160 1901 pennsylvania urging wives miners form militia wielding brooms banging pots pans160 prosecutor called dangerous woman america160 1905 chicago helped found wobblies iww industrial workers world whose preamble stated working class employing nothing common160 peace long hunger want found among millions working people make employing class good things life160 mother jones urged us pray dead fight like hell living common lands within program 160yet commons land labor became anticapitalist dream rulers try establish control reproduction walls fences ice terror detention160 rulers population policy controlling birth rates death rates eugenics family allowance maternity leave abortion john ruskin called illth opposite health wealth160 rulers attempt organize structures labor markets skillsets levels education immigration policies160160 american history slaughter disease weapons indigenous slavery immigration weapons workers160 fact terror always instrument commons believe early agreements bosses addition birthday coal miners mothers motherinlaws birthdays paid days off160 indicates community women backed miners160160 oscar ameringer immigrant often called mark twain american socialism wrote miners union illinois pseudonym adam coaldigger acknowledged miner access commons hunting fishing yet miner couldnt mine day half night go hunt fish coal miners backed union organizing great depression epic decisive event 20th century least one bolshevik revolution russia 1917160 cold war usa ussr occupied ideas institutions politics world160 usa went far shift workers holiday first september pretended may day russian holiday160 russian revolution communism interpreted matter state government far far removed actual commoning experiences dismissed belonging either primitive social formation backward undeveloped economies160 began change 1955 second great theme 20th century national liberation struggles colonies european empires congealed world stage160 two themes communist revolution national liberation struggles provide essential background birth sncc sds160 let us take pick bowl indonesia 1955 meeting asian african nations met indonesia160 seeking third way neither communist capitalist aligned neither ussr usa160 chou en lai china nehru india nasser egypt sukarno indonesia leaders present160 movement excolonies formed block nonaligned nations 1960 met belgrade independent entities results liberation yugoslavia world war one india indonesia world war two richard wright present bandung indonesia 1955 wrote book color curtain wright writer understood racism workingclass chicago160 born 1908 mississippi grandchild slaves160 moved chicago joined communist party 1940 photo essay workers american south eloquent visual preliminary civil rights movement rosa parks generation montgomery bus boycott160 1940 composed native son unparalleled study male proletarian rage racist society160 sixties however third worldism american optic internationalism160 deliberately selfconsciously revolutionary rejection usa saw meeting despised insulted hurt dispossessed short underdogs human race meeting160 american newsmen met philosophy history understand bandung160 prepared trip devising questionnaire using basis conversation fellow travelers trains planes 78 questions included color curtain educated missionaries160 think capital punishment160 ever justifiable use atomic bomb160 national inferiority feelings find expression country160 want see country industrialized160 think classless society economic sense possible160 empirical pick work160 student asks questions student interrogates subject listens us land always communal replied one indonesian160 one asians spoke defended sacred western values property160 indonesian man summed recent history country common people getting benefits revolution160 thats today threatened another revolution 90 per cent land outer islands shifting cultivation swidden agriculture notion private property land production commerce160 common160 high biodiversity maintained high nutrient content stored soil biotica160 swidden plot field miniature forest160 contrast java inner indonesia rice cultivation sawah depends terraces elaborate irrigation systems carrying water algae nitrogen160 seeds nurseries instead broadcast 1870 agrarian land law proclaimed waste land government property160 inaugurated corporate plantation160 pepper rubber coffee produced plantation export160 village lands preempted160 involution life ranking system evisceration village rights followed160 1950s local peasants took roughly half plantations made dense vague dispirited communities pramoedya ananta toer 19242006 indonesian novelist dutch imperialism imprisoned buru island 1965 1979160 describes life mutes soliloquy buru interior empty native people living piece earth long arrival political prisoners forced leave land huts behind160 prisoners converted savanna fields native people watched hunting grounds shrink size160 even areas original place names stolen calling area unit 10160 lucky suppose perhaps one million certainly several hundred thousand indonesians massacred 1965 1966160 henry kissinger cia complicit mass slaughter kenya 1952 indigenous movement independence british empire began kenya160 guerrilla forces forests attacked imperialists plantations160 formed land freedom army british called mau mau name stuck160 colonials ruling kenya adopted swynnerton plan 1954 massive land grab160 cash cropping land titling destroyed traditional communal economies favor system based commodity production160 effectively led confiscation lands consolidation enclosure public grazing lands closed forced labor terraced land make coffee plantations one longer feared push aside traditional customs160 women children suffered most160 womens entitlement communal lands disappeared million men women forced detention centers concentration camps160 background mass hangings concentration camps part notorious british campaign land freedom army 160male leaders failed articulate position favor womens access land160 kenya attained independence 1963 experience mau mau partly described ngugi wa thiongo weep child 1964 grain wheat 1967160 detroit 14 february 1965 malcolm x explained mau mau frightened white man throughout colonial world us fbi counterintelligence program j edgar hoover warned effective coalition black nationalist groups might first step toward real mau mau america beginning true black revolution malcolm shining black prince assassinated week later sncc number students doubled decade 1960s actually students farmers160 university become focal point national growth youngsters militants militants students university time didnt cost much160 however fewer still students relatively privileged spring 1960 execution san quentin caryl chessman gassing160 sharpeville massacre south africa160 shocked young idealists time160 approval birth control pill seemed open way massive lovemaking160 ed sanders wrote two roads seemed split american vista fun revolution revolution fun alternatives america160 fun corrupted porn revolution opposite160 american vista became ugly horizon terror jubilee observe one students new left case began 1956 sncc sds sang songs expressed hopes plotted campaigns danced dances took hand history saying goodbye old new dances started cup coffee lunch counter fifty years ago160 fifty years jubilee something160 jubilee used mean pick digs deep emancipation debt cancellation return lands reclamation commons rest160 bringing back taking forward could worse ancient near eastern practices february 1 1960 sitin woolworth lunch counter greensboro north carolina weeks later april ella baker brought together students founded sncc160 howard zinn young professor helped sncc students160 wrote closed vision ideal community160 fed open anything new willing start scratch160 young radicals word revolution occurs speech160 yet party ideology creed160 believed action actions spoke louder words 19year old white student wrote university much different giant marketplace mediocrity extension corrupt warped illusionridden overcommercialized superficial society whose basic purpose seems turning students good citizens dead unconscious automatons hysterically consuming society160 want work south seems radical core crucial important place begin try enlarge freedom humanity sncc stood nonviolent direct action beloved community antiracism students stayed night talking existentialism philosophy theology french literature160 jail class room160 credo composed raleigh nc 1960160 affirm philosophical religious ideal nonviolence foundation purpose presupposition faith manner action love central motif nonviolence appealed conscience moral nature human existence160 philosophy spirituality love enabled take beating beat segregation howard zinn wrote best approach boldness moving situations interracial contact take place patience letting develop160 things began get desperate winter 196061 mccomb county mississippi local forces prevented even federal food provisioned hungry starving160 instead caravans clothing food michigan ann arbor began arrive160 kind commoning though one called time staughton lynd remembers sncc staff meeting 12 june 1964160 wrote several staff members said week im ready die need program worth dieing for160 think movements effectiveness morale really must thinking program160 days later goodman schwerner chaney assassinated160 voter registration membership democratic party became program default want done thinking program even betrayed atlantic city convention summer dems liberals uaw160 question remains program die sds 1901 upton sinclair spoke founding intercollegiate socialist society become league industrial democracy160 since professors would educate students students educate professors160 early jack london said raise voices one way alive august 1959 slid student league industrial democracy changed name sds following spring first sds convention held ann arbor human rights north conferences name sncc vitalized meeting160 students black white north south160 uaw provided grant look radical alternatives inadequate society160 dwight macdonald spoke relevance anarchism students asked happening us going preamble constitution affirmed sds maintains vision democratic society levels people control decisions affect resources dependent160 beginning drawing upon revising classic socialist anarchist ideas without taking stand stultifying cold war ideologies160 al haber wrote 1961 synthesis continually mind unites vision relevance ed sanders poet summarized port huron statement 1962 writes cut free cold war commienoia amp free donothing component labor movement statement produced interesting way160 summer 1961 questionnaires sent entire membership asking views answers sent asking changes160 became basis another submission membership review160 tom haydon prepared draft port huron conference160 workshops discussed issue big issues bones little ones widgets submitted discussion vote plenary meeting160 became basis final draft inheritors victims barren period development human values160 role intellectuals universities therefore think sds enable people actively enjoy common life feel sense genuine influence personal collective affairs sds members questioners whose investigations thoughtfully empirically gathered knowledge way similar followed karl marx richard wright160 attempted put knowledge work160 sds formed economic research action projects erap student comes latin meaning eager zealous diligent sds stood participatory democracy antianticommunism sncc stood antiracism beloved community thus came close naming commons160 may considered heirs merry mount haymarket160 however skirted idea important ways one nimbus spirituality convolution doublenegative antianticommunism made difficult grasp develop idea summer 1964 movement began change impact looming war vietnam nefarious activity cointel program fbi160 sncc began respond call black power issued black proletariat northern cities time became increasingly conscious international dimension national liberation movements160 martin luther king moved chicago160 sds began disintegrate democratic convention 1968 blue meanies chicago ran amok black panthers although symbol arose voter registration campaigns south lowndes county black panther party founded 1966 quickly became organization urban north west chicago los angeles detroit san diego denver newark new york boston philadelphia pittsburgh cleveland seattle washington dc partys ten point program included employment housing health care justice peace education160 began selfdefense organization police brutality quickly developed forms autonomous living notably free breakfast programs children free medical clinics sick infirm doortodoor health services free schooling160 panthers began wield point pick recovering african american history bowl seeds creation equitable community chicago fred hampton effective bringing nonaggression pact among street gangs persuading desist crime teaching elements solidarity class struggle160 formed alliances organizations160 coined expression rainbow coalition160 chicago police fbi assassinated december 1969160 said kill revolutionary revolution sketched history may day linked jubilee sncc sds arrive third task sketch invitation pres barack obama join immigrants rights march detroit afternoon may day completed commencement address students michigans big house160 means let come let come one man person among many prez entangled toils ruling class160 days ago instance directed largest immigration raid american history 800 officers ice immigration customs enforcement south tucson obama obamas book dreams father story race inheritance 1995 compelling biography remains commercial success160 notice dreams160 story160 inheritance biographical approach underestimates historical forces searching father indonesia kenya fatherlike patrimony chicago underestimates historical experience fathers kenya java fathers avoided deaths attendant terrorizing enclosure common lands defeat nevertheless affected even seemed prosper new petroleumrelated jobs 160 need understand dreams fathers generation wiped terror massacre imprisonment loss want see obama window mirror projections160 collective subjectivity160 moreover surge historical change makes possible longlife times pass individual changes america full secondacts makeovers160 grasp living spirit human experience hold hand identity stems fathers family humanity must scale upwards beyond genetic lineages become big forces war globalization climate change automobilism expropriation land arise time conflict classes160 rulers ruled power many numbers haves havenots possessions workingclass capitalist class 20th century privatizer commoner 21st century160 prophetic generalization requires us adhere historical specificity boy obama arrived indonesia stepfather fetched him160 stopped common one lolos men grazing goats160 obama learned box take punch deal beggars commons expropriated160 silence awaited him160 dreams father father obamas stepfather indonesia survived massacres 19656160 moreover prospered extent obtained employment petroleum industry160 time enters young obamas life put past behind yet present nothing accumulated past obamas biological father kenya also survived prospered struggle freedom imperial government great britain fanon taught us understand movements freedom movements movements bourgeois nationalism aspirations mau mau160 bourgeois nationalism expressed rightwing aspect liberation struggle leftwing aspect160 depended relationship forest commoning160 smashed british terrorism ie concentration camps hangings160 obama came chicago fell time silence repression defeat indonesia africa chicago writers toer fanon wright provide us materials clues understanding structural silences obamas fathers suffered writers difficult discern elements commoning relation land community class anchors doctrine unionandparty schooling provided purchase storm neither political programs movements commons could longer maintain revolutionary struggle class consciousness knowledge emancipation ours160 class struggle fight fight class fight abolish class system160 economistic historical160 concrete abstract expressed real voices voices past voices present skill listening pick pierces soil shale160 pick also acts lever160 thus usefulness pick arises two functions160 penetrates subject dislodges it160 historians same160 takes energy past heat light present160 leverandfulcrum uses distance increase force class working people move world160 need recognize one another160 bowl seeds artefact preservation160 permits future life look seeds past 8hour day commoning nonviolent directaction one big union song satyagraha participatory democracy watch grow160160 require sufficient aeration provide talking debate require plenty watering considered righteous action supplies germinate many forms horizontal unionism solidarity economics commoning autonomous living detroit social forum fellowworker obama welcome executive power personification sovereignty160 power however arises class must make160 hence urgently needed detroit peter linebaugh teaches history university toledo london hanged marcus rediker manyheaded hydra hidden history revolutionary atlantic essay history may day included serpents garden latest book magna carta manifesto reached plinebayahoocom reading leigh brownhill land food freedom struggles gendered commons kenya africa world press trenton nj 2009 clifford geertz agricultural involution process ecological change indonesia berkeley 1963 james green death haymarket story chicago first labor movement bombing divided gilded age america pantheon books new york 2006 andrej grubacic ed staughton lynd reader oakland pm press 2010 thomas morton new english canaan 1637 barack obama dreams father story race inheritance new york 1995 kirkpatrick sale sds new york 1973 ed sanders america history verse 20th century 4 volumes woodstock ny 2000 2004 2008 vandana shiva stolen harvest hijacking global food supply boston south end press 2000 pramoedya ananta toer mutes soliloquy translated willem samuels penguin 1999 richard wright color curtain report bandung conference cleveland 1956 howard zinn new abolitionists south end press 2002 peter linebaugh teaches history university toledo london hanged marcus rediker manyheaded hydra hidden history revolutionary atlantic essay history may day included serpents garden latest book magna carta manifesto reached plinebayahoocom 160 | 3,351 |
<p>Illustration: Jeffrey Smith</p>
<p>Pattern: Target is broke and thinks he can make big money by catering to informant’s suggestions.</p>
<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Derrick Shareef</a> was 22 and desperate for cash to fix his car when <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231597-sentencingshareef.html" type="external">an informant approached him at the video game store</a> where he worked in the fall of 2006. The informant, a career criminal, offered Shareef a vehicle, a place to live, and free meals at his house. It was the day before Ramadan, and Shareef, who’d been on the outs with his family since converting to Islam at age 15, saw the offer as an act of God. Weeks later, he told the informant <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231598-shareefcomplaint.html" type="external">he wanted to attack a courthouse and “smoke a judge.”</a> The informant suggested attacking a shopping mall at Christmas instead. Shareef excitedly agreed; since he was still broke, he traded an “arms dealer”—in fact an undercover FBI agent—a set of speakers for some grenades and a 9 mm handgun.</p>
<p>Charge: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-nsd-872.html" type="external">Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction</a></p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/September/08-nsd-872.html" type="external">35 years</a></p>
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<p>Pattern: Target is a newcomer to Islam with only a rudimentary understanding of the religion; often also broke and/or homeless.</p>
<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Michael Finton</a> converted to Islam while in prison for robbery and, while out on parole, wrote letters to John Walker Lindh, <a href="http://www.justice.gov/ag/criminalcomplaint1.htm#N_1_" type="external">the American student who joined the Taliban</a>. Parole officers found out about the letters while searching his car and told the FBI. The bureau sent in an informant—another prison convert who, according to an FBI affidavit, may have been dealing drugs while working for the bureau. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231600-fintoncomplaint.html" type="external">Together with yet another undercover operative, Finton hatched a car-bomb plot</a> targeting the federal building in Springfield, Illinois.</p>
<p>Charges: <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/springfield/press-releases/2011/si050911.htm" type="external">Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction</a></p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/springfield/press-releases/2011/si050911.htm" type="external">28 years</a></p>
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<p>Pattern: Target swears a fictitious Al Qaeda oath made up by informant; is charged and convicted based on that oath</p>
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<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Tarik Shah</a>, an accomplished jazz bassist (he <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/49392463/Victims-of-Preemptive-Prosecution" type="external">played Bill Clinton’s inauguration</a>) and martial-arts studio owner, met FBI informant Mohamed Alanssi <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/11/nyregion/11terror.html?pagewanted=print" type="external">through an Islamic bookstore in New York City</a>. For two years, Alanssi kept in contact with Shah but got nothing incriminating out of him. So the FBI turned to a second informant, <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-02-05/news/year-of-the-rats/" type="external">Theodore Shelby, an ex-convict and former Black Panther</a>. He recorded conversations that showed Shah as a man obsessed with his martial-arts prowess and a desire to train Muslims in hand-to-hand combat. In one exchange, Shah talked about how he could <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E2D71631F93BA35756C0A9619C8B63" type="external">use the sharp pin that his bass rested on to kill someone</a>. Eventually, Shelby introduced him to an Arabic-speaking FBI agent who led Shah and a friend in an oath to Al Qaeda. The oath became a key piece of evidence in his conviction.</p>
<p>Charge: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/November07/shahsentencingpr.pdf" type="external">Conspiring to provide material support to terrorists</a></p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/November07/shahsentencingpr.pdf" type="external">15 years</a> (PDF)</p>
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<p>Pattern: Target and informant hatch plot together; FBI supplies vehicle, “explosives,” and phone to trigger the supposed bomb.</p>
<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Hosam Smadi</a>, an 18-year-old Jordanian living outside Dallas, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231609-smadicomplaint.html" type="external">came to the FBI’s attention in an extremist chat room</a>. An undercover agent befriended Smadi and introduced him to two more agents posing as members of an Al Qaeda sleeper cell. They hatched a plan to bomb <a href="http://www.fountainplace.com/leasing/bildfeat.asp" type="external">Fountain Place, an iconic Dallas skyscraper</a>. On September 24, 2009, the FBI provided Smadi with what they said was a car bomb; he drove it into the building’s parking garage and dialed the number he believed would trigger the bomb.</p>
<p>Charges: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel10/smadi_sen_pr.html" type="external">Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction</a></p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel10/smadi_sen_pr.html" type="external">24 years</a></p>
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<p>Pattern: FBI agent or informant offers to train target as a jihadist, most often via weapons instruction and bodybuilding.</p>
<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Marwan el-Hindi</a> was a Jordanian-born naturalized citizen with a string of fraudulent businesses. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231613-hindisentencing.html" type="external">He met Darren Griffin</a>, a former US Army Special Forces member and FBI informant, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231611-hindiorder.html" type="external">at his mosque</a> and asked him about weapons training. From then on, Griffin stayed close to el-Hindi, taking online terrorist training classes with him, working out at a gym, and doing target practice. Griffin, who is referred to in bureau documents as “the Trainer,” spent more than three years cultivating his target before the FBI arrested el-Hindi in February 2006.</p>
<p>Charges: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-nsd-1136.html" type="external">Conspiring to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure another person outside of the United States</a>; conspiring to provide material support to terrorists; distributing information on explosives</p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-nsd-1136.html" type="external">13 years</a></p>
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<p>Pattern: With the exception of one attempt to bomb the New York City subway, all the headline-grabbing subway “plots” you’ve heard of were FBI-led nonstarters.</p>
<p>Case study: <a href="" type="internal">Farooque Ahmed</a> was a 34-year-old Pakistani computer engineer living in a middle-class suburb of Washington, DC, with his English-born wife and baby. He’d worked for Ericsson and a Verizon contractor, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/farooque-ahmed/a/795/ba0" type="external">according to his LinkedIn profile</a>. In the spring of 2010, he came to know two men he believed to be Al Qaeda representatives, and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231575-ahmedindictment.html" type="external">they met several times in northern Virginia hotel rooms</a>, where Ahmed provided pictures, videos, and sketches of Washington Metro stations. He also told the men, who were FBI assets, that he had been training for an attack by studying martial arts as well as <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/231628-ahmedstatement.html" type="external">knife and gun techniques</a>. He was arrested with great fanfare, though the government took care to point out that “at no time was the public in danger.”</p>
<p>Charge: Attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization; <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2011/04/20110411ahmednr.html" type="external">collecting information to assist a terrorist attack</a></p>
<p>Sentence: <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2011/04/20110411ahmednr.html" type="external">23 years</a></p> | true | 4 | illustration jeffrey smith pattern target broke thinks make big money catering informants suggestions case study derrick shareef 22 desperate cash fix car informant approached video game store worked fall 2006 informant career criminal offered shareef vehicle place live free meals house day ramadan shareef whod outs family since converting islam age 15 saw offer act god weeks later told informant wanted attack courthouse smoke judge informant suggested attacking shopping mall christmas instead shareef excitedly agreed since still broke traded arms dealerin fact undercover fbi agenta set speakers grenades 9 mm handgun charge attempted use weapon mass destruction sentence 35 years 160 pattern target newcomer islam rudimentary understanding religion often also broke andor homeless case study michael finton converted islam prison robbery parole wrote letters john walker lindh american student joined taliban parole officers found letters searching car told fbi bureau sent informantanother prison convert according fbi affidavit may dealing drugs working bureau together yet another undercover operative finton hatched carbomb plot targeting federal building springfield illinois charges attempted use weapon mass destruction sentence 28 years 160 pattern target swears fictitious al qaeda oath made informant charged convicted based oath 160 case study tarik shah accomplished jazz bassist played bill clintons inauguration martialarts studio owner met fbi informant mohamed alanssi islamic bookstore new york city two years alanssi kept contact shah got nothing incriminating fbi turned second informant theodore shelby exconvict former black panther recorded conversations showed shah man obsessed martialarts prowess desire train muslims handtohand combat one exchange shah talked could use sharp pin bass rested kill someone eventually shelby introduced arabicspeaking fbi agent led shah friend oath al qaeda oath became key piece evidence conviction charge conspiring provide material support terrorists sentence 15 years pdf 160 pattern target informant hatch plot together fbi supplies vehicle explosives phone trigger supposed bomb case study hosam smadi 18yearold jordanian living outside dallas came fbis attention extremist chat room undercover agent befriended smadi introduced two agents posing members al qaeda sleeper cell hatched plan bomb fountain place iconic dallas skyscraper september 24 2009 fbi provided smadi said car bomb drove buildings parking garage dialed number believed would trigger bomb charges attempted use weapon mass destruction sentence 24 years 160 pattern fbi agent informant offers train target jihadist often via weapons instruction bodybuilding case study marwan elhindi jordanianborn naturalized citizen string fraudulent businesses met darren griffin former us army special forces member fbi informant mosque asked weapons training griffin stayed close elhindi taking online terrorist training classes working gym target practice griffin referred bureau documents trainer spent three years cultivating target fbi arrested elhindi february 2006 charges conspiring kill kidnap maim injure another person outside united states conspiring provide material support terrorists distributing information explosives sentence 13 years 160 pattern exception one attempt bomb new york city subway headlinegrabbing subway plots youve heard fbiled nonstarters case study farooque ahmed 34yearold pakistani computer engineer living middleclass suburb washington dc englishborn wife baby hed worked ericsson verizon contractor according linkedin profile spring 2010 came know two men believed al qaeda representatives met several times northern virginia hotel rooms ahmed provided pictures videos sketches washington metro stations also told men fbi assets training attack studying martial arts well knife gun techniques arrested great fanfare though government took care point time public danger charge attempting provide material support terrorist organization collecting information assist terrorist attack sentence 23 years | 560 |
<p>Have Arabs and Jews always been enemies?</p>
<p>The title refers to a common belief used to justify the eternal conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and the current offensive in Gaza. But that supposed ontology of hatred is false. Arabs and Jews lived together for centuries under Moorish control of Andaluz in the Spanish empire. After the Inquisition, the Sephardic Jews were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire in Egypt, Northern Africa and the Levant, and for 500 years they lived peacefully next to Arabs, Turkmens and Christians. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in Palestine the Jews constituted a small minority (5% of the population) integrated into a predominantly Arab society, with full freedom of worship. That situation began to change after the decline of the Ottoman Empire, when British and French imperialism signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1915, dividing up the Middle East between themselves. In Palestine, the British imposed a protectorate backed by an army of 500,000 soldiers. With the objective of restraining the Palestinian Arab nationalist movements, in 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, supporting the formation of a "Jewish national home in Palestine," a partner of the English. That Declaration was edited by Zionist leaders, thus showing the unity of purpose between the colonialist endeavor and imperialist power. Despite this course, the history of the Palestinian workers' movement before the foundation of the State of Israel shows the real bonds of solidarity between Arab and Jewish workers, in fighting for common objectives.</p>
<p>Concentrated in ports, communications, railroads, the metallurgical industry, oil refineries, and big bakeries, hundreds of thousands of Arab and Jewish workers carried out tasks in common. This working class lived in the two big urban centers: Jaffa (the founding neighborhood of the future Tel Aviv) and Haifa, the main port and industrial center. The relationships of solidarity between Arabs and Jews were expressed in the bakers' union, declared to have an "international character" and "open to all the workers." The tendencies towards unity so worried the Zionists that they led to the intervention of their supreme strategist. David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Histadrut (the Zionist workers' federation) and future leader of the State of Israel, maintained that the Jewish workers should be organized in unions "linked," although "separate" from the Arabs, according to "national sections." Chaim Arlosoroff developed this orientation by assimilating the experience of South Africa, where the most skilled jobs were reserved for the whites, organized in separate unions from the Blacks. Thus, the Histadrut ended up expelling the militant communists of Jewish origin that were fighting for common unions. The Zionist labor federation put all its efforts into breaking the strikes led jointly by Arabs and Jews, like the conflict of April-May 1933 in the Nesher quarry. Under the slogan of kibush ha-avodah ("the conquest of labor"), the Histadrut was signing agreements with businessmen to replace the Arab labor force, in exchange for discipline at work. As a result of this racist and pro-employer policy, the PAWS [Palestinian Arab Workers? Society], the first union of Palestinian workers, established in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, emerged, that declared itself for unity, against Zionism and the independence of Palestine.</p>
<p>1948 broke the bonds of solidarity</p>
<p>Alarmed, both the Zionists and the effendis (Palestinian landowners) devised a course to sabotage that potential workers' unity. In 1929, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, together with the most reactionary Palestinian nationalist elite, launched a pogrom for four days. Hundreds of defenseless Jewish workers escaped death, thanks to the collaboration of their Arab comrades, that risked their very own lives by hiding them in their own residences. Also, during the great 1936 General Strike, that questioned the regime, British troops trained the Zionist militias of the Haganah (the "Jewish self-defense," created in 1920) as military units, to repress the picket lines of Arab workers, who were assisted on several occasions by their Jewish comrades. Meanwhile, the Histadrut strike-breakers occupied the jobs with Jewish wage-earners in the ports of Haifa, the big Majdal Yaba quarry, the citrus fruit plantations and the refineries of the transnational Iraq Petroleum, breaking the longest workers' conflict in the history of the Middle East.</p>
<p>Despite this divisive course, in April 1946, tens of thousands of Arab and Jewish workers returned to the arena, organized in the PAWS and the International Union of Railway, Postal and Telegraph Workers, launching a strike that brought public services to a standstill and blocked the functioning of the British military bases.</p>
<p>However, those bonds of solidarity had already begun to be broken after the murder of the union leader Sami Taha and the arbitrary UN resolution in November 1947 for the partition of Palestine in favor of the Jewish minority, opposed to the wishes for unity of the great masses, that triggered popular mobilizations in dissent. But the last straw was the terrorist attacks of December 1947, where the Etzel (the most right-wing detachment of the Haganah) exploded a car bomb among hundreds of Arab workers from a Haifa refinery, while the Palmach (the elite brigade of the Zionist left) took by storm the village of Balad al-Sheikh, murdering dozens of women and children. The foundation of the State of Israel in May 1948, based on the ethnic cleansing of a million Palestinians, expelled from their native lands, definitely closed this process, giving rise to a racist and colonialist state, source of all the sufferings of the Palestinian people up to our day.</p>
<p>General Yitzhak Rabin usually compared the State of Israel to the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem of the year 1099, established on the continuous immigration of combatants, that massacred Arabs and Jews for 192 years. For that very reason, the Palestinians remember Saladin, the great Kurdish General that defeated the Crusaders and reestablished peace among Arabs, Jews, and Christians, a perspective that now can only be directed by the workers and the peasants of the Middle East against that segregationist state, a strategic partner of US imperialism.</p> | true | 4 | arabs jews always enemies title refers common belief used justify eternal conflict israelis palestinians current offensive gaza supposed ontology hatred false arabs jews lived together centuries moorish control andaluz spanish empire inquisition sephardic jews welcomed ottoman empire egypt northern africa levant 500 years lived peacefully next arabs turkmens christians beginning twentieth century palestine jews constituted small minority 5 population integrated predominantly arab society full freedom worship situation began change decline ottoman empire british french imperialism signed sykespicot agreement 1915 dividing middle east palestine british imposed protectorate backed army 500000 soldiers objective restraining palestinian arab nationalist movements 1917 british government issued balfour declaration supporting formation jewish national home palestine partner english declaration edited zionist leaders thus showing unity purpose colonialist endeavor imperialist power despite course history palestinian workers movement foundation state israel shows real bonds solidarity arab jewish workers fighting common objectives concentrated ports communications railroads metallurgical industry oil refineries big bakeries hundreds thousands arab jewish workers carried tasks common working class lived two big urban centers jaffa founding neighborhood future tel aviv haifa main port industrial center relationships solidarity arabs jews expressed bakers union declared international character open workers tendencies towards unity worried zionists led intervention supreme strategist david bengurion leader histadrut zionist workers federation future leader state israel maintained jewish workers organized unions linked although separate arabs according national sections chaim arlosoroff developed orientation assimilating experience south africa skilled jobs reserved whites organized separate unions blacks thus histadrut ended expelling militant communists jewish origin fighting common unions zionist labor federation put efforts breaking strikes led jointly arabs jews like conflict aprilmay 1933 nesher quarry slogan kibush haavodah conquest labor histadrut signing agreements businessmen replace arab labor force exchange discipline work result racist proemployer policy paws palestinian arab workers society first union palestinian workers established haifa jaffa jerusalem emerged declared unity zionism independence palestine 1948 broke bonds solidarity alarmed zionists effendis palestinian landowners devised course sabotage potential workers unity 1929 mufti jerusalem haj amin alhusseini together reactionary palestinian nationalist elite launched pogrom four days hundreds defenseless jewish workers escaped death thanks collaboration arab comrades risked lives hiding residences also great 1936 general strike questioned regime british troops trained zionist militias haganah jewish selfdefense created 1920 military units repress picket lines arab workers assisted several occasions jewish comrades meanwhile histadrut strikebreakers occupied jobs jewish wageearners ports haifa big majdal yaba quarry citrus fruit plantations refineries transnational iraq petroleum breaking longest workers conflict history middle east despite divisive course april 1946 tens thousands arab jewish workers returned arena organized paws international union railway postal telegraph workers launching strike brought public services standstill blocked functioning british military bases however bonds solidarity already begun broken murder union leader sami taha arbitrary un resolution november 1947 partition palestine favor jewish minority opposed wishes unity great masses triggered popular mobilizations dissent last straw terrorist attacks december 1947 etzel rightwing detachment haganah exploded car bomb among hundreds arab workers haifa refinery palmach elite brigade zionist left took storm village balad alsheikh murdering dozens women children foundation state israel may 1948 based ethnic cleansing million palestinians expelled native lands definitely closed process giving rise racist colonialist state source sufferings palestinian people day general yitzhak rabin usually compared state israel crusader kingdom jerusalem year 1099 established continuous immigration combatants massacred arabs jews 192 years reason palestinians remember saladin great kurdish general defeated crusaders reestablished peace among arabs jews christians perspective directed workers peasants middle east segregationist state strategic partner us imperialism | 572 |
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<p>“The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”</p>
<p>—Alex Carey, author of Taking the Risk Out of Democracy. No corporation has surpassed General Electic's mastery of profit-maximization, or its use of public-relations ("corporate propaganda") to mask its true aims behind the widely-supported goals of expanding scientific horizons, "bringing good things to life" and rebuilding America's industrial base.</p>
<p>But sometimes the profit-maximization skills of GE's top executives and tax lawyers surpass the ability of its PR staff to put an appealing gloss on the company's conduct. For example, the disclosure that GE <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">racked up $14.2 billion</a> in profits in 2010 while paying no federal income taxes was not well-received by the American public.&#160;GE not only avoided paying any taxes, but even managed to collect $3.2 billion in federal tax credits. This occurred against a backdrop of GE continuing to slash its U.S. workforce by 32,000 jobs, from 165,000 to 133,000 over the 2004-2010 period.</p>
<p>For millions of American facing a shrinking supply of middle-class jobs, falling wages, and disappearing benefits, revelations about GE have fed a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">renewed hostility</a>&#160;to "free enterprise" and undoubtedly helped fuel the "Occupy" movement, now experiencing a spring resurgence.</p>
<p>"In my 25 years of dealing with GE, I have never seem them that embarrassed by any other issue, and so knocked off stride," said Chris Townsend, political director of the United Radio, Electrical and Machine workers (UE) union and a veteran of negotiations with GE over the past 25 years. "GE had so agitated even the mainstream media that the media sought us out," a rare occasion in the unionist's experience.</p>
<p>GE'S PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE</p>
<p>But major corporations like GE do not remain passive targets for public outrage. Instead, they plan carefully and mobilize vast resources to re-brand themselves in the public eye.&#160;With numerous stories about corporate taxes certain to appear around April 15, GE is eager to divert attention away from its paltry tax burden and focus the spotlight on its supposed mission of providing U.S. jobs by turning out products needed by Americans.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/06/1062272/--WhatWorks-for-GE-Dodging-Taxes" type="external">Kicking off</a> with the Super Bowl, GE has been filling the airwaves with ads aimed not at selling GE products to consumers, but at reassuring U.S. citizens that GE's driving mission is to meet human needs, provide deeply-satisfying work to its employees, and revitalize America's manufacturing base. The ads don't mention that&#160;the corporation&#160; <a href="http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2012/02/ge_tries_to_change_the_subject.php" type="external">paid an average of just 2.3%</a>&#160;in tax on its income over the last 10 years, according to&#160;Citizens for Tax Justice.</p>
<p>&#160;"We're seeing signs that GE has started to develop and spread a pro-active message," said Townsend. "It looks like they're trying to build a new image. I think it's aimed at serving as a dump-truck to dump the tax issue."</p>
<p>On its website, GE <a href="http://www.ge.com/stories/building-annual-report.html" type="external">says</a> it&#160;has created 13,000 jobs in the United States since 2009. But it is unlikely that the figure represents a net gain, since it has closed 18 plants and made significant job cuts during the same period, as I reported <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p>The GE ads skillfully trigger a sense of warmth as they show GE workers expressing pride in their skilled work, satisfaction in assisting severely-ill patients, a profound sense of teamwork crossing racial and gender lines, and a deeply-felt mission based on the slogan: "GE Works." To highlight just a few elements of GE's public-relations offensive:</p>
<p>1) In one ad, GE workers at the Waukesha, Wis. Medical Equipment Division, which makes magnetic resonance imaging machines, X-ray machines and other cutting-edge medical devices, are shown getting their-much-cherished wish of meeting a busload of cancer patients whose recovery was aided by GE's medical products.</p>
<p>Unmentioned, however, is the fact that GE has transferred the headquarters of the Medical Equipment Divisiion to Beijing, China. "Waukesha will not be doing GE's innovations, which will now be centered in China," said Chris Townsend.&#160;"This doesn't mean that the Waukesha plant will close right away, but the company's advances will be taking place in China and Waukesha will be making more out-of-date products. GE will be bringing in the new machines from China," Townsend adds.</p>
<p>The shift of the division's HQ is part of GE's <a href="http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/27/ge-moving-x-ray-business-to-china-what-message-is-sent-to-u-s/" type="external">$2 billion plan</a> fror new investment in China.</p>
<p>While GE has claimed that the shift of its Medical Equipment Division headquarters will not result in a net loss of jobs, employment in Waukesha has been cut by about 50 percent in recent years, Townsend estimates.</p>
<p>2) An ad aired during the Super Bowl this year (see above) is set at its Louisville Appliance Park: "See how GE employees in Louisville's Appliance Park are changing the way appliances are manufactured in the U.S., and how it's helping to create jobs."&#160; The ad includes a memorable scene where an African-American woman recounts how fortunate she was to find work at GE, as it occurred after the plant where she worked closed after 33 years.</p>
<p>But GE conveniently avoids the big picture on jobs at Louisville. The Appliance Park has lost about 80 to 90 percent of its jobs over the last two decades, Townsend says.&#160;</p>
<p>To its credit, the company&#160;is expanding the Louisville plant by 400 jobs—but only after wage concessions by the union [IUE] and "up to $17 million in city and state incentives," according to <a href="http://www.appliancemagazine.com/blog/?p=63" type="external">Appliance Magazine</a>.&#160;Furthermore, the company&#160;claims it will create 1,300 jobs in the U.S. after a $1 billion investment in its Appliance Division is completed.</p>
<p>3) GE's Schenectady, N.Y., steam-turbine plant is the focus of a third ad. "When you think about GE, do you you think about beer?" the GE website asks. " See how GE employees in Schenectady help power cities, schools, businesses... and even beer."</p>
<p>Working stiffs are supposed to value cold beer more than anything else, right? But some workers may be just a bit less taken by GE when they learn that GE eliminate abouty two-thirds to three-quarters of the jobs in the plant, according to Townsend.</p>
<p>We can expect that GE will keep up with its onslaught of TV ads depicting it as a company committed to manufacturing in America. GE also appears to be utilizing "third-party" voices—conservatives who show up repeatedly on TV talk shows—to defend the company's tax record, Townsend says.</p>
<p>He doesn't expect a thorough look at GE's overall record from the mainstream meida. "The major media never check on the discrepancy on GE's job forecasts and the actual number of jobs they produce," he says.</p>
<p>Moreover, GE can expect continued success with most mainstream reporters and pundits, ardent worshippers of "free trade," by claiming that opening more plants in Mexico and China will somehow generate more jobs in the U.S. because the company's consumer base has expanded.</p>
<p>"GE could open a plant on the moon, and a lot of the media would be saying, 'Oh, Jeez, now we can export to the moon," Townsend says.</p> | true | 4 | email name recipients email comma separated message captcha twentieth century characterized three developments great political importance growth democracy growth corporate power growth corporate propaganda means protecting corporate power democracy alex carey author taking risk democracy corporation surpassed general electics mastery profitmaximization use publicrelations corporate propaganda mask true aims behind widelysupported goals expanding scientific horizons bringing good things life rebuilding americas industrial base sometimes profitmaximization skills ges top executives tax lawyers surpass ability pr staff put appealing gloss companys conduct example disclosure ge racked 142 billion profits 2010 paying federal income taxes wellreceived american public160ge avoided paying taxes even managed collect 32 billion federal tax credits occurred backdrop ge continuing slash us workforce 32000 jobs 165000 133000 20042010 period millions american facing shrinking supply middleclass jobs falling wages disappearing benefits revelations ge fed a160 renewed hostility160to free enterprise undoubtedly helped fuel occupy movement experiencing spring resurgence 25 years dealing ge never seem embarrassed issue knocked stride said chris townsend political director united radio electrical machine workers ue union veteran negotiations ge past 25 years ge agitated even mainstream media media sought us rare occasion unionists experience ges propaganda offensive major corporations like ge remain passive targets public outrage instead plan carefully mobilize vast resources rebrand public eye160with numerous stories corporate taxes certain appear around april 15 ge eager divert attention away paltry tax burden focus spotlight supposed mission providing us jobs turning products needed americans kicking super bowl ge filling airwaves ads aimed selling ge products consumers reassuring us citizens ges driving mission meet human needs provide deeplysatisfying work employees revitalize americas manufacturing base ads dont mention that160the corporation160 paid average 23160in tax income last 10 years according to160citizens tax justice 160were seeing signs ge started develop spread proactive message said townsend looks like theyre trying build new image think aimed serving dumptruck dump tax issue website ge says it160has created 13000 jobs united states since 2009 unlikely figure represents net gain since closed 18 plants made significant job cuts period reported ge ads skillfully trigger sense warmth show ge workers expressing pride skilled work satisfaction assisting severelyill patients profound sense teamwork crossing racial gender lines deeplyfelt mission based slogan ge works highlight elements ges publicrelations offensive 1 one ad ge workers waukesha wis medical equipment division makes magnetic resonance imaging machines xray machines cuttingedge medical devices shown getting theirmuchcherished wish meeting busload cancer patients whose recovery aided ges medical products unmentioned however fact ge transferred headquarters medical equipment divisiion beijing china waukesha ges innovations centered china said chris townsend160this doesnt mean waukesha plant close right away companys advances taking place china waukesha making outofdate products ge bringing new machines china townsend adds shift divisions hq part ges 2 billion plan fror new investment china ge claimed shift medical equipment division headquarters result net loss jobs employment waukesha cut 50 percent recent years townsend estimates 2 ad aired super bowl year see set louisville appliance park see ge employees louisvilles appliance park changing way appliances manufactured us helping create jobs160 ad includes memorable scene africanamerican woman recounts fortunate find work ge occurred plant worked closed 33 years ge conveniently avoids big picture jobs louisville appliance park lost 80 90 percent jobs last two decades townsend says160 credit company160is expanding louisville plant 400 jobsbut wage concessions union iue 17 million city state incentives according appliance magazine160furthermore company160claims create 1300 jobs us 1 billion investment appliance division completed 3 ges schenectady ny steamturbine plant focus third ad think ge think beer ge website asks see ge employees schenectady help power cities schools businesses even beer working stiffs supposed value cold beer anything else right workers may bit less taken ge learn ge eliminate abouty twothirds threequarters jobs plant according townsend expect ge keep onslaught tv ads depicting company committed manufacturing america ge also appears utilizing thirdparty voicesconservatives show repeatedly tv talk showsto defend companys tax record townsend says doesnt expect thorough look ges overall record mainstream meida major media never check discrepancy ges job forecasts actual number jobs produce says moreover ge expect continued success mainstream reporters pundits ardent worshippers free trade claiming opening plants mexico china somehow generate jobs us companys consumer base expanded ge could open plant moon lot media would saying oh jeez export moon townsend says | 707 |
<p>Photo by kanu101 | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Real unemployment in the U.S. today hovers around <a href="http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp" type="external">8.3%</a>, afflicting more than 17 million people. This is roughly equivalent to the <a href="" type="internal">combined populations</a> of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. Over one third of the working age population has <a href="" type="internal">given up</a> looking for work.</p>
<p>On top of this, <a href="" type="internal">pundits project</a> that many more jobs will be lost to automation in the near future, with computers and robots replacing as many as 49% of the jobs now done by humans. The mechanization of dirty, dangerous, repetitive, mind-numbing tasks should be a blessing. Instead, the future is described in apocalyptic terms. Why?</p>
<p>The problem is rooted in the disingenuous narrative we are fed. Jobs, so the story goes, are mysterious, ephemeral things, whose comings and goings are largely beyond our control. The number of available jobs has to vary independently from the work that needs to be done and the number of people available to do it, or so we are told.</p>
<p>There is plenty of work that needs to be done –converting our energy industry to renewables, repairing and enhancing infrastructure, building housing for all who need it, improving student-teacher ratios, increasing healthcare and eldercare staff, and so much more. And there are millions looking for useful work. The disconnect between people wanting to work, work that needs to be done and the number of jobs that happen to be available only occurs if the guiding principle for job availability is profit. But when the needs of society as a whole are prioritized over the needs of wealthy few at the top, then achieving permanent, full employment is a piece of cake.</p>
<p>Productivity at Our Service</p>
<p>Today, the putative standard is a forty-hour workweek, with a concomitant eight-hour day. But for more than half of U.S. history, the workweek was longer. Not until 1898 did mineworkers win the eight-hour day. Two years later, the movement for a shorter workweek spread to the San Francisco Building Trades. By 1905, the eight-hour day was established coast-to-coast in the printing trades. The Ford Motor Company adopted the new shorter workweek in 1914. Railroad workers won the right in 1916. Only in 1937, with the adoption of the Fair Labor Standards Act, did the eight-hour day become the national standard. (While many today are compelled to work longer in order to make ends meet, the legal norm remains 40 hours.)</p>
<p>But since 1937, the productivity of American labor has increased more than six-fold! In other words, the value produced by a full day’s labor in 1937 would require less than two hours today.</p>
<p />
<p>So an obvious solution to unemployment presents itself: reduce the workweek with no reduction in pay.</p>
<p>If the workweek were reduced from 40 to 30 hours, it would create 53 million new jobs <a href="#_edn1" type="external">[1]</a>. This is more than three times the current number of unemployed. To fill all the remaining slots and maintain current production levels, we would have to plead with the governments of Mexico, Central America and elsewhere to send more immigrants our way!</p>
<p>Can we afford this? Absolutely. Up to now – and especially since 1973 – increases in productivity have been siphoned off as corporate profits and enriched only those at the top.</p>
<p />
<p>Implementing 30 hours work for 40 hours pay (“30-for-40”) would simply redirect newly produced wealth away from corporate profits and back into the pockets of those who produce it. Instead of all the benefits of automation and increased productivity going to the top 1%, 30-for-40 would allocate a greater share of those gains to working people.</p>
<p>Big Business Despises Full Employment</p>
<p>Not only would using 30-for-40 to eliminate unemployment directly cut into corporate profits, there are other side effects that corporate behemoths hate but working people would love.</p>
<p>To begin with, full employment would strengthen the working class vis-à-vis the 1%. With abundant, well-paying jobs for all, there would be no one a recalcitrant company could hire as strikebreakers if the workers organized to withhold their labor. It would be more difficult to harass and victimize union organizers because, with full employment, all workers would be harder to replace.</p>
<p>What’s more, less time at work leaves more time for other things. This would include time for rest, recreation, attention to family and exploring creative endeavors. But it would also allow extra time for education, organizing, getting involved and fighting back. In a world imbalanced by massive economic, social and political inequality, allowing the majority more time for education and organization is the last thing those at the top want to see.</p>
<p>Jobs For All vs. Universal Basic Income</p>
<p>Of course, basic human solidarity demands that anyone who is old, sick, disabled or otherwise unable to work should be provided for at society’s expense, with their medical care fully covered and living expenses provided at union wage scales. This can easily be paid for by reallocating funds from the oppressive military budget and by taxing corporate profits. This policy should be combined with a guarantee of a job for all who are able to work.</p>
<p>Lately, some have promoted the notion of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). To the extent that a UBI were funded by redistributing wealth from those at the top to those below – a principle that is by no means guaranteed by the concept – a UBI could be a positive reform. But a UBI is no substitute for a guarantee of jobs for all. Why not?</p>
<p>First and foremost, labor is power. The only power that can counter the concentrated riches of the ruling oligarchs is the collective organization of millions of every-day working people, who, as it happens, produce all of society’s wealth. The root of working class power is the fact that the labor of millions of people generates the riches enjoyed by those at the top, as well as the considerably smaller share currently allocated to the majority. By withholding their labor en mass, working people have ultimate veto power over any government policy. Guaranteeing jobs for all strengthens the ties of working people to production, maximizing the number participating in the labor force and, thus, the number who have a hand on the lever of society’s productive apparatus. A UBI by itself, by contrast, does nothing to reinforce people’s connection to work – that is, to the fundamental engine of wealth creation.</p>
<p>In addition, the rate of any UBI will necessarily be too low. There is a built-in imperative for a UBI to be small enough to encourage people to work. In order to induce people to work at all, the <a href="" type="internal">UBI has to be inadequate</a> (or “barely adequate”) to live on by itself. But in the absence of guaranteed jobs for all, “encouraging people to work” means compelling them to compete for an insufficient number of low paying positions. When the supply of labor exceeds its demand in available jobs, wages are driven down, all other things being equal. And if the UBI is to be low enough to encourage people to work, it must ultimately follow wages downward. So, contrary to the assertion of UBI boosters that it would exert upward pressure on wages, a UBI without a job guarantee is just as likely to lead to a race to the bottom.</p>
<p>A UBI is also susceptible to <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/143758/mark-zuckerberg-gets-wrong-ubi" type="external">other kinds of manipulation</a>. If a UBI is used to justify cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment compensation and other social programs, it’s <a href="" type="internal">all too easy</a> for the programs replaced to be inadequately covered by the UBI, or for some sectors of the population to benefit at the expense of others.</p>
<p>A UBI can be used to pit employed workers against those without jobs. And, a UBI would do little to address conditions on the job or provide more than a palliative remedy for the unjust distribution of gains from increased automation and productivity.</p>
<p>A job guarantee is different. It would establish a principle that strengthens the hand of working people as a whole. And the concept of “jobs for all” is automatically adjustable: As productivity or the relative size of the work force increases, the workweek can be reduced from 30, to 25 or fewer hours to spread the remaining work around. That’s what a rational society, freed from profit-driven tyranny would do.</p>
<p>The next time some pundit or politician tells you we can’t guarantee jobs for all, recognize that they’re playing you for a chump. They’re drawing an artificial box and counting on you not thinking outside it. Remind them that their assertion is only true if profits are prioritized over human needs. Explain that 30-for-40 solves the problem handily, at great benefit to the vast majority. And who knows? With guaranteed jobs for all, even narrow-minded pundits and politicians might be able to find socially useful work.</p>
<p>Notes.</p>
<p><a href="#_ednref1" type="external">[1]</a> There are <a href="https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&amp;graph_name=LN_cpsbref1" type="external">160 million</a> workers today. (160 million * <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat19.htm" type="external">40 hours</a>) = (213.3 million * 30 hours), with (213 million – 160 million) = 53 million. Or: (160 million * 38.7 hours) = (215.7 million * 28.7 hours), with (215 million – 160 million) = 55 million.</p> | true | 4 | photo kanu101 cc 20 real unemployment us today hovers around 83 afflicting 17 million people roughly equivalent combined populations new york city los angeles chicago houston one third working age population given looking work top pundits project many jobs lost automation near future computers robots replacing many 49 jobs done humans mechanization dirty dangerous repetitive mindnumbing tasks blessing instead future described apocalyptic terms problem rooted disingenuous narrative fed jobs story goes mysterious ephemeral things whose comings goings largely beyond control number available jobs vary independently work needs done number people available told plenty work needs done converting energy industry renewables repairing enhancing infrastructure building housing need improving studentteacher ratios increasing healthcare eldercare staff much millions looking useful work disconnect people wanting work work needs done number jobs happen available occurs guiding principle job availability profit needs society whole prioritized needs wealthy top achieving permanent full employment piece cake productivity service today putative standard fortyhour workweek concomitant eighthour day half us history workweek longer 1898 mineworkers win eighthour day two years later movement shorter workweek spread san francisco building trades 1905 eighthour day established coasttocoast printing trades ford motor company adopted new shorter workweek 1914 railroad workers right 1916 1937 adoption fair labor standards act eighthour day become national standard many today compelled work longer order make ends meet legal norm remains 40 hours since 1937 productivity american labor increased sixfold words value produced full days labor 1937 would require less two hours today obvious solution unemployment presents reduce workweek reduction pay workweek reduced 40 30 hours would create 53 million new jobs 1 three times current number unemployed fill remaining slots maintain current production levels would plead governments mexico central america elsewhere send immigrants way afford absolutely especially since 1973 increases productivity siphoned corporate profits enriched top implementing 30 hours work 40 hours pay 30for40 would simply redirect newly produced wealth away corporate profits back pockets produce instead benefits automation increased productivity going top 1 30for40 would allocate greater share gains working people big business despises full employment would using 30for40 eliminate unemployment directly cut corporate profits side effects corporate behemoths hate working people would love begin full employment would strengthen working class visàvis 1 abundant wellpaying jobs would one recalcitrant company could hire strikebreakers workers organized withhold labor would difficult harass victimize union organizers full employment workers would harder replace whats less time work leaves time things would include time rest recreation attention family exploring creative endeavors would also allow extra time education organizing getting involved fighting back world imbalanced massive economic social political inequality allowing majority time education organization last thing top want see jobs vs universal basic income course basic human solidarity demands anyone old sick disabled otherwise unable work provided societys expense medical care fully covered living expenses provided union wage scales easily paid reallocating funds oppressive military budget taxing corporate profits policy combined guarantee job able work lately promoted notion universal basic income ubi extent ubi funded redistributing wealth top principle means guaranteed concept ubi could positive reform ubi substitute guarantee jobs first foremost labor power power counter concentrated riches ruling oligarchs collective organization millions everyday working people happens produce societys wealth root working class power fact labor millions people generates riches enjoyed top well considerably smaller share currently allocated majority withholding labor en mass working people ultimate veto power government policy guaranteeing jobs strengthens ties working people production maximizing number participating labor force thus number hand lever societys productive apparatus ubi contrast nothing reinforce peoples connection work fundamental engine wealth creation addition rate ubi necessarily low builtin imperative ubi small enough encourage people work order induce people work ubi inadequate barely adequate live absence guaranteed jobs encouraging people work means compelling compete insufficient number low paying positions supply labor exceeds demand available jobs wages driven things equal ubi low enough encourage people work must ultimately follow wages downward contrary assertion ubi boosters would exert upward pressure wages ubi without job guarantee likely lead race bottom ubi also susceptible kinds manipulation ubi used justify cuts medicaid food stamps unemployment compensation social programs easy programs replaced inadequately covered ubi sectors population benefit expense others ubi used pit employed workers without jobs ubi would little address conditions job provide palliative remedy unjust distribution gains increased automation productivity job guarantee different would establish principle strengthens hand working people whole concept jobs automatically adjustable productivity relative size work force increases workweek reduced 30 25 fewer hours spread remaining work around thats rational society freed profitdriven tyranny would next time pundit politician tells cant guarantee jobs recognize theyre playing chump theyre drawing artificial box counting thinking outside remind assertion true profits prioritized human needs explain 30for40 solves problem handily great benefit vast majority knows guaranteed jobs even narrowminded pundits politicians might able find socially useful work notes 1 160 million workers today 160 million 40 hours 2133 million 30 hours 213 million 160 million 53 million 160 million 387 hours 2157 million 287 hours 215 million 160 million 55 million | 830 |
<p>Recently Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, used particularly bloodthirsty language to announce success there. “We’ve got our teeth in the enemy’s jugular now, and we’re not going to let go,” he <a href="http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/an-uncharacteristically-upbeat-general-in-afghanistan/?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss" type="external">said</a> after a morning staff briefing in January. Petraeus has used this type of imagery before. In his latest guidance for counterinsurgency (known within the military as COIN) efforts in Afghanistan, <a href="http://isaf-live.webdrivenhq.com/from-the-commander/from-the-commander/comisaf-s-counterinsurgency-guidance.html" type="external">issued</a> last August, Petraeus wrote that what U.S. troops and their allies needed was to “get our teeth into the insurgents and don’t let go.” It seemed to me almost as if he was channeling retired major-general-turned-author Ira Hunt. (In the early 1970s, Hunt was quoted as favoring “pounding the shit” out of Vietnamese enemies he referred to as “bastards,” “sonofabitches” or “gooks.”)</p>
<p>Hyperbolic talk like this is, of course, the stock in trade of many military men. But there’s another side to David Petraeus. A soldier-scholar and Princeton Ph.D., “King David,” as he’s known to fans and detractors alike, literally wrote the book on COIN — having overseen the revision of FM 3-24, the military’s counterinsurgency field manual, in 2005-2006. Petraeus revived the strategy — long discredited and shunned in military circles — that went down in flames with the American defeat in Vietnam. Supposedly a kinder, gentler brand of warfare, counterinsurgency is geared toward winning the “hearts and minds” of the people, and Petraeus knew it well, since his 1987 doctoral dissertation was titled “The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Ira A. Hunt</p>
<p />
<p>The University Press of Kentucky, 216 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>The kinder, gentler side of Petraeus is heard from mostly in his COIN guidance to U.S. troops in Afghanistan: “[U]se only the firepower needed to win a fight … if we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate. … Treat the Afghan people and their property with respect.” That is, of course, the essence of COIN: Use the rifle instead of the bomb, or better yet use the knife, protect the civilian population and their property, facilitate good governance and offer economic opportunity. Win hearts and minds. But although he’s been Mr. Nice Guy on paper, in the field Petraeus has decidedly been the guy looking to go for the throat. Again, he reminded me of Ira Hunt.</p>
<p>Since Petraeus took command in Afghanistan, airstrikes — which were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html?_r=2&amp;adxnnl=1&amp;adxnnlx=1300316530-7TUKpxpqLfCCXyHGV+uY5g" type="external">curtailed</a> by his predecessor, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, before he was laid low by a Rolling Stone <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-runaway-general-20100622" type="external">article</a> — have gone through the roof, <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/afghan-ultra-violence-petraeus-triples-air-war/" type="external">tripling</a> in number last fall and then <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/afghan-air-war-doubles-now-10-attacks-per-day/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WiredDangerRoom+%28Blog+-+Danger+Room%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader" type="external">doubling</a> the January 2010 rate in the new year. Kick-down-the-door night raids, which have alienated many and provoked repeated outcries from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/world/asia/16night.html" type="external">tripled</a> too. For the first time, big U.S. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111806856.html?hpid=topnews&amp;sid=ST2010111806890" type="external">battle tanks</a> — much like the ones the Soviets used in the 1980s — have been deployed to provide, said one officer, “awe, shock and firepower.” (Yes, you read it right: shock and awe.) U.S. forces are also meting out home destruction as never before in Afghanistan, reportedly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/asia/17afghan.html" type="external">blowing up</a> hundreds of houses thought to be booby-trapped and even blasting <a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/13/travels_with_paula_i_a_time_to_build" type="external">villages</a> off the map, as Afghan farmers abandon their homes, fields and crops and <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jzzE8msiIeXxtnJDa4HhG8fFelpg?docId=CNG.e093538b06af08f7cd61c9c19c18d0fc.741" type="external">stream</a> out of the countryside into Kabul’s expanding <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/south-asia/displaced-civilians-gravitate-to-kabul-slums" type="external">slums</a>. It all made me wonder whether David Petraeus was taking a page from “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam,” that is, whether he was reading from Ira Hunt’s playbook.</p>
<p>To see long excerpts from “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam” at Google Books, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=mdTpf0fPtCIC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=9th+infantry+division+in+Vietnam&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=DrCCTdjvLYLCsAOh4ayDAg&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CEQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" type="external">click here</a>.</p>
<p>Ira “Jim” Hunt’s “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam: Unparalleled and Unequaled” chronicles a unit that carried out a particularly heavy-handed version of counterinsurgency in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The shocking thing is, you wouldn’t know it from reading Hunt’s book.</p>
<p>One would expect a history of the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam to address long-standing allegations that the division wiped out thousands of civilians using heavy firepower. One would assume it would mention the division commander’s oft-noted obsession with the notorious “body count.” One would imagine that the book would attempt to explain how the division reportedly killed almost 11,000 armed enemy fighters, in just one operation, but recovered fewer than 800 weapons. One would suppose that somewhere in its close to 200 pages the author would at least give the name of the infamous operation that so many prior books and articles have called into question. But nowhere does Hunt dare to mention “Speedy Express.” It’s almost as if he wants us to forget it ever existed. The reason might be that Ira Hunt was, in fact, the No. 2 commander of the 9th Division during the operation.</p>
<p>Over the course of his new book, Hunt — a West Point grad who also studied at the French engineering school at Grenoble and worked for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara before serving in Vietnam — offers, in painstaking detail, the official history of the efforts of the “Old Reliables” in Southeast Asia from May 1968 to July 1969, complete with numerous black-and-white photographs and 20 tables filled with statistics. In his introduction, he explains his motives for writing the book as twofold: first to “enlighten those who disparage the division’s combat record in eliminating the enemy and pacifying the Mekong Delta region” and also “to provide examples of the bravery and dedication of all the 9th Division soldiers” who fought in the sweltering far south of Vietnam against an enemy the Americans called the VC (shorthand for Viet Cong or Vietnamese communists).</p>
<p>In page after page, Hunt chronicles tactical innovations, lauds American combat triumphs and obsessively reiterates that the 9th Infantry Division’s methods — that is, his methods — were incredibly effective in “stunning and eliminating the enemy” and enabling troops to “scarf up groups of guerillas and VCIs” (Viet Cong Infrastructure — civilians who worked for the Vietnamese revolution). All of this, Hunt reminds us again and again, was done for the purpose of “accelerating pacification.”</p>
<p>In many ways, “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam” rehashes much of the material included in “Sharpening the Combat Edge,” an official history written as part of an Army program to develop “future operational concepts” that he co-authored in 1974 with the late Julian Ewell, who commanded the 9th Division in 1968-1969. Unlike Hunt’s latest volume, that book at least contains an oblique reference to criticisms made about the unit. Ewell and Hunt defensively noted, “The 9th Infantry Division … [has] been criticized on the grounds that ‘their obsession with body count’ was either basically wrong or else led to undesirable practices.” In Hunt’s latest offering there is only a handful of mentions of “body count” — the main indicator of success in America’s war of attrition in Vietnam — and the lack of references to that core concept, like so much else missing from the book, is conspicuous by its absence.</p>
<p>In a military where “if it’s dead and Vietnamese it’s VC” became standard operating procedure, Ewell — who came to be called “the Butcher of the Mekong Delta” — and Hunt were especially known to be fixated on stacking up Vietnamese bodies without, contemporaries observed, much care as to whether they were armed guerrillas or innocent civilians. In his 2002 memoir, “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts,” the late David Hackworth, who took command of one of the 9th Division’s infantry battalions in January 1969, wrote of the overwhelming pressure to produce high body counts. “[A] lot of innocent Vietnamese civilians got slaughtered because of the Ewell-Hunt drive to have the highest count in the land,” he wrote. He also noted that when Hunt submitted a recommendation for a citation, citing a huge kill ratio — the number of Vietnamese killed to the number of Americans lost — he left out the uncomfortable fact that “the 9th Division had the lowest weapons-captured-to-enemy-killed ratio in Vietnam.” In May 1970, a whistle-blower from within the division wrote a letter to Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland (who had previously been the top American commander in Vietnam) charging that he had “information about things as bad as My Lay.” He reported, however, not one massacre like My Lai, where U.S. troops slew more than 500 civilians, or even a handful of mass killings, but, instead, official command policies that had led to the slaughter of thousands of innocents:</p>
<p>Sir, the 9th Division did nothing to prevent the killing, and by pushing the body the [sic] count so hard, we were “told” to kill many times more Vietnamese than at My Lay, and very few per cents of them did we know were enemy. ….</p>
<p>In case you don’t think I mean lots of Vietnamese got killed this way, I can give you some idea how many. A batalion would kill maybe 15 to 20 a day. With 4 batalions in the Brigade that would be maybe 40 to 50 a day or 1200 to 1500 a month, easy. (One batalion claimed almost 1000 body counts one month!) If I am only 10% right, and believe me its lots more, then I am trying to tell you about 120-150 murders, or a My Lay each month for over a year. …</p>
<p>In that letter and two more sent the following year to other high-ranking generals, the whistle-blower reported that artillery, airstrikes and helicopter gunships had wreaked havoc on populated areas. He also singled out Ira Hunt as one of the prime reasons for civilian casualties. “Hunt, who was our Brigade Commander for awhile and then was an assistant general … used to holler and curse over the radio and talk about the goddamn gooks, and tell the gunships to shoot the sonofabitches, this is a free fire zone,” he wrote. He said that Hunt “didn’t care about the Vietnamese or us, he just wanted the most of everything, including body count” and that “Hunt was … always cussing and screaming over the radio from his C and See [Command and Control helicopter] to the GIs or the gunships to shoot some Vietnamese he saw running when he didn’t know if they had a weapon or was women or what.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Ira A. Hunt</p>
<p>The University Press of Kentucky, 216 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>Maj. William Taylor Jr., an officer in the 9th Division headquarters under Ewell, had a similar recollection of Hunt from his days in the Mekong Delta. Now a retired colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Taylor told me, during a 2008 interview, about flying over rice paddies with Hunt. “He said something to the pilot, and all of a sudden the door gunner was firing a .60-caliber machine gun out the door, and I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ He said, ‘See those black pajamas down there in the rice paddies? They’re Viet Cong. We just killed two of them.’&#160;” Immediately afterward, Hunt spoke again to the pilot. “He was talking body count,” Taylor said. Later he questioned Hunt about how he could identify guerrillas from the helicopter, without seeing weapons or receiving ground fire. “He said, ‘Because they’re wearing black pajamas.’ I said, ‘Well, sir, I thought workers in the fields wore black pajamas.’ He said, ‘No, not around here. Black pajamas are Viet Cong.’&#160;“</p>
<p>In multiple interviews, retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, who commanded the 9th Division’s five artillery battalions during his 1968-69 tour, talked to me about Ewell’s heavy emphasis on body count. When asked if Hunt also pressed for the same, Gard responded, “Big time.” “Jim Hunt dubbed himself ‘Rice Paddy Daddy,’&#160;” Gard recalled, referring to Hunt’s radio call sign. “He went berserk.”</p>
<p>I’ve <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/my-lai-month" type="external">recounted</a> these <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080403187.html" type="external">allegations</a> against Hunt and the <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/pentagon-book-club" type="external">9th Division</a> <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175136/jamail_and_lazare_who_will_be_sent_to_afghanistan_" type="external">in print</a> and questioned him about them in person — and I’m hardly alone. Hunt, who denied the allegations against him when I questioned him in 2006, addresses none of these long-public accusations against him or Ewell or even mentions his division’s whistle-blower and instead opts for a startlingly disingenuous, stunningly contemptuous and thoroughly dismissive nod to such criticisms. More than 140 pages into “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam,” Hunt offers a single paragraph that begins:</p>
<p>Despite the great success of division’s pacification efforts, there were some who decried the collateral damage resulting from military operations. … One correspondent bemoaned that the tranquility of the peasants living in VC base areas was disturbed by attacks. …</p>
<p>Hunt’s reference to the loss of “tranquility” makes it sound as though the worst of the war in the Mekong Delta was the jarring sound of artillery being fired or the scream of jet aircraft streaking across the sky. It was anything but. Those artillery shells and the bombs those planes dropped landed somewhere. Too often they killed civilians.</p>
<p>The use of the phrase collateral damage, perhaps the phoniest euphemism in military-speak, indicates an author unwilling to confront hard truths as they really are. Moreover, with no citation we’re left to guess who this lone correspondent was. It could well have been the Associated Press reporter whose April 1969 article not only quoted Hunt as defending the body count, but also a senior officer who admitted to civilian carnage. (“&#160;‘Have we killed innocent civilians?’ [the senior officer] asked rhetorically during an interview. ‘Hell yes,’ he replied, ‘but so do the South Vietnamese.”</p>
<p>It could have been a reporter from the Saigon daily Tin Sang or its publisher, South Vietnamese legislator Ngo Cong Duc, who criticized “indiscriminate” U.S. airstrikes in the Mekong Delta and the “careless and insensitive behavior” of 9th Infantry Division troops.</p>
<p>It could also have been the combat correspondent from United Press International who, in December 1969, reported on U.S. advisers’ dismay over what the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in order to achieve a high body count, did to pacification efforts. “We have made progress but you can’t exactly expect people who have had parts of their family blown away by the U.S. 9th Infantry Division to be wholeheartedly on our side,” said one American official. (Other advisers made similar complaints about operations in the delta in print and through official channels, a fact that Hunt also ignores.)</p>
<p>Most likely, however, the correspondent in question is Kevin Buckley, who served in Vietnam as a reporter and then Saigon bureau chief for Newsweek magazine from 1968 to 1972. What Buckley — working alongside Newsweek stringer Alex Shimkin, who first discovered the story — did was not “bemoan the loss of tranquility” in Delta hamlets, but meticulously document how Operation Speedy Express killed thousands of innocent civilians and wounded countless others. While Hunt conspicuously leaves the name Speedy Express out of “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam,” he does mention some of its results, referring to the division’s “inflicting over ten thousand casualties on the enemy over a five month period.” That was the official story in 1969 and the one Hunt is still telling today. What Buckley and Shimkin found in the early 1970s was evidence of mass slaughter on a scale that dwarfed My Lai. From December 1968 through May 1969, the 9th Division carried out Operation Speedy Express with support from non-division assets ranging from helicopter gunships to B-52 bombers, yielding an enemy body count of 10,899 at a cost of only 267 American lives. Although guerrillas in the region were known to be well armed, Buckley and Shimkin discovered that the division had captured only 748 weapons.</p>
<p>Though the Newsweek team never knew about the division’s whistle-blower, whose allegations were buried via a high-level Pentagon cover-up orchestrated by Westmoreland, the reporters interviewed U.S. civilian and military officials at all levels, combed through civilian hospital records and traveled — on foot and in jeeps, boats and rafts — into hard-hit areas of the Mekong Delta to speak with Vietnamese survivors. What they learned echoed exactly what the whistle-blower had reported to the Army’s top generals. Huge numbers of airstrikes — by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft — had decimated the countryside, while withering artillery and mortar barrages were carried out around the clock. Their sources all assured them there was no shortage of arms among the enemy to account for the gross kills-to-weapons disparity. The only explanation for the lopsided ratio, they discovered, was that a large percentage of the dead were civilians.</p>
<p>“The horror was worse than My Lai,” one American official familiar with the 9th Infantry Division’s operations in the delta told Buckley. “But with the 9th, the civilian casualties came in dribbles and were pieced out over a long time. And most of them were inflicted from the air and at night. Also, they were sanctioned by the command’s insistence on high body counts.” Another offered a concrete estimate. He said that as many as 5,000 of those killed during the operation were civilians.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Ira A. Hunt</p>
<p>The University Press of Kentucky, 216 pages</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/9th-Infantry-Division-Vietnam-Unparalleled/dp/0813126479%3FSubscriptionId%3D1XWTFJ60BR6QZ1PW9FR2%26tag%3Dtruthdig20-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0813126479" type="external" /></p>
<p>Ira Hunt neither cites nor even acknowledges Buckley’s June 19, 1972, Newsweek piece, “Pacification’s Deadly Price,” or the many important, well-respected Vietnam War histories that address Speedy Express, such as Andrew Krepinevich’s “The Army and Vietnam,” David Elliott’s “The Vietnamese War” and Marilyn Young’s “The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990” — not even “America in Vietnam,” a history by Guenter Lewy, an author who takes great pains to minimize U.S. atrocities and tell the rosiest possible story of the war, yet who allows that “the free use of air strikes, artillery and helicopter gunships in the densely populated Delta undoubtedly caused havoc.”</p>
<p>Perhaps even more troubling is Hunt’s decision to ignore the secret Army investigation, commissioned in response to Buckley and Shimkin’s investigation and buried for decades, which suggested the Newsweek article offered a low-end estimate of the carnage. The report reads:</p>
<p>[W]hile there appears to be no means of determining the precise number of civilian casualties incurred by US forces during Operation Speedy Express, it would appear that the extent of these casualties was in fact substantial, and that a fairly solid case can be constructed to show that civilian casualties may have amounted to several thousand (between 5,000 and 7,000).</p>
<p>An author needn’t respond to every criticism floating around or defend him- or herself from every detractor, but in the case of Ira Hunt and “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam” the evidence of mass civilian slaughter and the author’s prime role in it demands more than disregard and dismissal. About the only part of the Speedy Express story that Hunt attempts to confront is the utter dearth of weapons, trotting out old canards used in the past to argue that the time and terrain inhibited the ability of troops to find weapons. What he fails to mention is that South Vietnamese forces, whose combat prowess has long been disparaged, managed to capture more than 11 times as many weapons as 9th Division troops at the very same time in the very same Mekong Delta.</p>
<p>Gen. William Westmoreland would kill a nascent investigation into the allegations of mass slaughter committed by Ewell and Hunt’s 9th Infantry Division in 1971. His successor in Vietnam, Creighton Abrams, would be apprised of the reports by the secretary of the Army and conceal them from Buckley. The secret Army report on Speedy Express that validated Newsweek’s findings would then be buried for decades. Hunt, who retired as a major general in 1978, mentions none of it and, with the passing of Westmoreland, Abrams and Ewell, remains the lone living top commander implicated in the slaughter and cover-up of Operation Speedy Express.</p>
<p>Why this sordid history was left out of “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam” isn’t hard to fathom — and the consequences of that absence could be grim and far-reaching. Beyond the fact that it distorts the historical record and contributes to a sanitized <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/best-wars-their-lives" type="external">version</a> of the war that is very popular in recent revisionist <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/pentagon-book-club" type="external">tracts</a>, Ira Hunt may be teaching today’s commanders in Afghanistan lethal lessons through his sins of omission.</p>
<p>Recently on “The Best Defense,” his <a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/03/best_defense_bookshelf_meet_the_beetle" type="external">blog</a> at Foreign Policy’s website, former Washington Post combat correspondent and best-selling author Tom Ricks mentioned that “The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam” was on his reading list. This probably means that Hunt’s book is now on the radar of those carrying out the current war in Afghanistan. When they read it, they’ll find a lot of similarities between Ira Hunt’s version of events in the Mekong Delta and David Petraeus’ heavy-firepower campaign being carried out under the guise of a hearts-and-minds counterinsurgency effort. While the level of civilian deaths caused by U.S. forces in Afghanistan today may not compare with the many thousands slaughtered by the 9th Infantry Division during Operation Speedy Express (not to mention all those by U.S. and allied forces in the Mekong Delta before and after 1968-1969), night raids, home destruction and civilian casualties have caused immeasurable hardship in long-suffering Afghanistan.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as population-friendly, high-kinetic COIN, no matter what Ira Hunt and David Petraeus may claim. There is nothing gentle about a pacification campaign. There is nothing kind about turning villages into battle zones and blowing up homes. Forcing farmers to become refugees and slum dwellers isn’t extending them a helping hand. You don’t win hearts and minds when you cost people their legs. Ask the people who lived through the American war in the Mekong Delta. They will <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174885" type="external">tell you</a> as much. Just don’t ask Ira Hunt. And don’t bother reading his book. Its sins of omission are mortal.</p> | true | 4 | recently gen david petraeus top us commander afghanistan used particularly bloodthirsty language announce success weve got teeth enemys jugular going let go said morning staff briefing january petraeus used type imagery latest guidance counterinsurgency known within military coin efforts afghanistan issued last august petraeus wrote us troops allies needed get teeth insurgents dont let go seemed almost channeling retired majorgeneralturnedauthor ira hunt early 1970s hunt quoted favoring pounding shit vietnamese enemies referred bastards sonofabitches gooks hyperbolic talk like course stock trade many military men theres another side david petraeus soldierscholar princeton phd king david hes known fans detractors alike literally wrote book coin overseen revision fm 324 militarys counterinsurgency field manual 20052006 petraeus revived strategy long discredited shunned military circles went flames american defeat vietnam supposedly kinder gentler brand warfare counterinsurgency geared toward winning hearts minds people petraeus knew well since 1987 doctoral dissertation titled american military lessons vietnam ira hunt university press kentucky 216 pages kinder gentler side petraeus heard mostly coin guidance us troops afghanistan use firepower needed win fight kill civilians damage property course operations create enemies operations eliminate treat afghan people property respect course essence coin use rifle instead bomb better yet use knife protect civilian population property facilitate good governance offer economic opportunity win hearts minds although hes mr nice guy paper field petraeus decidedly guy looking go throat reminded ira hunt since petraeus took command afghanistan airstrikes curtailed predecessor gen stanley mcchrystal laid low rolling stone article gone roof tripling number last fall doubling january 2010 rate new year kickdownthedoor night raids alienated many provoked repeated outcries afghan president hamid karzai tripled first time big us battle tanks much like ones soviets used 1980s deployed provide said one officer awe shock firepower yes read right shock awe us forces also meting home destruction never afghanistan reportedly blowing hundreds houses thought boobytrapped even blasting villages map afghan farmers abandon homes fields crops stream countryside kabuls expanding slums made wonder whether david petraeus taking page 9th infantry division vietnam whether reading ira hunts playbook see long excerpts 9th infantry division vietnam google books click ira jim hunts 9th infantry division vietnam unparalleled unequaled chronicles unit carried particularly heavyhanded version counterinsurgency vietnams mekong delta shocking thing wouldnt know reading hunts book one would expect history 9th infantry division vietnam address longstanding allegations division wiped thousands civilians using heavy firepower one would assume would mention division commanders oftnoted obsession notorious body count one would imagine book would attempt explain division reportedly killed almost 11000 armed enemy fighters one operation recovered fewer 800 weapons one would suppose somewhere close 200 pages author would least give name infamous operation many prior books articles called question nowhere hunt dare mention speedy express almost wants us forget ever existed reason might ira hunt fact 2 commander 9th division operation course new book hunt west point grad also studied french engineering school grenoble worked secretary defense robert mcnamara serving vietnam offers painstaking detail official history efforts old reliables southeast asia may 1968 july 1969 complete numerous blackandwhite photographs 20 tables filled statistics introduction explains motives writing book twofold first enlighten disparage divisions combat record eliminating enemy pacifying mekong delta region also provide examples bravery dedication 9th division soldiers fought sweltering far south vietnam enemy americans called vc shorthand viet cong vietnamese communists page page hunt chronicles tactical innovations lauds american combat triumphs obsessively reiterates 9th infantry divisions methods methods incredibly effective stunning eliminating enemy enabling troops scarf groups guerillas vcis viet cong infrastructure civilians worked vietnamese revolution hunt reminds us done purpose accelerating pacification many ways 9th infantry division vietnam rehashes much material included sharpening combat edge official history written part army program develop future operational concepts coauthored 1974 late julian ewell commanded 9th division 19681969 unlike hunts latest volume book least contains oblique reference criticisms made unit ewell hunt defensively noted 9th infantry division criticized grounds obsession body count either basically wrong else led undesirable practices hunts latest offering handful mentions body count main indicator success americas war attrition vietnam lack references core concept like much else missing book conspicuous absence military dead vietnamese vc became standard operating procedure ewell came called butcher mekong delta hunt especially known fixated stacking vietnamese bodies without contemporaries observed much care whether armed guerrillas innocent civilians 2002 memoir steel soldiers hearts late david hackworth took command one 9th divisions infantry battalions january 1969 wrote overwhelming pressure produce high body counts lot innocent vietnamese civilians got slaughtered ewellhunt drive highest count land wrote also noted hunt submitted recommendation citation citing huge kill ratio number vietnamese killed number americans lost left uncomfortable fact 9th division lowest weaponscapturedtoenemykilled ratio vietnam may 1970 whistleblower within division wrote letter army chief staff william westmoreland previously top american commander vietnam charging information things bad lay reported however one massacre like lai us troops slew 500 civilians even handful mass killings instead official command policies led slaughter thousands innocents sir 9th division nothing prevent killing pushing body sic count hard told kill many times vietnamese lay per cents know enemy case dont think mean lots vietnamese got killed way give idea many batalion would kill maybe 15 20 day 4 batalions brigade would maybe 40 50 day 1200 1500 month easy one batalion claimed almost 1000 body counts one month 10 right believe lots trying tell 120150 murders lay month year letter two sent following year highranking generals whistleblower reported artillery airstrikes helicopter gunships wreaked havoc populated areas also singled ira hunt one prime reasons civilian casualties hunt brigade commander awhile assistant general used holler curse radio talk goddamn gooks tell gunships shoot sonofabitches free fire zone wrote said hunt didnt care vietnamese us wanted everything including body count hunt always cussing screaming radio c see command control helicopter gis gunships shoot vietnamese saw running didnt know weapon women ira hunt university press kentucky 216 pages maj william taylor jr officer 9th division headquarters ewell similar recollection hunt days mekong delta retired colonel senior adviser center strategic international studies taylor told 2008 interview flying rice paddies hunt said something pilot sudden door gunner firing 60caliber machine gun door said hell said see black pajamas rice paddies theyre viet cong killed two them160 immediately afterward hunt spoke pilot talking body count taylor said later questioned hunt could identify guerrillas helicopter without seeing weapons receiving ground fire said theyre wearing black pajamas said well sir thought workers fields wore black pajamas said around black pajamas viet cong160 multiple interviews retired lt gen robert gard commanded 9th divisions five artillery battalions 196869 tour talked ewells heavy emphasis body count asked hunt also pressed gard responded big time jim hunt dubbed rice paddy daddy160 gard recalled referring hunts radio call sign went berserk ive recounted allegations hunt 9th division print questioned person im hardly alone hunt denied allegations questioned 2006 addresses none longpublic accusations ewell even mentions divisions whistleblower instead opts startlingly disingenuous stunningly contemptuous thoroughly dismissive nod criticisms 140 pages 9th infantry division vietnam hunt offers single paragraph begins despite great success divisions pacification efforts decried collateral damage resulting military operations one correspondent bemoaned tranquility peasants living vc base areas disturbed attacks hunts reference loss tranquility makes sound though worst war mekong delta jarring sound artillery fired scream jet aircraft streaking across sky anything artillery shells bombs planes dropped landed somewhere often killed civilians use phrase collateral damage perhaps phoniest euphemism militaryspeak indicates author unwilling confront hard truths really moreover citation left guess lone correspondent could well associated press reporter whose april 1969 article quoted hunt defending body count also senior officer admitted civilian carnage 160have killed innocent civilians senior officer asked rhetorically interview hell yes replied south vietnamese could reporter saigon daily tin sang publisher south vietnamese legislator ngo cong duc criticized indiscriminate us airstrikes mekong delta careless insensitive behavior 9th infantry division troops could also combat correspondent united press international december 1969 reported us advisers dismay indiscriminate killing civilians order achieve high body count pacification efforts made progress cant exactly expect people parts family blown away us 9th infantry division wholeheartedly side said one american official advisers made similar complaints operations delta print official channels fact hunt also ignores likely however correspondent question kevin buckley served vietnam reporter saigon bureau chief newsweek magazine 1968 1972 buckley working alongside newsweek stringer alex shimkin first discovered story bemoan loss tranquility delta hamlets meticulously document operation speedy express killed thousands innocent civilians wounded countless others hunt conspicuously leaves name speedy express 9th infantry division vietnam mention results referring divisions inflicting ten thousand casualties enemy five month period official story 1969 one hunt still telling today buckley shimkin found early 1970s evidence mass slaughter scale dwarfed lai december 1968 may 1969 9th division carried operation speedy express support nondivision assets ranging helicopter gunships b52 bombers yielding enemy body count 10899 cost 267 american lives although guerrillas region known well armed buckley shimkin discovered division captured 748 weapons though newsweek team never knew divisions whistleblower whose allegations buried via highlevel pentagon coverup orchestrated westmoreland reporters interviewed us civilian military officials levels combed civilian hospital records traveled foot jeeps boats rafts hardhit areas mekong delta speak vietnamese survivors learned echoed exactly whistleblower reported armys top generals huge numbers airstrikes helicopters fixedwing aircraft decimated countryside withering artillery mortar barrages carried around clock sources assured shortage arms among enemy account gross killstoweapons disparity explanation lopsided ratio discovered large percentage dead civilians horror worse lai one american official familiar 9th infantry divisions operations delta told buckley 9th civilian casualties came dribbles pieced long time inflicted air night also sanctioned commands insistence high body counts another offered concrete estimate said many 5000 killed operation civilians ira hunt university press kentucky 216 pages ira hunt neither cites even acknowledges buckleys june 19 1972 newsweek piece pacifications deadly price many important wellrespected vietnam war histories address speedy express andrew krepinevichs army vietnam david elliotts vietnamese war marilyn youngs vietnam wars 19451990 even america vietnam history guenter lewy author takes great pains minimize us atrocities tell rosiest possible story war yet allows free use air strikes artillery helicopter gunships densely populated delta undoubtedly caused havoc perhaps even troubling hunts decision ignore secret army investigation commissioned response buckley shimkins investigation buried decades suggested newsweek article offered lowend estimate carnage report reads appears means determining precise number civilian casualties incurred us forces operation speedy express would appear extent casualties fact substantial fairly solid case constructed show civilian casualties may amounted several thousand 5000 7000 author neednt respond every criticism floating around defend every detractor case ira hunt 9th infantry division vietnam evidence mass civilian slaughter authors prime role demands disregard dismissal part speedy express story hunt attempts confront utter dearth weapons trotting old canards used past argue time terrain inhibited ability troops find weapons fails mention south vietnamese forces whose combat prowess long disparaged managed capture 11 times many weapons 9th division troops time mekong delta gen william westmoreland would kill nascent investigation allegations mass slaughter committed ewell hunts 9th infantry division 1971 successor vietnam creighton abrams would apprised reports secretary army conceal buckley secret army report speedy express validated newsweeks findings would buried decades hunt retired major general 1978 mentions none passing westmoreland abrams ewell remains lone living top commander implicated slaughter coverup operation speedy express sordid history left 9th infantry division vietnam isnt hard fathom consequences absence could grim farreaching beyond fact distorts historical record contributes sanitized version war popular recent revisionist tracts ira hunt may teaching todays commanders afghanistan lethal lessons sins omission recently best defense blog foreign policys website former washington post combat correspondent bestselling author tom ricks mentioned 9th infantry division vietnam reading list probably means hunts book radar carrying current war afghanistan read theyll find lot similarities ira hunts version events mekong delta david petraeus heavyfirepower campaign carried guise heartsandminds counterinsurgency effort level civilian deaths caused us forces afghanistan today may compare many thousands slaughtered 9th infantry division operation speedy express mention us allied forces mekong delta 19681969 night raids home destruction civilian casualties caused immeasurable hardship longsuffering afghanistan thing populationfriendly highkinetic coin matter ira hunt david petraeus may claim nothing gentle pacification campaign nothing kind turning villages battle zones blowing homes forcing farmers become refugees slum dwellers isnt extending helping hand dont win hearts minds cost people legs ask people lived american war mekong delta tell much dont ask ira hunt dont bother reading book sins omission mortal | 2,056 |
<p>The earth just had a terrible day in court.</p>
<p>Tuesday evening, the Supreme Court unexpectedly <a href="" type="internal">suspended the Obama administration’s most aggressive effort to fight climate change</a> in a 5–4 vote. The rules, known as the “Clean Power Plan,” target greenhouse emissions from existing power plants and are expected to “decrease <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/US-response-re-Clean-Power-Plan-2-4-16.pdf" type="external">total emissions by a total of 16% from 2020 levels</a>” by the time the rules take full effect in 2030. That’s only one step towards the <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/yes-the-u-s-can-reduce-emissions-80-by-2050-in-six-graphs/" type="external">80 percent total reduction</a> needed to ward of the worst effects of climate change, but it is a significant step.</p>
<p>And, as the Court’s party-line vote suggests, the Clean Power Plan is also a test of whether the United States has the political will to tackle climate change.</p>
<p>If we do not prove able to this task, the consequences will be catastrophic. In the relatively short term, the Environmental Protection Agency predicts that the Clean Power Plan will “ <a href="" type="internal">avoid thousands of premature deaths</a> and mean thousands fewer asthma attacks and hospitalizations in 2030 and every year beyond.” In the longer term, major cities could be <a href="" type="internal">swallowed by the ocean</a>. Displaced residents will trigger a worldwide <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/08/07/has-the-era-of-the-climate-change-refugee-begun/" type="external">refugee crisis</a>. Entire regions of the United States could be converted into a <a href="" type="internal">permanent Dust Bowl</a>. The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will rival any tragedy that has faced humanity since the Book of Genesis.</p>
<p>The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will rival any tragedy that has faced humanity since the Book of&#160;Genesis.</p>
<p>For the moment, the fate of the Clean Power Plan — and the question of just how capable the United States is of self-governance — remains uncertain. The Supreme Court ordered the Plan to be temporarily halted, most likely until the Court hands down an opinion on the legality of the Plan in June of 2017. If the Plan survives the next presidential election, and if it is ultimately upheld by the Court, then Tuesday’s order will only succeed in delaying the new rules.</p>
<p>If the Court ultimately strikes down the Plan, however, the United States could be left impotent in the face of a looming catastrophe — and not just with respect to this particular catastrophe. The states challenging the Clean Power Plan call for <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/15A773-application.pdf" type="external">sweeping changes to the balance of power between the regulator and the regulated</a>. Indeed, if some of their most aggressive arguments succeed, it’s unclear that the federal government is permitted to do much of anything at all.</p>
<p>The various parties challenging the Clean Power Plan, which include multiple states and energy companies, raise several disagreements with how the EPA has interpreted its own authority to regulate under the Clean Air Act. The most difficult question presented by this case, however, is <a href="http://legal-planet.org/2014/05/28/guest-blogger-kate-konschnik-epas-111d-authority-follow-homer-and-avoid-the-sirens/" type="external">also the most absurd</a>. A quarter-century ago, Congress enacted two conflicting amendments to the Clean Air Act. One of these amendments arguably prevents the EPA from moving forward with the Clean Power Plan, the other does not.</p>
<p>It is as if <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat" type="external">Schrödinger’s cat</a> were written into the United States Code. The cat is both alive and dead. The Clean Power Plan is both legal and illegal.</p>
<p>To explain, the Clean Air Act <a href="http://legal-planet.org/2014/05/28/guest-blogger-kate-konschnik-epas-111d-authority-follow-homer-and-avoid-the-sirens/" type="external">contains three provisions</a> governing emissions from existing power plans. The first requires the EPA to set standards for six pollutants that the law labels “criteria” pollutants. The second governs about 200 pollutants labeled “hazardous air pollutants” or “HAPs.” The third, which the EPA relied on when it created the Clean Power Plan, is a catch-all provision permitting regulation of “any air pollutant” that is not covered by the first two provisions.</p>
<p>It is as if Schrödinger’s cat were written into the United States Code. The cat is both alive and dead. The Clean Power Plan is both legal and&#160;illegal.</p>
<p>In 1990, however, Congress passed two competing amendments to this catch-all provision. The House version of the amendment arguably can be read to prevent catch-all regulations from being applied to power plants that are already regulated under the first two provisions. The Senate version, by contrast, does not raise this issue.</p>
<p>Rather than reconcile this disagreement in the final bill, however, Congress simply dumped both versions of the amendment into the final bill, passed it, and sent it on to President George H.W. Bush, who signed it into law. Thus, the 1990 law both rewrites the catch-all provision in a way that arguably limits EPA’s power, and rewrites it in a different way that does not endanger the Clean Power Plan.</p>
<p>Oops.</p>
<p>Despite this conflict, EPA had good reason to conclude that the House amendment does not control this case. A 2012 book co-authored by Justice Antonin Scalia concludes that the proper solution to this dilemma is simply to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Law-Interpretation-Legal-Texts/dp/031427555X" type="external">proceed as if the 1990 amendments never happened</a>. “If a text contains truly irreconcilable provisions, at the same level of generality, and they have been simultaneously adopted,” Scalia wrote with his co-author Bryan Garner, “neither provision should be given effect.”</p>
<p>There’s also the venerable Chevron Doctrine, laid out by the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/467/837" type="external">Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council</a>, which provides that courts should defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous law so long as “the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute.” Writing for herself and two other justices in a <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-930_4g18.pdf" type="external">2014 immigration case</a>, Justice Elena Kagan concluded that the Court should defer to an agency under Chevron after it was confronted with a “Janus-faced” statute whose text was at war with itself. Significantly, Justice Anthony Kennedy, the most likely swing vote in the Clean Power Plan case, joined Kagan’s opinion.</p>
<p>This particular challenge to the Clean Power Plan does not arise in a vacuum, however. It is really only one face of a multi-faceted effort to shrink the powers of the presidency and prevent agencies like the EPA from carrying out their lawful authority. Last November, at an annual convention of the Federalist Society — a conservative legal organization whose members include several sitting senators and three Supreme Court justices — the gathered attorneys appeared <a href="" type="internal">obsessed with various plans to limit agency actions</a>. As ThinkProgress wrote shortly after the convention, “this topic came up so often that one could be forgiven for assuming that this year’s convention schedule was planned by Captain Ahab, with the Obama administration’s regulations playing the role of Moby Dick.”</p>
<p>Some of their plans involved legislation such as the REINS Act, a bill that <a href="" type="internal">passed the House of Representatives on multiple occasions</a>, and that could effectively halt all but the most minor new regulations in their entirety. Other proposals involved ambitious legal doctrines seeking to roll back Chevron or even declare agency regulation unconstitutional.</p>
<p>And this movement to hobble the executive branch clearly has allies on the Supreme Court. The states challenging the Clean Power plan rely heavily on a 2014 opinion by Justice Scalia suggesting that “ <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5508189020577131514&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr" type="external">clear congressional authority</a>” may be necessary when an agency takes a novel regulatory action. Thus, in cases involving what they deem to be novel agency action, the states would flip Chevron on its head and require ambiguous laws to be read against the agency’s position.</p>
<p>Ironically, the biggest sign that the Court is poised to shift power away from the executive and toward the judiciary, however, is a case that was widely viewed as a triumphant victory for the Obama administration. The Supreme Court rejected an effort to destroy much of the Affordable Care Act in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6184792205191652755&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr" type="external">King v. Burwell</a>. King, however, also indicated that Chevron may not apply at all to matters of “deep ‘economic and political significance.’” Thus, it’s far from clear that the Court will defer to the EPA when it launches a major effort to combat what may be the greatest looming crisis facing humanity.</p>
<p>The attack on the Clean Power Plan, in other words, could do far more than simply undermine this one set of regulations if it prevails in the Supreme Court. It could potentially place strict limits on federal agencies. In an era when gerrymandering and other redistricting factors make it <a href="" type="internal">exceedingly difficult for Democrats to capture a majority in the House of Representatives</a>, such limits on agency action could render Democratic presidents virtually powerless. They would have little chance of gaining the congressional majority they need to govern, even if a majority of the nation supports their agenda, and would be hobbled by new limits on their power to enforce existing laws.</p>
<p>Yet, despite the aggressiveness of the challengers’ arguments against executive power, these arguments aren’t even the most ambitious portion of their case against the Clean Power Plan. To the contrary, the states challenging the EPA offer a theory of states’ rights that, while difficult to parse, appears to press for limits on federal power that would call into question why we should even bother having a federal government in the first place.</p>
<p>The Clean Power Plan offers states a choice. States may either elect to devise their own plan to meet emissions reduction standards set by the EPA, or they can do nothing and the federal government will implement such a plan on its own. The states challenging the Clean Power Plan raise several states’ rights based objections to this arrangement, most of which are unlikely to garner much support on the Court. As the Justice Department notes in its <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/US-response-re-Clean-Power-Plan-2-4-16.pdf" type="external">brief</a>, the Constitution “permit[s] congressional regulation of activities causing air or water pollution&#160;.&#160;.&#160;. that may have effects in more than one State.” Since the federal government could simply choose to regulate greenhouse emissions without any input from the states whatsoever, it is difficult to understand how the Clean Power Plan becomes more offensive to states’ rights because it gives states the option to participate in the process.</p>
<p>The challengers’ most aggressive argument, however, challenges the federal government’s power to enforce regulations that may impose some cost on the states down the road:</p>
<p>If EPA effectively mandates through a Federal Plan the retirement of coal-fired and fossil fuel-fired plants or reductions in their utilization (including by mandating the purchase of exorbitantly expensive emissions allowances), state utility and electricity regulators will have to respond in the same way as if the State itself had ordered the retirements. Likewise, if EPA orders through a Federal Plan that power-plant owners construct new capacity, state utility and electricity regulators will have to plan for and oversee its construction and integration into the electric system as if the State itself had issued the order.</p>
<p>If federal regulations cause someone to built a new power plant, state regulators will want to regulate that plant. And that, somehow, makes the federal regulation an incursion on states’ rights.</p>
<p>Under the challengers’ theory, military bases are unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The problem with this argument is that, if taken seriously, it would invalidate nearly any federal program. Suppose, for example, that the federal government decided to implement a health insurance program for the elderly (we’ll call it “Medicare”). Such a program would inject new money into the health care system, which would cause new hospitals and other health care facilities to be built. These new facilities, moreover, would undoubtedly be regulated by existing state rules and state agencies — they may, for example, need to apply for permits and licenses from state-paid employees. But it’s ludicrous to suggest that, because Medicare sets in motion a chain of events that eventually imposes costs on a state, Medicare is unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Similarly, suppose that the federal government decided to construct a army base within a state. The base would house soldiers, who would patronize state-regulated businesses, drive on state-maintained roads and send their children to state-run schools. Over time, those roads would deteriorate faster and the state may even need to build new roads to accommodate the increased traffic. Meanwhile, the new students would increase the cost of public education. Thus, under the challengers’ theory, military bases are unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The challenge to the Clean Power Plan, in other words, is more than just a threat to the Obama administration’s efforts to ward off a global catastrophe. It is also one of the most ambitious attempts to rethink the role of government to reach the Supreme Court in years. And five justices thought this challenge had enough merit that they halted the Clean Power Plan before any lower court had even considered those rules.</p>
<p>That, in and of itself, may be the most remarkable thing about this case. As the Justice Department explains in its brief, “the danger of premature intervention in lower-court proceedings is particularly acute here, where no court has yet analyzed the merits of applicants’ claims. Applicants identify no case, and we are aware of none, in which the Court has granted a stay of an administrative rule before that rule has been reviewed by any court.”</p> | true | 4 | earth terrible day court tuesday evening supreme court unexpectedly suspended obama administrations aggressive effort fight climate change 54 vote rules known clean power plan target greenhouse emissions existing power plants expected decrease total emissions total 16 2020 levels time rules take full effect 2030 thats one step towards 80 percent total reduction needed ward worst effects climate change significant step courts partyline vote suggests clean power plan also test whether united states political tackle climate change prove able task consequences catastrophic relatively short term environmental protection agency predicts clean power plan avoid thousands premature deaths mean thousands fewer asthma attacks hospitalizations 2030 every year beyond longer term major cities could swallowed ocean displaced residents trigger worldwide refugee crisis entire regions united states could converted permanent dust bowl sheer magnitude catastrophe rival tragedy faced humanity since book genesis sheer magnitude catastrophe rival tragedy faced humanity since book of160genesis moment fate clean power plan question capable united states selfgovernance remains uncertain supreme court ordered plan temporarily halted likely court hands opinion legality plan june 2017 plan survives next presidential election ultimately upheld court tuesdays order succeed delaying new rules court ultimately strikes plan however united states could left impotent face looming catastrophe respect particular catastrophe states challenging clean power plan call sweeping changes balance power regulator regulated indeed aggressive arguments succeed unclear federal government permitted much anything various parties challenging clean power plan include multiple states energy companies raise several disagreements epa interpreted authority regulate clean air act difficult question presented case however also absurd quartercentury ago congress enacted two conflicting amendments clean air act one amendments arguably prevents epa moving forward clean power plan schrödingers cat written united states code cat alive dead clean power plan legal illegal explain clean air act contains three provisions governing emissions existing power plans first requires epa set standards six pollutants law labels criteria pollutants second governs 200 pollutants labeled hazardous air pollutants haps third epa relied created clean power plan catchall provision permitting regulation air pollutant covered first two provisions schrödingers cat written united states code cat alive dead clean power plan legal and160illegal 1990 however congress passed two competing amendments catchall provision house version amendment arguably read prevent catchall regulations applied power plants already regulated first two provisions senate version contrast raise issue rather reconcile disagreement final bill however congress simply dumped versions amendment final bill passed sent president george hw bush signed law thus 1990 law rewrites catchall provision way arguably limits epas power rewrites different way endanger clean power plan oops despite conflict epa good reason conclude house amendment control case 2012 book coauthored justice antonin scalia concludes proper solution dilemma simply proceed 1990 amendments never happened text contains truly irreconcilable provisions level generality simultaneously adopted scalia wrote coauthor bryan garner neither provision given effect theres also venerable chevron doctrine laid supreme courts 1984 decision chevron v natural resources defense council provides courts defer federal agencys interpretation ambiguous law long agencys answer based permissible construction statute writing two justices 2014 immigration case justice elena kagan concluded court defer agency chevron confronted janusfaced statute whose text war significantly justice anthony kennedy likely swing vote clean power plan case joined kagans opinion particular challenge clean power plan arise vacuum however really one face multifaceted effort shrink powers presidency prevent agencies like epa carrying lawful authority last november annual convention federalist society conservative legal organization whose members include several sitting senators three supreme court justices gathered attorneys appeared obsessed various plans limit agency actions thinkprogress wrote shortly convention topic came often one could forgiven assuming years convention schedule planned captain ahab obama administrations regulations playing role moby dick plans involved legislation reins act bill passed house representatives multiple occasions could effectively halt minor new regulations entirety proposals involved ambitious legal doctrines seeking roll back chevron even declare agency regulation unconstitutional movement hobble executive branch clearly allies supreme court states challenging clean power plan rely heavily 2014 opinion justice scalia suggesting clear congressional authority may necessary agency takes novel regulatory action thus cases involving deem novel agency action states would flip chevron head require ambiguous laws read agencys position ironically biggest sign court poised shift power away executive toward judiciary however case widely viewed triumphant victory obama administration supreme court rejected effort destroy much affordable care act king v burwell king however also indicated chevron may apply matters deep economic political significance thus far clear court defer epa launches major effort combat may greatest looming crisis facing humanity attack clean power plan words could far simply undermine one set regulations prevails supreme court could potentially place strict limits federal agencies era gerrymandering redistricting factors make exceedingly difficult democrats capture majority house representatives limits agency action could render democratic presidents virtually powerless would little chance gaining congressional majority need govern even majority nation supports agenda would hobbled new limits power enforce existing laws yet despite aggressiveness challengers arguments executive power arguments arent even ambitious portion case clean power plan contrary states challenging epa offer theory states rights difficult parse appears press limits federal power would call question even bother federal government first place clean power plan offers states choice states may either elect devise plan meet emissions reduction standards set epa nothing federal government implement plan states challenging clean power plan raise several states rights based objections arrangement unlikely garner much support court justice department notes brief constitution permits congressional regulation activities causing air water pollution160160160 may effects one state since federal government could simply choose regulate greenhouse emissions without input states whatsoever difficult understand clean power plan becomes offensive states rights gives states option participate process challengers aggressive argument however challenges federal governments power enforce regulations may impose cost states road epa effectively mandates federal plan retirement coalfired fossil fuelfired plants reductions utilization including mandating purchase exorbitantly expensive emissions allowances state utility electricity regulators respond way state ordered retirements likewise epa orders federal plan powerplant owners construct new capacity state utility electricity regulators plan oversee construction integration electric system state issued order federal regulations cause someone built new power plant state regulators want regulate plant somehow makes federal regulation incursion states rights challengers theory military bases unconstitutional problem argument taken seriously would invalidate nearly federal program suppose example federal government decided implement health insurance program elderly well call medicare program would inject new money health care system would cause new hospitals health care facilities built new facilities moreover would undoubtedly regulated existing state rules state agencies may example need apply permits licenses statepaid employees ludicrous suggest medicare sets motion chain events eventually imposes costs state medicare unconstitutional similarly suppose federal government decided construct army base within state base would house soldiers would patronize stateregulated businesses drive statemaintained roads send children staterun schools time roads would deteriorate faster state may even need build new roads accommodate increased traffic meanwhile new students would increase cost public education thus challengers theory military bases unconstitutional challenge clean power plan words threat obama administrations efforts ward global catastrophe also one ambitious attempts rethink role government reach supreme court years five justices thought challenge enough merit halted clean power plan lower court even considered rules may remarkable thing case justice department explains brief danger premature intervention lowercourt proceedings particularly acute court yet analyzed merits applicants claims applicants identify case aware none court granted stay administrative rule rule reviewed court | 1,218 |
<p>When a penniless Good Samaritan thwarted two San Diego brothers during their ghoulish game of using homeless humans as paintball targets, they allegedly went hunting for payback.</p>
<p>They got it in spades.</p>
<p>Austin Mostrong, 20, along with his cheerleading girlfriend Hailey Suder, 18, and younger brother Preston, 19, gathered at around 5:15 p.m. on April 24 and allegedly tracked down 50-year-old grandfather George Lowery to the Santee, California, encampment where he and his wife, Penny, had sheltered for years, according to friends and authorities.</p>
<p>Lowery had already beaten pancreatic cancer but on this night he couldn’t fend off the fiends, who prosecutors say used “fists and feet” to brutally beat and hog-tie him, before forsaking him to rot in the woods.</p>
<p>His dear wife Penny eventually found her bound and injured husband under a piece of wood.</p>
<p>“I seen a piece of plywood that goes to where we stay,” Penny Lowery told <a href="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Victims-Wife-Deadly-Beating-of-Homeless-Man-Followed-Fight-Over-Paintball-Gun-378119851.html" type="external">NBC 7</a>. “I heard gurgling. When I picked it up he was gurgling for his life.”</p>
<p>According to his widow, the Mostrong brothers were miffed because four days earlier, Austin had been caught accosting two men whom Lowery was trying to protect from being shot with a paintball gun.</p>
<p>“They were shooting him with a paintball gun. My husband took the paintball gun from him,” Penny Lowery told NBC 7 back in April, one day after pulling the plug on her husband’s life support.</p>
<p>“I know he was doing what George always does: sticking up for the underdog,” a close family friend, Ashley Ballum, told The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>“Like he was telling them, ‘What did we do to you? There’s no reason to fight over anything!’</p>
<p>“He only wanted peace.”</p>
<p>Why Austin Mostrong was walking free to begin with is hard to comprehend. The elder Mostrong brother had been busted on April 20 for another assault charge, although details of that arrest remain murky.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>A San Diego District Attorney spokeswoman refused to provide The Daily Beast with the time or location of the earlier assault incident that involved two male victims.</p>
<p>One thing is certain: Mostrong copped a guilty plea to three misdemeanors and skated out of court, only on the hook to serve three years’ probation and to pay a fine and complete 10 hours of community service.</p>
<p>At some point, deputies say they were able to place the brothers and cheerleader Hailey Suder at the rural crime scene along the San Diego River where Lowery was beaten to a pulp and where detectives say he suffered from “severe trauma to his upper body.”</p>
<p>Penny Lowery was able to get help to shuttle her husband, who was barely breathing, to a local hospital.</p>
<p>But Lowery’s daughter, his “baby girl” Katey Torres, arrived too late.</p>
<p>She wrote on Facebook that she learned about the attack on her dad after speaking to her older brother around 6 p.m. on April 24. “‘George was beat up. you need to go get penny and take her to go see him at the hospital’... I drove up to go get penny and the whole road was blocked off and taped off with crime scene tape cop cars and cops and detectives everywhere you look and I yelled down the street to the cops and started to cry ‘is this all for my dad???’” the daughter posted on her page.</p>
<p>A deputy at the crime scene delivered the gutting news that her dad was unlikely to pull through, Torres goes on to say in the Facebook post.</p>
<p>“I spent the roughest and most fucking worst 5 days of my goddamn fucking life in that hospital dad right by your side holding your hand talking into your ear hoping you could hear me hoping you’d wake up...you were unconscious since mom found you down in the river,” she wrote on Facebook.</p>
<p>She went on to call out her dad’s alleged attackers: the heartless brothers.</p>
<p>“You were taken too soon. Brutally murdered by some fucking punk kids half your age dad. My dad would be 51 years old July 25th and these kids Austin Freeman and Preston Freeman took your life away from you…” she wrote, referring to the brothers by a different surname.</p>
<p>Once she made it to the hospital, Torres says she was too late to say goodbye.</p>
<p>“He was unconscious the whole five days fighting,” she said. “We couldn’t even talk to him.”</p>
<p>Soon after the attack, Suder was nabbed and slapped with a murder charge, according to an initial press release from the San Diego Sheriff's Department.</p>
<p>On her Facebook page, Torres <a href="https://www.facebook.com/katey.swanda/posts/1106828212709891" type="external">wrote</a>: “Finally they got the ones that my mom saw at the crime scene. We’ll get every one of them that was behind this tragedy that robbed my father of his life. May they rot in prison, if they even last that long.”</p>
<p>Suder appeared in court on Thursday, red-faced and weeping, despite the fact that her charges were downgraded from murder to accessory after the fact. If she’s found guilty she no longer will serve 25 years of prison time but likely just under 4 years. She’s due back in court June 29.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Preston Mostrong and his brother Austin have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Lowery and face life in prison if convicted. Their preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 26.</p>
<p>Attempts by The Daily Beast to reach attorneys for all three accused were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>“This was not a random act,” San Diego Lt. Kenneth Nelson told <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/apr/29/brothers-murder-santee-homeless/" type="external">The San Diego Union-Tribune</a>. “I can’t think of another reason other than viciousness. Why else make a special trip down to the riverbed.”</p>
<p>Lt. Nelson described the scene as “horrific” and said that the trio seemed to be playing a bloodsport by “attacking some of the most vulnerable in our society.”</p>
<p>After the Mostrong brothers were arraigned in May, Deputy District Attorney George Modlin told reporters outside the hearing that the bloodletting was “brutal, heinous, just cold-hearted” and that once their case is presented, there will be no doubts as to their alleged guilt. “I’d say the murder charges and the torture charges are very much warranted in this case,” he added.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, George Lowery’s legacy lives on.</p>
<p>Already, the family’s efforts to <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/2q5cv88s" type="external">raise money</a> for expenses incurred as a result of his death have well-exceeded their goal.</p>
<p>And even though it’s been months since the family lost their beloved patriarch, his gentle and altruistic spirit won’t die. His family members can still hear his signature laugh; friends grieve not being able to see him smile.</p>
<p>Still his daughter remains distraught.</p>
<p>“From the second I got to the hospital the Dr told me there was no hope for you dad. I never left that hospital I stayed right by your side you know I was you know I'd never leave you dad,” Torres <a href="https://www.facebook.com/katey.swanda/posts/1087485201310859" type="external">wrote</a> after Lowery’s untimely death.</p>
<p>Torres still hopes a miracle could bring him back or erase what happened. “I keep thinking I'm going to see you walk through my door or I'll hear my phone ring and it’ll be you asking what I'm up to,” she posted. “I always hear your laugh... I look at every guy riding a bike hoping it’s you hoping I can run up to you and hug you again and tell you how much I love you..hear you tell me “I love you”... I love you so much dad and idk how I’m going to grow without you by my side.”</p>
<p>The praise of Lowery’s spirit extended beyond family, too.</p>
<p>For Ashley Ballum, who took Torres into her home and was her maid of honor for her wedding, Lowery was poor on paper but richer than most others when it came to soul.</p>
<p>“He was just always smiling, always happy,” she told us. “Always giving hugs and wanting to make sure everybody was okay.”</p>
<p>Whatever he had to his name he wanted to share with others, acquaintances said. Material things mattered little to Lowery. He was focused on the happiness of his wife Penny and his children. “It was humbling to see that they were still happy, loving people that even with the little amount they had they still tried to give back to us,” Ballum said.</p>
<p>Lowery routinely wanted to supply Ballum’s kids with trinket gifts like a magnetic board to create messages on the fridge or a doll’s brush and comb that she says her kids “will always cherish.”</p>
<p>And while he couldn’t spoil his daughter with material gifts, “whenever he came across some extra money,” Ballum says he made sure to buy something special from a thrift store “that [Katey] really liked.”</p>
<p>As parents they never complained.</p>
<p>“Every time I saw you you had the biggest smile on your face nothing could bring you down you were the toughest strongest man I know,” Torres stressed in her post. “You loved with every inch of your body and you never cared what people thought.. You’d help Any stranger with any task no matter the difficulty you’d stop everything your whole day to help this one person.”</p>
<p>Her friend Ballum acknowledged that life as a homeless person at the encampment where George and Penny lived was fraught with peril.</p>
<p>“There were times when he would say ‘People are messing with me’ or ‘People are stealing stuff,’” she remembered.</p>
<p>After Lowery’s brutal death, Ballum hopes each of his alleged attackers suffers for their horrific actions.</p>
<p>“I think everybody involved deserves the max sentence,” Ballum said. “Whether you sat there and watched it and didn’t do anything or if you partook in it—this could have been prevented.”</p> | true | 4 | penniless good samaritan thwarted two san diego brothers ghoulish game using homeless humans paintball targets allegedly went hunting payback got spades austin mostrong 20 along cheerleading girlfriend hailey suder 18 younger brother preston 19 gathered around 515 pm april 24 allegedly tracked 50yearold grandfather george lowery santee california encampment wife penny sheltered years according friends authorities lowery already beaten pancreatic cancer night couldnt fend fiends prosecutors say used fists feet brutally beat hogtie forsaking rot woods dear wife penny eventually found bound injured husband piece wood seen piece plywood goes stay penny lowery told nbc 7 heard gurgling picked gurgling life according widow mostrong brothers miffed four days earlier austin caught accosting two men lowery trying protect shot paintball gun shooting paintball gun husband took paintball gun penny lowery told nbc 7 back april one day pulling plug husbands life support know george always sticking underdog close family friend ashley ballum told daily beast like telling theres reason fight anything wanted peace austin mostrong walking free begin hard comprehend elder mostrong brother busted april 20 another assault charge although details arrest remain murky start finish day top stories daily beast speedy smart summary news need know nothing dont san diego district attorney spokeswoman refused provide daily beast time location earlier assault incident involved two male victims one thing certain mostrong copped guilty plea three misdemeanors skated court hook serve three years probation pay fine complete 10 hours community service point deputies say able place brothers cheerleader hailey suder rural crime scene along san diego river lowery beaten pulp detectives say suffered severe trauma upper body penny lowery able get help shuttle husband barely breathing local hospital lowerys daughter baby girl katey torres arrived late wrote facebook learned attack dad speaking older brother around 6 pm april 24 george beat need go get penny take go see hospital drove go get penny whole road blocked taped crime scene tape cop cars cops detectives everywhere look yelled street cops started cry dad daughter posted page deputy crime scene delivered gutting news dad unlikely pull torres goes say facebook post spent roughest fucking worst 5 days goddamn fucking life hospital dad right side holding hand talking ear hoping could hear hoping youd wake upyou unconscious since mom found river wrote facebook went call dads alleged attackers heartless brothers taken soon brutally murdered fucking punk kids half age dad dad would 51 years old july 25th kids austin freeman preston freeman took life away wrote referring brothers different surname made hospital torres says late say goodbye unconscious whole five days fighting said couldnt even talk soon attack suder nabbed slapped murder charge according initial press release san diego sheriffs department facebook page torres wrote finally got ones mom saw crime scene well get every one behind tragedy robbed father life may rot prison even last long suder appeared court thursday redfaced weeping despite fact charges downgraded murder accessory fact shes found guilty longer serve 25 years prison time likely 4 years shes due back court june 29 meanwhile preston mostrong brother austin pleaded guilty murder lowery face life prison convicted preliminary hearing set aug 26 attempts daily beast reach attorneys three accused unsuccessful random act san diego lt kenneth nelson told san diego uniontribune cant think another reason viciousness else make special trip riverbed lt nelson described scene horrific said trio seemed playing bloodsport attacking vulnerable society mostrong brothers arraigned may deputy district attorney george modlin told reporters outside hearing bloodletting brutal heinous coldhearted case presented doubts alleged guilt id say murder charges torture charges much warranted case added meanwhile george lowerys legacy lives already familys efforts raise money expenses incurred result death wellexceeded goal even though months since family lost beloved patriarch gentle altruistic spirit wont die family members still hear signature laugh friends grieve able see smile still daughter remains distraught second got hospital dr told hope dad never left hospital stayed right side know know id never leave dad torres wrote lowerys untimely death torres still hopes miracle could bring back erase happened keep thinking im going see walk door ill hear phone ring itll asking im posted always hear laugh look every guy riding bike hoping hoping run hug tell much love youhear tell love love much dad idk im going grow without side praise lowerys spirit extended beyond family ashley ballum took torres home maid honor wedding lowery poor paper richer others came soul always smiling always happy told us always giving hugs wanting make sure everybody okay whatever name wanted share others acquaintances said material things mattered little lowery focused happiness wife penny children humbling see still happy loving people even little amount still tried give back us ballum said lowery routinely wanted supply ballums kids trinket gifts like magnetic board create messages fridge dolls brush comb says kids always cherish couldnt spoil daughter material gifts whenever came across extra money ballum says made sure buy something special thrift store katey really liked parents never complained every time saw biggest smile face nothing could bring toughest strongest man know torres stressed post loved every inch body never cared people thought youd help stranger task matter difficulty youd stop everything whole day help one person friend ballum acknowledged life homeless person encampment george penny lived fraught peril times would say people messing people stealing stuff remembered lowerys brutal death ballum hopes alleged attackers suffers horrific actions think everybody involved deserves max sentence ballum said whether sat watched didnt anything partook itthis could prevented | 914 |
<p>I walked into the Vets Liquor bar about twenty miles outside of DC back in 1976.&#160; It was July the 3rd.&#160; The Bicentennial was going on in downtown DC and I was heading to the Smoke-In where a few thousand of us Yippees and hippies were going to get together and celebrate our freedom by smoking lots of that devil weed and listening to a variety of rock and roll bands.&#160; The government, meanwhile, had its own big show going on with the Beach Boys (or whatever remained of them) and Johnny Cash.&#160; And fireworks and military bands.</p>
<p>Anyhow, the jukebox was playing “Okie From Muskogee” and the men and women sitting at the bar were taking the lyrics quite serious as they cast glances my way.&#160; My long hair and beard made me look, well, conspicuous.&#160; Of course, the upside down US flag sewn on to the back of my jeans (hey it made a great patch) might not have been the friendliest of message to those folks, either. I bought a pack of cigarettes and left without taking my change.&#160; Time to get back to friendlier environs.</p>
<p>My thumb went out on Route 1 and I got a ride almost instantly.&#160; It was a couple buddies of mine heading out to another suburb which happened to be where I was heading to also.&#160; By the end of the day I was in DC smoking some weed with some suburbanites that wasn’t doing much and hoping for something better.&#160; A group of hippies from West Virginia were sitting about ten feet from me drinking some shine and doing some picking on their guitars and banjo.&#160; Nothing too recognizable at first, but they eventually got around to doing a fair version of the Grateful Dead’s “Cumberland Blues.”&#160; I moved into their circle and pulled out a couple joints of some gold-colored weed I’d stashed for a special kind of occasion.&#160; The shine made the scene special somehow.&#160; Lit one up and passed it on.&#160; Can you guys play “US Blues?”&#160; They did their best.</p>
<p>But this isn’t about smoking weed or even about July 4th.&#160; It’s about a couple songs from the&#160; popular music of the 1960s and afterwards that have the United States as their theme.&#160; Like the majority of the folks at the smoke-in, most of these types of tunes share a belief that the United States is essentially a good place which has lost its way.&#160; Like too many of the folks going to see the government-sponsored fireworks that year (and stay as far away from the yippees as possible), many other songs of the period are unabashedly nationalistic rallying cries to war and empire.&#160; Steppenwolf’s “Monster” is perhaps the most pointed of the former from the so-called Sixties, while Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” is certainly one of the most pointed of the latter.&#160; Some, like Springsteen’s “Born In the USA” are of the former but have often been confused by the apologists for war and empire as a part of the latter’s songbook.&#160; Then again, some are just celebrations of life in the USA.&#160; Chuck Berry’s “Livin’ In the USA” and James Brown’s “Livin’ in America.” come to mind.&#160; On the surface mere apolitical romps, the mere celebration of US life without comment becomes a commentary of its own.</p>
<p>“Monster” by Steppenwolf appears on their 1970 album of the same name.&#160; An essentially libertarian anthem, John Kay and his bandmates trace the history of the United States utilizing the previously mentioned template of freedom betrayed.&#160; “America,” the song asks, “where are you now?”&#160; It is about America as a political Frankenstein that has destroyed the nation’s original intent.&#160; There are no culprits named, but the implicit message is that the politicians and the corporations they serve are the ones who must be removed, since it is their wars we are forced to fight.&#160; A present-day expression of this song can arguably be found in James McMurtry’s “We Can’t Make it Here Anymore”–a song that paints and impressionistic picture of a town and the lives therein destroyed by corporate callousness made possible by politicians without conscience.&#160; “Monster” differs in that it expands the scenario into the nation’s history.&#160; Although this promise is a promise for the colonists and not the natives, the destruction of those peoples and the incorporation of slavery are part of the destruction wrought to the promise.</p>
<p>David Lynn Jones “Living In the Promised Land” sung most famously by Willie Nelson&#160; is a song that represents another look at the myth that makes the nation.&#160; It is a tale of America from the immigrant’s view that promises room for everyone.&#160; The United States as the great melting pot.&#160; Idealized, for sure, the song does not mention the slaves who came unwillingly bound in ships in conditions worse than sheep and forced to work for the rich white men whose interactions with the native people ended up in the latter’s genocide.&#160; Yet, it presents a nation formed by immigrants and invites in more while acknowledging there are those already here who have forgotten their own history.&#160; When Willie sings “Is there no love anymore/Living in the promised land?” he is reminding the listener that they too come from other lands .&#160; Consequently, they should be more than willing to share the hope their ancestors found on America’s shores with the newest immigrants.&#160; Of course, we know this has rarely been the case.</p>
<p>The Dead’s tune “US Blues” is a slightly different take on the US of A.&#160; Uncle Sam is, in essence, a con-man.&#160; PT Barnum and the pot dealer join the medicine man hucksters wearing Carl Perkins blue suede shoes in a rock and roll traveling show.&#160; Unlike the hard-luck working class protagonist of “Born In the USA,” the characters of “US Blues” are independent operators whose lives have somehow remained untouched by the miseries of war and the factory.&#160; In the&#160; concert movie The Grateful Dead Movie, there is an animated sequence that opens the film and features this song.&#160; It plays while Uncle Sam is arrested and thrown into jail by a pig-face cop.&#160; A cop that looked a lot like some of those on the line that July 4th back in 1976.&#160; Cops just waiting for a pot smoking freak to light one up in his face.&#160; I recall seeing the Dead in January 1980 at a benefit for Cambodian refugees (that also&#160; featured the Beach Boys, among others) where the lyric “Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and Charlie Chan” was changed to “Shake the hand that shook the hand of P.T. Barnum and the Shah of Iran.”&#160; This was obviously an ironic reference&#160; to the end of that ill-fated relationship in the wake of the Iranian revolution then going on–a revolution Washington is still trying to figure out how to deal with.</p>
<p>I ended up inviting the West Virginia pickers back to my house.&#160; On the way home we got pulled over by the county cops.&#160; They talked to us for about half an hour, searched the West Virginians’ truck and found nothing.&#160; While they tossed stuff out of the truck, they half-jokingly asked the guitarist to play a song.&#160; He wisely chose Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”&#160; The lead cop told us how much he liked that song.&#160; Then he told us to get the hell home before he decided to look harder.&#160; We took his advice.&#160; I’m going to be with family up in Maryland this Fourth of July.&#160; There will be chicken, burgers, conversation, beer, and music.</p>
<p>Two songs I know I will hear are “Born In the USA” and “God Bless the USA.”&#160; The irony of the former will be lost on some of my relatives while the complete lack of irony of the latter will be barely tolerated by the rest of us.</p>
<p>RON JACOBS is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs’ essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch’s collection on music, art and sex, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Serpents in the Garden</a>. His first novel, <a href="" type="internal">Short Order Frame Up,</a> is published by Mainstay Press. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:rjacobs3625@charter.net" type="external">rjacobs3625@charter.net</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | walked vets liquor bar twenty miles outside dc back 1976160 july 3rd160 bicentennial going downtown dc heading smokein thousand us yippees hippies going get together celebrate freedom smoking lots devil weed listening variety rock roll bands160 government meanwhile big show going beach boys whatever remained johnny cash160 fireworks military bands anyhow jukebox playing okie muskogee men women sitting bar taking lyrics quite serious cast glances way160 long hair beard made look well conspicuous160 course upside us flag sewn back jeans hey made great patch might friendliest message folks either bought pack cigarettes left without taking change160 time get back friendlier environs thumb went route 1 got ride almost instantly160 couple buddies mine heading another suburb happened heading also160 end day dc smoking weed suburbanites wasnt much hoping something better160 group hippies west virginia sitting ten feet drinking shine picking guitars banjo160 nothing recognizable first eventually got around fair version grateful deads cumberland blues160 moved circle pulled couple joints goldcolored weed id stashed special kind occasion160 shine made scene special somehow160 lit one passed on160 guys play us blues160 best isnt smoking weed even july 4th160 couple songs the160 popular music 1960s afterwards united states theme160 like majority folks smokein types tunes share belief united states essentially good place lost way160 like many folks going see governmentsponsored fireworks year stay far away yippees possible many songs period unabashedly nationalistic rallying cries war empire160 steppenwolfs monster perhaps pointed former socalled sixties lee greenwoods god bless usa certainly one pointed latter160 like springsteens born usa former often confused apologists war empire part latters songbook160 celebrations life usa160 chuck berrys livin usa james browns livin america come mind160 surface mere apolitical romps mere celebration us life without comment becomes commentary monster steppenwolf appears 1970 album name160 essentially libertarian anthem john kay bandmates trace history united states utilizing previously mentioned template freedom betrayed160 america song asks now160 america political frankenstein destroyed nations original intent160 culprits named implicit message politicians corporations serve ones must removed since wars forced fight160 presentday expression song arguably found james mcmurtrys cant make anymorea song paints impressionistic picture town lives therein destroyed corporate callousness made possible politicians without conscience160 monster differs expands scenario nations history160 although promise promise colonists natives destruction peoples incorporation slavery part destruction wrought promise david lynn jones living promised land sung famously willie nelson160 song represents another look myth makes nation160 tale america immigrants view promises room everyone160 united states great melting pot160 idealized sure song mention slaves came unwillingly bound ships conditions worse sheep forced work rich white men whose interactions native people ended latters genocide160 yet presents nation formed immigrants invites acknowledging already forgotten history160 willie sings love anymoreliving promised land reminding listener come lands 160 consequently willing share hope ancestors found americas shores newest immigrants160 course know rarely case deads tune us blues slightly different take us a160 uncle sam essence conman160 pt barnum pot dealer join medicine man hucksters wearing carl perkins blue suede shoes rock roll traveling show160 unlike hardluck working class protagonist born usa characters us blues independent operators whose lives somehow remained untouched miseries war factory160 the160 concert movie grateful dead movie animated sequence opens film features song160 plays uncle sam arrested thrown jail pigface cop160 cop looked lot like line july 4th back 1976160 cops waiting pot smoking freak light one face160 recall seeing dead january 1980 benefit cambodian refugees also160 featured beach boys among others lyric shake hand shook hand pt barnum charlie chan changed shake hand shook hand pt barnum shah iran160 obviously ironic reference160 end illfated relationship wake iranian revolution going ona revolution washington still trying figure deal ended inviting west virginia pickers back house160 way home got pulled county cops160 talked us half hour searched west virginians truck found nothing160 tossed stuff truck halfjokingly asked guitarist play song160 wisely chose johnny cashs ring fire160 lead cop told us much liked song160 told us get hell home decided look harder160 took advice160 im going family maryland fourth july160 chicken burgers conversation beer music two songs know hear born usa god bless usa160 irony former lost relatives complete lack irony latter barely tolerated rest us ron jacobs author way wind blew history weather underground republished verso jacobs essay big bill broonzy featured counterpunchs collection music art sex serpents garden first novel short order frame published mainstay press reached rjacobs3625charternet 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 729 |
<p>Finally unraveling one of the most bizarre and high-profile murder-fugitive stories in US history.</p>
<p>Robert Singer <a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-5Qo" type="external">21st Century Wire</a></p>
<p>We are told that a terrorist is a person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims.</p>
<p>There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the definition of the term “terrorism.” Various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of “terrorism.” These difficulties arise from the fact that the term “terrorism” is politically and emotionally charged. [From Wikipedia]</p>
<p>According to the authorities, Christopher Jordan Dorner&#160;(photo, left) is a violent domestic terrorist.</p>
<p>Dorner, a former LAPD cop and honorably discharged Navy reservist, was accused of killing four people in February 2013&#160;. The Police also claim Dorner is the author of numerous versions of a rage-filled “manifesto” where he vows to “bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in an LAPD uniform whether on or off duty.” Later Dorner is quoted in the LA Times: “I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to clear my name.” Does this sound like something a violent domestic terrorist would say?</p>
<p>Where is the evidence that Dorner killed anyone?</p>
<p>Note there is absolutely no proof Dorner killed anyone especially&#160; <a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2013/03/what-really-happened-to-monica-quan-and.html" type="external">Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence</a>.</p>
<p>According to the official story, at 9:10 P.M on February 3, 2013 a couple, walking through the upper floor (roof level) of the parking garage at 2100 Scholarship, Irvine CA, spotted a man and woman [Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence] slumped over inside a car that reportedly belonged to Keith Lawrence.</p>
<p>Here is what the public is expected to believe. In a million dollar neighborhood, in a racist area of the country, a large black man breaks into a secured garage and is allowed by a police officer (who theoretically knows he’s hostile) to walk up to the officer’s car under a bright light and shoot the officer and his girlfriend (also from a police background) while nobody hears any shots and then departs, going both in and out of the garage in front of a video camera. Of course, the police (who want us to believe this) have failed to release the video footage that would show they were right about it being Chris Dorner who did all this.&#160; <a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2013/03/what-really-happened-to-monica-quan-and.html" type="external">What Really Happened to Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence</a>&#160;By Ruth Hull</p>
<p>The largest manhunt since 9/11; involving the FBI, SWAT teams, over 10,000 officers, tightened Border Patrol [including checkpoints in Big Bear], drones, helicopters and aerial search teams with thermal imaging technology finally barbecued their man in a cabin in Big Bear.</p>
<p>How do we know it was Dorner?</p>
<p>Dorner’s California Driver’s License was found near a burned corpse in the basement area of the burned building cabin. Is that possible?</p>
<p />
<p>As you can see in the image above, it is hard to believe a&#160;plastic&#160;driver’s license could recognizably survive such a fire. I remind the reader that&#160; <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/11/local/la-me-dorner-charges-20130212" type="external">on February 7, 2013 it had been reported that Dorner’s wallet and identification had been found by a shuttle bus driver in the San Diego area</a>. [1]</p>
<p>Tactical Elements of Dorner’s Rampage</p>
<p>The first problem with the story is the tactical elements of Dorner’s rampage, John Miller CBS News senior correspondent and former head of the LAPD Major Crimes Division said the attacks likely took a…</p>
<p>“remarkable amount of pre-staging” and added that “somebody who put that much pre-staging planning into a series of events … it’s doubtful that they didn’t put the same amount of planning into the end game … It makes you wonder what his plan is for the end game.” Bratton said he found it “very surprising that now with all this attention Dorner has brought onto himself, he has not started to reach out to the media to exploit it … it’s very interesting that he has stayed quiet.”</p>
<p>Miller explained that Dorner “cut off all his cell phones and other connections” on Jan. 31 and Bratton said, “he’s aware that anything he uses electronically can be immediately zeroed in on so he’s possibly staying quiet because of that understanding. As they look to bring the manhunt to an end, “the police are certainly on edge,” Bratton said, emphasizing that Dorner is “an incredibly dangerous individual.”</p>
<p>The second problem that everyone should be questioning is why “the police are certainly on edge” and is Dorner “an incredibly dangerous individual?”</p>
<p><a href="http://sfbayview.com/2013/lapd-was-never-spooked-by-christopher-dorner-something-dont-smell-right/" type="external">LAPD was never spooked by Christopher Dorner: Something doesn’t smell right</a></p>
<p>Is it really possible that one man with military training had one of the most militarized and largest police forces in the world spooked over the threats in a rambling manifesto?</p>
<p>Was Dorner the most dangerous suspect ever faced by LAPD?</p>
<p>The LAPD is one of the most militarized police forces in the country and Daryl Gates and William H. Parker L.A. Police chiefs made it a point to hire military men to be on the force. Former Navy Seals, Green Berets, Marines, Special Forces and SWAT teams make up the ranks of LAPD and Southern California police forces in general.</p>
<p>Why would one man who “just wanted to clear his name” spook the LAPD?</p>
<p>Los Angeles is home to some of the most ruthless, well armed and vicious organized gangs. The Crips, Bloods, Mexican Mafia, Armenian Mob, Aryan Brotherhood, Skinheads, Russian Mob and of course the drug cartels. The gangs are real and are openly hostile to the LAPD, yet we have never seen the Police go after those same gangs with the same determination and resolve. Even after those criminals were deemed terrorists and murdered entire families.</p>
<p>During the height of the&#160; <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/microsites/la-riots/" type="external">LA rebellions in 1992&#160;</a>we saw the Parker Center police headquarters destroyed by angry mobs but we didn’t see a thousand cops on the streets “looking” for anyone. Police officers’ families weren’t protected. Million dollar rewards weren’t offered, freeways weren’t shut down for hours and protection squads weren’t assigned to everyone in “danger.”</p>
<p>What about the niece of former L.A. Police Chief Bernard Parks who was killed by gang members in 2000? Where was the manhunt to eradicate the gang that killed her?</p>
<p>There have long been rogue officers, some friendly, some not so friendly to the force, but never has there been a statewide manhunt to stop them. The LAPD, no matter what they say, could not have been in the imminent danger they claimed – not with all their resources, manpower and history.</p>
<p>I have only two possibilities to explain what really happened:</p>
<p>1)&#160;&#160;&#160; Monica Quan is the daughter of Randall Quan, the first Chinese-American captain in the Los Angeles Police Department. Randal Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement [2], was hired by the LAPD officers’ union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, to represent Dorner at an internal LAPD hearing prior to his termination in 2009. During that time Dorner confided in Quan something the LAPD has been keeping secret for years. Dorner involved in trying to clear his name may have threatened to disclose the LAPD secret. Silencing Dorner was simple, “he never had the opportunity to have a family,” but Quan we can assume realized the danger he posed to the LAPD and stored away one of those “open if something happens to me letters.” How do&#160; you keep Quan quiet? You kill one of his four children and blame it on Dorner in a rambling manifesto. [3]</p>
<p>2)&#160;&#160;&#160; The police are under pressure to explain the rise in police shootings of unarmed individuals.</p>
<p>If you recall, two women in Torrance delivering newspapers were mistakenly shot by LAPD officers searching for Christopher Dorner. There was no warning, no orders, no commands, the police officers just opened fire on their vehicle.&#160; <a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/news-services-fake-dorner-manifesto.html" type="external">News Services Fake Dorner Manifesto, Quick-Shooting Police Mistake Little Women for a Big Man</a></p>
<p>Was this really a tragic case of mistaken identity, as LAPD Chief Charlie Beck would have us believe?</p>
<p>The Police believed the two Hispanic women throwing papers out the driver side window driving a late-model blue Toyota Tacoma pick up truck, were Christopher Dorner, a 6’ 2” black 33-year old male on a rampage-killing spree in a charcoal colored Nissan Titan pick up truck.</p>
<p>The LA Times reports that a total of seven different officers fired on the women’s truck in Torrance. Police seem more concerned about killing a threat to them instead of protecting the public.</p>
<p>An unidentified witness to the shooting looked out his window and saw a half-dozen cops shooting wildly in all directions, yelling extreme profanity at the women and pointing weapons at anyone driving by or near, like “little boys with big guns, lots of vengeance and no brains. Makes me root for the bad guys, and not those crazy cops.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately this wasn’t the first time the Police went ballistic and started shooting at innocent people. In what has become a reoccurring theme, LAPD&#160; <a href="http://www.loop21.com/search/node/shoot" type="external">Police Officers Are Shooting Unarmed People, Everywhere</a>&#160;since 2010.</p>
<p><a href="http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/20/21956357-family-of-unarmed-man-shot-dead-by-lapd-wants-20-million" type="external">December 20, 2013</a>, just two days ago, the Police shot and killed an unarmed man following a pursuit of his Corvette through Los Angeles.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vice.com/read/los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-shot-and-killed-a-homeless-man-for-waving-a-stick" type="external">October 10, 2013</a>, Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies kicked and fatally shot a homeless man for, they claim, was waving a stick.</p>
<p>“Deputies with the Transit Services Bureau came into contact with the man when he suddenly armed himself with a wooden stick. He then advanced toward the deputies with the wooden stick overhead, prompting them to open fire. Officials said the man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital, where he died.”</p>
<p><a href="http://projects.latimes.com/homicide/post/abdul-arian/" type="external">April 11 2013</a>, LAPD kills 19-year old Abdul Arian after he led police on a high-speed chase after he refused to pull over for a traffic stop. According to the Police they felt their lives were in danger because of the gestures made after he got out of the car. At the end of the chase, Arian jumped out of the car and started to run, but also turning towards officers in what they describe was a “menacing” motion where he appeared to have a weapon. He did not.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.policebrutality.info/2013/04/graphic-officer-shot-a-unarmed-man-11-times.html#sthash.uUDY1jr0.dpuf" type="external">April 8th, 2013</a>, Ernesto Duenez, unarmed,&#160; was shot 11 Times by Police. &#160;The video from one of the patrol car cameras shows Duenez parking his pickup truck and officer James Moody approaching him with a drawn gun. He suspected that Duenez had a knife and shouted at him to drop it and put his hands up. As Duenez was exiting the vehicle over the passenger seat, he tripped and turned around which provoked the officer to fire 13 shots in just 4.2 seconds. Duenez was shot once in the head, eight times in the body and two times in the extremities and died from wounds to his chest and abdomen.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.loop21.com/life/lapd-shoot-teen-alleged-armed-robbery-no-gun-found" type="external">March 24, 2012</a>, Kendrec McDade,&#160; unarmed, was killed by Police because they were told that he had a gun by a 911 caller reporting a robbery and he according to the Police was reaching into his waistband. The caller later admitted that he lied about the gun. The officers who shot McDade however, have not been held responsible. Local civil rights activists have also noted that Pasadena police are going against California law that says officers who shoot and kill citizens must be identified to the public. Neither officers’ identity has been revealed.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/moises-de-la-torre-lawsuit_n_4153265.html" type="external">February 24, 2013</a>, Moises De La Torre, unarmed, fatally shot By LAPD. According to police reports officers from the LAPD’s North Hollywood Division responded to a call of a man with a gun in the area of Vineland Avenue and Archwood Street. A female 9-1-1 caller reported she had been approached by a man who threatened to kill her and then reached into a bag he was carrying. She said she believed it was to retrieve a gun. When they arrived, officers found De La Torre standing in lanes of traffic, according to a statement issued by the department afterward. Police instructed him to drop the bag, but De La Torre failed to do so, and officers said he allegedly moved forward, threatening to kill them. He reached into the bag and officers opened fire.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/christopher-dorner-manhunt-two-innocent-women-shot-by-lapd-officers-had-no-warning/" type="external">February 8, 2013</a>, two women in Torrance were delivering newspapers when they were mistakenly shot by LAPD officers searching for Christopher Dorner. There was no warning, no orders given, no commands issued, the police officers just opened fire on their vehicle.</p>
<p>“Officers are discharging their weapons&#160; because they are being attacked,”&#160;Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck</p>
<p>In 2011, as the number of police shootings soared, Police Chief Charlie Beck repeatedly gave his bosses and the public an explanation: Officers were discharging their weapons more because they were coming under attack more. He attempted to bolster his assertion with LAPD statistics that showed an increase in the number of assaults on officers. Alex Bustamante, the inspector general for the Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD disputes the statistics and Beck’s assertion of a link between the jump in officer-involved shootings and assaults on officers in a report by the Police Commission inspector general.&#160; <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/02/local/la-me-lapd-shootings-assaults-20120702" type="external">Watchdog disputes LAPD rationale for rise in police shootings</a></p>
<p>The independent LAPD watchdog concludes there was no link between the dramatic rise in officer-involved shootings and assaults on officers.</p>
<p>When asked to support Beck’s assertion that “Officer involved shootings are up — largely in response to being attacked,” the only incidents that were mentioned were that in April one officer was shot in the jaw and in October, two officers came under fire and were hit by small pellets resembling bird shot when they came upon a shooting.</p>
<p>Through a spokesperson Beck issued to The Times a written response to the inspector general’s report. He stood by the idea that “there is a relationship between some types of attacks on police officers and officer involved shootings.” And he said people accused of assaulting LAPD officers last year were armed with guns and knives — as opposed to less threatening weapons — at a higher rate than in previous years, which Beck said helped explain why more shootings occurred.</p>
<p>A report in July of 2012 did not offer any possible explanations for the increase in officer involved shootings but disputes that LAPD officers are under attack.</p>
<p>What if you wanted to convince the public “the Police have reason to shoot people because they are being threatened by criminals with assault weapons?</p>
<p>John Miller CBS News senior correspondent and former head of the LAPD Major Crimes Division might agree that the Dorner escapade would convince everyone the Police were threatened.</p>
<p>“remarkable amount of pre-staging” and added that “somebody who put that much pre-staging planning into a series of events … it’s doubtful that they didn’t put the same amount of planning into the end game … It makes you wonder what his plan is for the end game.” Bratton said he found it “very surprising that now with all this attention Dorner has brought onto himself, he has not started to reach out to the media to exploit it … it’s very interesting that he has stayed quiet.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2013/03/21/jesus-christ-dorner-and-bin-laden-patsy-" type="external">Jesus [Christ], Dorner and Bin Laden: Patsy, Terrorist, or Savior</a>, satire by Robert Singer.</p>
<p>Robert Singer writes about&#160; <a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/06/12/why-does-god-allow-bad-things-to-happen-" type="external">Secrets</a>, Sentient Creatures&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25316.html" type="external">The Federal Reserve</a>&#160;at&#160; <a href="http://www.unfilteredhistory.com/blog/uncategorized/articles-sorted-by-category/" type="external">The Peoples Voice</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/UserInfo-Robert_Singer.html" type="external">The Market Oracle</a>&#160;(rds2301@gmail.com)</p>
<p>Footnotes:</p>
<p>[1]&#160;“After authorities interviewed the boat captain early Thursday, they found Dorner’s wallet and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_document" type="external">identification cards</a>&#160;‘at the&#160; <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.5549,-117.044306&amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;q=32.5549,-117.044306%20%28San%20Ysidro%2C%20San%20Diego%29&amp;t=h" type="external">San Ysidro</a>&#160;Point of Entry’ near the&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_%E2%80%93_United_States_border" type="external">U.S.-Mexico border</a>, according to the court records. That same day, a guard at the&#160; <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.67,-117.241944444&amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;q=32.67,-117.241944444%20%28Point%20Loma%2C%20San%20Diego%29&amp;t=h" type="external">Point Loma</a>&#160;Naval Base told authorities he had spotted a man matching Dorner’s description trying to sneak onto the base, according to the filing.”</p>
<p>I apologize but I need to remind the reader that on&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/christopher-dorner-drivers-license-id-cabin-_n_2677590.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&amp;utm_campaign=021313&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=NewsEntry&amp;utm_term=Daily+Brief&amp;src=sp&amp;comm_ref=false#sb=567108,b=facebook" type="external">February 13, 2013 a wallet with a California driver’s license with the name Christopher Dorner was allegedly found</a>&#160;in the rubble of the burnt-out Big Bear cabin,</p>
<p>“A wallet with a California driver’s license bearing the name Christopher Dorner also was found, the&#160; <a href="http://www.ap.org/" type="external">Associated Press</a>&#160;reported, citing a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation but declined to be named because of the ongoing probe.”</p>
<p>[2] Randal Quan Controversy. Quan, who the LAPD said was the first Chinese-American captain in department history, retired from the police department in 2002. In October of that year, Quan was hired as police chief at Cal Poly Pomona. Six months later he was fired.&#160; Quan filed a lawsuit against the school for wrongful termination on Jan. 15, 2004.</p>
<p>“Quan, the former Cal Poly Pomona campus police chief who was non-retained, filed this action complaining that he was terminated because he objected to hiring an African-American female,” according to minutes from a Trustees of the California State University meeting.</p>
<p>The lawsuit was settled for $32,000, said Dan Lee, spokesman for Cal Poly, and the case was dismissed on June 20, 2005. Lee said he could not speak in detail about Quan’s time at the university.</p>
<p>In 2002, was named chief of police at Cal Poly Pomona. He was fired after about six months, and then sued for&#160; in 2004.</p>
<p>[3] [From&#160; <a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2013/03/what-really-happened-to-monica-quan-and.html" type="external">What Really Happened to Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence? Was an Innocent Man Barbecued at Big Bear?</a>&#160;By Ruth Hull]</p>
<p>According to the official story, at 9:10 P.M on February 3, 2013 a couple, walking through the upper floor (roof level) of the parking garage at 2100 Scholarship, Irvine CA, spotted a man and woman [Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence] slumped over inside a car that reportedly belonged to Keith Lawrence.</p>
<p>Here is what the public is expected to believe, in a million dollar neighborhood, in a racist area of the country, a large black man breaks into a secured garage and is allowed by a police officer (who theoretically knows he’s hostile) to walk up to the officer’s car under a bright light and shoot the officer and his girlfriend (also from a police background) without witnesses, then departs. All the while Dorner, was apparently in and out of the garage in front of a video camera. The police (who want us to believe this) have failed to release the video footage of Chris Dorner.</p>
<p>When you add this improbable scenario, with an unlikely ending at Big Bear (see Chris Dorner: Crazed Killer, Innocent Hero or Neither?), this begins to look less and less like real life and more and more like a poorly written movie plot. [End of From&#160; <a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2013/03/what-really-happened-to-monica-quan-and.html" type="external">What Really Happened to Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence? Was an Innocent Man Barbecued at Big Bear?</a>&#160;By Ruth Hull]</p>
<p>[3]From <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20130207/police-confuse-truck-for-christopher-dorners-shoot-at-3-people-in-torrance-in-case-of-mistaken-identity" type="external">Police confuse truck for Christopher Dorner’s, shoot at 3 people in Torrance in case of mistaken identity</a>,&#160;By Larry Altman, Staff Writer Posted: 02/06/13, 9:00 PM PST</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Another issue with the police stakeout at Deelane and Redbeam.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Robert Singer is an independent writer and researcher based in Los Angeles.–READ MORE ON CHRIS DORNER AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Dorner File</a>–</p> | true | 4 | finally unraveling one bizarre highprofile murderfugitive stories us history robert singer 21st century wire told terrorist person uses terrorism pursuit political aims neither academic international legal consensus regarding definition term terrorism various legal systems government agencies use different definitions terrorism difficulties arise fact term terrorism politically emotionally charged wikipedia according authorities christopher jordan dorner160photo left violent domestic terrorist dorner former lapd cop honorably discharged navy reservist accused killing four people february 2013160 police also claim dorner author numerous versions ragefilled manifesto vows bring unconventional asymmetrical warfare lapd uniform whether duty later dorner quoted la times dont want hurt want clear name sound like something violent domestic terrorist would say evidence dorner killed anyone note absolutely proof dorner killed anyone especially160 monica quan keith lawrence according official story 910 pm february 3 2013 couple walking upper floor roof level parking garage 2100 scholarship irvine ca spotted man woman monica quan keith lawrence slumped inside car reportedly belonged keith lawrence public expected believe million dollar neighborhood racist area country large black man breaks secured garage allowed police officer theoretically knows hes hostile walk officers car bright light shoot officer girlfriend also police background nobody hears shots departs going garage front video camera course police want us believe failed release video footage would show right chris dorner this160 really happened monica quan keith lawrence160by ruth hull largest manhunt since 911 involving fbi swat teams 10000 officers tightened border patrol including checkpoints big bear drones helicopters aerial search teams thermal imaging technology finally barbecued man cabin big bear know dorner dorners california drivers license found near burned corpse basement area burned building cabin possible see image hard believe a160plastic160drivers license could recognizably survive fire remind reader that160 february 7 2013 reported dorners wallet identification found shuttle bus driver san diego area 1 tactical elements dorners rampage first problem story tactical elements dorners rampage john miller cbs news senior correspondent former head lapd major crimes division said attacks likely took remarkable amount prestaging added somebody put much prestaging planning series events doubtful didnt put amount planning end game makes wonder plan end game bratton said found surprising attention dorner brought onto started reach media exploit interesting stayed quiet miller explained dorner cut cell phones connections jan 31 bratton said hes aware anything uses electronically immediately zeroed hes possibly staying quiet understanding look bring manhunt end police certainly edge bratton said emphasizing dorner incredibly dangerous individual second problem everyone questioning police certainly edge dorner incredibly dangerous individual lapd never spooked christopher dorner something doesnt smell right really possible one man military training one militarized largest police forces world spooked threats rambling manifesto dorner dangerous suspect ever faced lapd lapd one militarized police forces country daryl gates william h parker la police chiefs made point hire military men force former navy seals green berets marines special forces swat teams make ranks lapd southern california police forces general would one man wanted clear name spook lapd los angeles home ruthless well armed vicious organized gangs crips bloods mexican mafia armenian mob aryan brotherhood skinheads russian mob course drug cartels gangs real openly hostile lapd yet never seen police go gangs determination resolve even criminals deemed terrorists murdered entire families height the160 la rebellions 1992160we saw parker center police headquarters destroyed angry mobs didnt see thousand cops streets looking anyone police officers families werent protected million dollar rewards werent offered freeways werent shut hours protection squads werent assigned everyone danger niece former la police chief bernard parks killed gang members 2000 manhunt eradicate gang killed long rogue officers friendly friendly force never statewide manhunt stop lapd matter say could imminent danger claimed resources manpower history two possibilities explain really happened 1160160160 monica quan daughter randall quan first chineseamerican captain los angeles police department randal quan became lawyer retirement 2 hired lapd officers union los angeles police protective league represent dorner internal lapd hearing prior termination 2009 time dorner confided quan something lapd keeping secret years dorner involved trying clear name may threatened disclose lapd secret silencing dorner simple never opportunity family quan assume realized danger posed lapd stored away one open something happens letters do160 keep quan quiet kill one four children blame dorner rambling manifesto 3 2160160160 police pressure explain rise police shootings unarmed individuals recall two women torrance delivering newspapers mistakenly shot lapd officers searching christopher dorner warning orders commands police officers opened fire vehicle160 news services fake dorner manifesto quickshooting police mistake little women big man really tragic case mistaken identity lapd chief charlie beck would us believe police believed two hispanic women throwing papers driver side window driving latemodel blue toyota tacoma pick truck christopher dorner 6 2 black 33year old male rampagekilling spree charcoal colored nissan titan pick truck la times reports total seven different officers fired womens truck torrance police seem concerned killing threat instead protecting public unidentified witness shooting looked window saw halfdozen cops shooting wildly directions yelling extreme profanity women pointing weapons anyone driving near like little boys big guns lots vengeance brains makes root bad guys crazy cops unfortunately wasnt first time police went ballistic started shooting innocent people become reoccurring theme lapd160 police officers shooting unarmed people everywhere160since 2010 december 20 2013 two days ago police shot killed unarmed man following pursuit corvette los angeles october 10 2013 los angeles sheriffs deputies kicked fatally shot homeless man claim waving stick deputies transit services bureau came contact man suddenly armed wooden stick advanced toward deputies wooden stick overhead prompting open fire officials said man identified taken hospital died april 11 2013 lapd kills 19year old abdul arian led police highspeed chase refused pull traffic stop according police felt lives danger gestures made got car end chase arian jumped car started run also turning towards officers describe menacing motion appeared weapon april 8th 2013 ernesto duenez unarmed160 shot 11 times police 160the video one patrol car cameras shows duenez parking pickup truck officer james moody approaching drawn gun suspected duenez knife shouted drop put hands duenez exiting vehicle passenger seat tripped turned around provoked officer fire 13 shots 42 seconds duenez shot head eight times body two times extremities died wounds chest abdomen march 24 2012 kendrec mcdade160 unarmed killed police told gun 911 caller reporting robbery according police reaching waistband caller later admitted lied gun officers shot mcdade however held responsible local civil rights activists also noted pasadena police going california law says officers shoot kill citizens must identified public neither officers identity revealed160 february 24 2013 moises de la torre unarmed fatally shot lapd according police reports officers lapds north hollywood division responded call man gun area vineland avenue archwood street female 911 caller reported approached man threatened kill reached bag carrying said believed retrieve gun arrived officers found de la torre standing lanes traffic according statement issued department afterward police instructed drop bag de la torre failed officers said allegedly moved forward threatening kill reached bag officers opened fire february 8 2013 two women torrance delivering newspapers mistakenly shot lapd officers searching christopher dorner warning orders given commands issued police officers opened fire vehicle officers discharging weapons160 attacked160los angeles police chief charlie beck 2011 number police shootings soared police chief charlie beck repeatedly gave bosses public explanation officers discharging weapons coming attack attempted bolster assertion lapd statistics showed increase number assaults officers alex bustamante inspector general los angeles police commission oversees lapd disputes statistics becks assertion link jump officerinvolved shootings assaults officers report police commission inspector general160 watchdog disputes lapd rationale rise police shootings independent lapd watchdog concludes link dramatic rise officerinvolved shootings assaults officers asked support becks assertion officer involved shootings largely response attacked incidents mentioned april one officer shot jaw october two officers came fire hit small pellets resembling bird shot came upon shooting spokesperson beck issued times written response inspector generals report stood idea relationship types attacks police officers officer involved shootings said people accused assaulting lapd officers last year armed guns knives opposed less threatening weapons higher rate previous years beck said helped explain shootings occurred report july 2012 offer possible explanations increase officer involved shootings disputes lapd officers attack wanted convince public police reason shoot people threatened criminals assault weapons john miller cbs news senior correspondent former head lapd major crimes division might agree dorner escapade would convince everyone police threatened remarkable amount prestaging added somebody put much prestaging planning series events doubtful didnt put amount planning end game makes wonder plan end game bratton said found surprising attention dorner brought onto started reach media exploit interesting stayed quiet jesus christ dorner bin laden patsy terrorist savior satire robert singer robert singer writes about160 secrets sentient creatures160and160 federal reserve160at160 peoples voice160and160 market oracle160rds2301gmailcom footnotes 1160after authorities interviewed boat captain early thursday found dorners wallet identification cards160at the160 san ysidro160point entry near the160 usmexico border according court records day guard the160 point loma160naval base told authorities spotted man matching dorners description trying sneak onto base according filing apologize need remind reader on160 february 13 2013 wallet california drivers license name christopher dorner allegedly found160in rubble burntout big bear cabin wallet california drivers license bearing name christopher dorner also found the160 associated press160reported citing law enforcement official briefed investigation declined named ongoing probe 2 randal quan controversy quan lapd said first chineseamerican captain department history retired police department 2002 october year quan hired police chief cal poly pomona six months later fired160 quan filed lawsuit school wrongful termination jan 15 2004 quan former cal poly pomona campus police chief nonretained filed action complaining terminated objected hiring africanamerican female according minutes trustees california state university meeting lawsuit settled 32000 said dan lee spokesman cal poly case dismissed june 20 2005 lee said could speak detail quans time university 2002 named chief police cal poly pomona fired six months sued for160 2004 3 from160 really happened monica quan keith lawrence innocent man barbecued big bear160by ruth hull according official story 910 pm february 3 2013 couple walking upper floor roof level parking garage 2100 scholarship irvine ca spotted man woman monica quan keith lawrence slumped inside car reportedly belonged keith lawrence public expected believe million dollar neighborhood racist area country large black man breaks secured garage allowed police officer theoretically knows hes hostile walk officers car bright light shoot officer girlfriend also police background without witnesses departs dorner apparently garage front video camera police want us believe failed release video footage chris dorner add improbable scenario unlikely ending big bear see chris dorner crazed killer innocent hero neither begins look less less like real life like poorly written movie plot end from160 really happened monica quan keith lawrence innocent man barbecued big bear160by ruth hull 3from police confuse truck christopher dorners shoot 3 people torrance case mistaken identity160by larry altman staff writer posted 020613 900 pm pst another issue police stakeout deelane redbeam robert singer independent writer researcher based los angelesread chris dorner 21st century wire dorner file | 1,811 |
<p>Photo by Iwan Gabovitch | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Plastic is not recycled.</p>
<p>One of the great myths of modern-day society is that people recycle in earnest… saving the environment. Au contraire! Check out the ocean. It’s filled with plastic. Fish and seabirds eat it by gobs and gobs. Furthermore, according to a World Economic Forum presentation, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics, February 2016, by 2050 there will likely be more plastic than fish in the seas, unless socio-economic policies change drastically. But, where’s the leadership?</p>
<p>Only recently National Geographic magazine posted news about a new discovery of massive quantities of plastic in the Pacific Ocean, July 25th, 2017, entitled: Plastic Garbage Patch Bigger Than Mexico Found in Pacific, stating, “Yet another floating mass of microscopic plastic has been discovered in the ocean, and it is mind-blowingly vast.”</p>
<p>The magazine also shatters the myth that people recycle, in earnest. According to the article, “a whopping 91% of plastic isn’t recycled,” which lends tremendous credence to the prediction at the World Economic Forum that the seas will carry more plastic than fish.</p>
<p>Consider the Great Acceleration, epitomized by plastic’s exponential growth, does not hesitate, onwards and upwards, production and profits, Wall Street and Trump, prosperity only hopefully, but not for most, for as long as the planet holds up… cough, ahem!</p>
<p>The focus of scientific research on plastic destructiveness prompts analyses “how much plastic has been produced, discarded, burned or put in landfills… horrified by the sheer size of the numbers.” (Source: Laura Parker, A Whopping 91% of Plastic Isn’t Recycled, National Geographic, July 19, 2017.)</p>
<p>Even more breathtakingly yet: “Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form.” Following the dictum that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” scientists set out over two years ago to study the issue. The results published just last week a landmark study in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances. It is the first ever global-wide analysis, and hands down, it is sobering. (Source: Roland Geyer, et al, Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made, Science Advances, Vol. 3, No. 7, July 19, 2017.)</p>
<p>For example, according to the study, of the 8.3 billion metric tons produced so far, 6.3 billion metric tons is now waste product, and of that, only 9% has been recycled. Yes Mr. and Mrs. Green of the World your recycling efforts are not totally for naught but seriously challenged in the worst possible fashion, people don’t really care that much, and that is a tragedy in a world filled with instant recognition of everything and anything bad or good, except for incessant care of the planet. (Oh yeah, by the way, the Environmental Protection Agency “EPA” and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “NOAA” are now subject t0 unprecedented slash and burn politics. A huge sharpened axe overhangs our only biosphere under the raging influence of a rebirth of primitive Neolithic thought.)</p>
<p>The Great Acceleration, humans reshaping the ecosystem by displacing nature, is handily at work. Here’s proof: Half of the ingredients used to produce plastic have been produced over the last 13 years. That’s great acceleration, and then some. Not only that, half of all plastic becomes trash within a year. That’s acceleration of usage. By way of contrast, most of the steel produced still supports structures.</p>
<p>According to Jenna Jambeck, University of Georgia, environmental engineer specializing in ocean plastic waste, the U.S. is a distant third in recycling at a measly (9%) behind Europe (30%) and China (25%). As for U.S, environmental concerns/morals, Americans salute and flag wave and honor the country like America is great but at what?</p>
<p>According to National Geographic: “The problem of plastic pollution is becoming ubiquitous in the oceans, with 90 percent of sea birds consuming it and over eight million pounds of new plastic trash finding its way into the oceans every year.”</p>
<p>In the 1960s plastic was found in the stomachs of fewer than 5% of seabirds. By 1980 it jumped to 80%, now 90%. What’s left? National Geographic says that seabird populations dropped 67% between 1950 and 2010 but without a clear understanding of why. It is under study. Is plastic one of the threats to seabirds? We’ll find out in due course but likely too late for far too many.</p>
<p>Indeed, plastic trash is ubiquitous. Uninhabited Henderson Island in the South Pacific, a United Nations World Heritage site and one of the world’s biggest marine reserves described by UNESCO as “a gem and one of the world’s best remaining examples of coral atoll, practically untouched by human presence,” has the world’s highest density of trash, according to National Geographic. It’s a record-setter.</p>
<p>Henderson’s sandy white beaches carry the signatures of Russia, the U.S., the Philippines, the EU, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and so forth. All of it is trash, mostly plastic via the South Pacific gyre, which is a circular ocean current that moves water like a conveyor belt and collects trash along the way to the garbage dump Henderson Island at the rate of 3,500 pieces every day or 105,000 pieces monthly and still increasing.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the South Pacific’s Henderson Island is uninhabited. People would be completely overwhelmed.</p> | true | 4 | photo iwan gabovitch cc 20 plastic recycled one great myths modernday society people recycle earnest saving environment au contraire check ocean filled plastic fish seabirds eat gobs gobs furthermore according world economic forum presentation new plastics economy rethinking future plastics february 2016 2050 likely plastic fish seas unless socioeconomic policies change drastically wheres leadership recently national geographic magazine posted news new discovery massive quantities plastic pacific ocean july 25th 2017 entitled plastic garbage patch bigger mexico found pacific stating yet another floating mass microscopic plastic discovered ocean mindblowingly vast magazine also shatters myth people recycle earnest according article whopping 91 plastic isnt recycled lends tremendous credence prediction world economic forum seas carry plastic fish consider great acceleration epitomized plastics exponential growth hesitate onwards upwards production profits wall street trump prosperity hopefully long planet holds cough ahem focus scientific research plastic destructiveness prompts analyses much plastic produced discarded burned put landfills horrified sheer size numbers source laura parker whopping 91 plastic isnt recycled national geographic july 19 2017 even breathtakingly yet plastic takes 400 years degrade still exists form following dictum cant manage dont measure scientists set two years ago study issue results published last week landmark study peerreviewed journal science advances first ever globalwide analysis hands sobering source roland geyer et al production use fate plastics ever made science advances vol 3 7 july 19 2017 example according study 83 billion metric tons produced far 63 billion metric tons waste product 9 recycled yes mr mrs green world recycling efforts totally naught seriously challenged worst possible fashion people dont really care much tragedy world filled instant recognition everything anything bad good except incessant care planet oh yeah way environmental protection agency epa national oceanic atmospheric administration noaa subject t0 unprecedented slash burn politics huge sharpened axe overhangs biosphere raging influence rebirth primitive neolithic thought great acceleration humans reshaping ecosystem displacing nature handily work heres proof half ingredients used produce plastic produced last 13 years thats great acceleration half plastic becomes trash within year thats acceleration usage way contrast steel produced still supports structures according jenna jambeck university georgia environmental engineer specializing ocean plastic waste us distant third recycling measly 9 behind europe 30 china 25 us environmental concernsmorals americans salute flag wave honor country like america great according national geographic problem plastic pollution becoming ubiquitous oceans 90 percent sea birds consuming eight million pounds new plastic trash finding way oceans every year 1960s plastic found stomachs fewer 5 seabirds 1980 jumped 80 90 whats left national geographic says seabird populations dropped 67 1950 2010 without clear understanding study plastic one threats seabirds well find due course likely late far many indeed plastic trash ubiquitous uninhabited henderson island south pacific united nations world heritage site one worlds biggest marine reserves described unesco gem one worlds best remaining examples coral atoll practically untouched human presence worlds highest density trash according national geographic recordsetter hendersons sandy white beaches carry signatures russia us philippines eu brazil japan malaysia china indonesia forth trash mostly plastic via south pacific gyre circular ocean current moves water like conveyor belt collects trash along way garbage dump henderson island rate 3500 pieces every day 105000 pieces monthly still increasing fortunately south pacifics henderson island uninhabited people would completely overwhelmed | 540 |
<p>Dean Baker: Arithmetic and Manufacturing</p>
<p>I HAVE often thought that economists should be required to have a better grasp of simple arithmetic. It would prevent them from repeating many silly comments that pass for conventional wisdom, such as that the United States will no longer be a manufacturing country in the future.</p>
<p>Those who know arithmetic can quickly detect the absurdity of this assertion. The implication of course is that the United States will import nearly all of its manufactured goods. The problem is that unless we can find some country that will give us manufactured goods for free forever, we have to find some mechanism to pay for our imports.</p>
<p>The end of manufacturing school argues that we will pay by exporting services. This is where arithmetic is so useful. The volume of U.S. trade in goods is approximately three and half times the volume of its trade in services. If the deficit in goods trade were to continue to expand, we would need an incredible growth rate in both the volume and surplus of service trade and our surplus on this trade in order to get to anything close to balanced trade.</p>
<p>For example, if we lose half of our manufacturing over the next twenty years, and imported services continue to rise at the same pace as the past decade, then we would have to see exports of services rise at an average annual rate of almost 15 percent over the next two decades if we are to have balanced trade in the year 2028.</p>
<p>A 15 percent annual growth rate in service exports is approximately twice the rate of growth in service exports that we have seen over the last decade. It would take a very creative story to explain how we can anticipate the doubling of the growth rate of service exports on a sustained basis.</p>
<p>The story becomes even more fantastic on a closer examination of the services that we export. The largest single item is travel, meaning the money that foreign tourists spend in the United States. This item alone accounts for almost 20 percent of our service exports.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with tourism as an industry. However, the idea that U.S. workers are somehow too educated to be doing for manufacturing work, but instead will be making the beds, bussing the tables, and cleaning hotel toilets for foreign tourists is a bit laughable. Of course, with the right institutional structure (e.g. strong unions) these jobs can be well-paying jobs, but it is certainly not apparent that they require more skills than manufacturing.</p>
<p>The category "other transportation" accounts for another 10 percent of exported services. These are the fees for freight and port services that importers pay when they bring items into the United States. This service rises when our imports rise. It is effectively money taken out of our consumers' pockets because it is included in the price of imported goods.</p>
<p>Royalty and licensing fees account for another 17 percent of our service exports. These are the fees that we get countries to tack onto the price of their products due to copyright and patent protection. It might become increasingly difficult to extract these fees as the spread of the Internet increasingly allows more movies, software, and recorded music to be instantly copied and exchanged at zero cost. It's not clear that the rest of the world is prepared to use police-state tactics to collect revenue for Microsoft and Disney. The drug patent side of this equation is even more dubious. Developing countries are not eager to see their people die so that Pfizer and Merck can get high profits from their drug patents. This component of service exports is likely to come under considerable pressure in future years.</p>
<p>Another major category of service exports is financial services. This category accounted for approximately 10 percent of service exports in recent years. It is questionable whether this share can be maintained in the years ahead. Wall Street had been known as the gold standard of the world financial industry, with the best services and the highest professional standards. As a result of the scandals that have been exposed in the last year, Wall Street no longer has this standing in the world. After all, investors don't have to come to New York and give their money to Bernie Madoff or Robert Rubin to be ripped off; they can be ripped off almost anywhere in the world. Perhaps the Obama administration will be able to implement reforms in the financial sector that will restore its integrity in the eye of world investors, but that will require serious work at this point.</p>
<p>Finally, there is the category of business and professional services, which accounts for roughly 20 percent of service exports. This is the area of real high-tech and high-end services. It includes computing and managerial consulting.</p>
<p>Rapid growth in this sector would mean more high-end jobs in the United States, but the notion that it could possibly expand enough to support a country without manufacturing is absurd on its face. First, even though it is a large share of service exports, it is only equal to about 0.8 percent of GDP. Even if quadrupled over the next two decades, it wouldn't come close to covering the current trade deficit, to say nothing of the increase due to the loss of more manufacturing output.</p>
<p>More important, it is implausible to believe that the United States will be able to dominate this area in the decades ahead. The United States certainly has a head start in sophisticated computer technologies and in some management practices, but it is questionable how long this advantage can be maintained. There are already many world-class computer service companies in India and elsewhere in the developing world, and this number is increasing rapidly.</p>
<p>The computer and software engineers in these countries are every bit as qualified as their U.S. counterparts and are often prepared to work for less than one-tenth of U.S. wages. Furthermore, unlike cars and steel, which are very expensive to transport over long distances, it is costless to ship software anywhere in the world. Given the basic economics, it seems a safe bet that the United States will lose its share in this sector of the world economy. In twenty years it is quite likely that the United States will be a net importer of this category of service, unless of course wages in the United States adjust to world levels.</p>
<p>In short, the idea that the United States can survive without manufacturing is implausible: It implies an absurdly rapid rate of growth of service exports for which there is no historical precedent. Many economists and economic pundits asserted that house prices could keep rising forever in spite of the blatant absurdity of this position. The claim that the U.S. economy can be sustained without a sizable manufacturing sector is an equally absurd proposition.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Read the symposium introduction and contributions from Marcellus Andrews, Jeff Madrick, and Susan Helper</a></p>
<p>Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He is the author of several books, including The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer and The United States Since 1980.</p> | true | 4 | dean baker arithmetic manufacturing often thought economists required better grasp simple arithmetic would prevent repeating many silly comments pass conventional wisdom united states longer manufacturing country future know arithmetic quickly detect absurdity assertion implication course united states import nearly manufactured goods problem unless find country give us manufactured goods free forever find mechanism pay imports end manufacturing school argues pay exporting services arithmetic useful volume us trade goods approximately three half times volume trade services deficit goods trade continue expand would need incredible growth rate volume surplus service trade surplus trade order get anything close balanced trade example lose half manufacturing next twenty years imported services continue rise pace past decade would see exports services rise average annual rate almost 15 percent next two decades balanced trade year 2028 15 percent annual growth rate service exports approximately twice rate growth service exports seen last decade would take creative story explain anticipate doubling growth rate service exports sustained basis story becomes even fantastic closer examination services export largest single item travel meaning money foreign tourists spend united states item alone accounts almost 20 percent service exports nothing wrong tourism industry however idea us workers somehow educated manufacturing work instead making beds bussing tables cleaning hotel toilets foreign tourists bit laughable course right institutional structure eg strong unions jobs wellpaying jobs certainly apparent require skills manufacturing category transportation accounts another 10 percent exported services fees freight port services importers pay bring items united states service rises imports rise effectively money taken consumers pockets included price imported goods royalty licensing fees account another 17 percent service exports fees get countries tack onto price products due copyright patent protection might become increasingly difficult extract fees spread internet increasingly allows movies software recorded music instantly copied exchanged zero cost clear rest world prepared use policestate tactics collect revenue microsoft disney drug patent side equation even dubious developing countries eager see people die pfizer merck get high profits drug patents component service exports likely come considerable pressure future years another major category service exports financial services category accounted approximately 10 percent service exports recent years questionable whether share maintained years ahead wall street known gold standard world financial industry best services highest professional standards result scandals exposed last year wall street longer standing world investors dont come new york give money bernie madoff robert rubin ripped ripped almost anywhere world perhaps obama administration able implement reforms financial sector restore integrity eye world investors require serious work point finally category business professional services accounts roughly 20 percent service exports area real hightech highend services includes computing managerial consulting rapid growth sector would mean highend jobs united states notion could possibly expand enough support country without manufacturing absurd face first even though large share service exports equal 08 percent gdp even quadrupled next two decades wouldnt come close covering current trade deficit say nothing increase due loss manufacturing output important implausible believe united states able dominate area decades ahead united states certainly head start sophisticated computer technologies management practices questionable long advantage maintained already many worldclass computer service companies india elsewhere developing world number increasing rapidly computer software engineers countries every bit qualified us counterparts often prepared work less onetenth us wages furthermore unlike cars steel expensive transport long distances costless ship software anywhere world given basic economics seems safe bet united states lose share sector world economy twenty years quite likely united states net importer category service unless course wages united states adjust world levels short idea united states survive without manufacturing implausible implies absurdly rapid rate growth service exports historical precedent many economists economic pundits asserted house prices could keep rising forever spite blatant absurdity position claim us economy sustained without sizable manufacturing sector equally absurd proposition read symposium introduction contributions marcellus andrews jeff madrick susan helper dean baker codirector center economic policy research washington dc author several books including conservative nanny state wealthy use government stay rich get richer united states since 1980 | 658 |
<p>Barack Obama must have been very frightened, indeed. Otherwise he never would have inserted himself so forcefully into Greece’s debt crisis. The truth is, there’s much more at stake then people seem to realize. A Greek default would be a major blow to the banking system and the damage would not be limited just to Europe. It could easily spread to the United States and trigger another meltdown. That’s why Obama spent most of his weekend on the phone, exhorting EU finance ministers to take swift action to put out the brushfire. Not surprisingly, the details were omitted in the US media. Here’s an excerpt from the UK Independent explaining what happened behind the scenes last weekend:</p>
<p>“As the dust settles and the markets cool, details are beginning to emerge of the frantic background negotiations which generated the €750bn plan to save the euro in the early hours of Monday…..the most startling – and most pivotal role – may have been played by Barack Obama, according to both American and French officials. He convinced the Europeans that it was time not just to Do Something, but to Do Something Very Big, to rescue the euro and prevent the world from plunging into another financial crisis and recession…..</p>
<p>“It was after these calls that the headline figure for the EU rescue plan inflated rapidly to €500bn, plus another €250bn from the IMF.” (“Was the euro saved by a call from Barack Obama?”, John Lichfield, Independent)</p>
<p>The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard tells a similar tale, but with a twist. In this incident, Obama spoke directly to Spanish Premier Jose Luis Zapatero. Here’s an excerpt from the Telegraph:</p>
<p>“Premier Jose Luis Zapatero told a stunned nation that public sector pay will be reduced by 5 percent this year and frozen in 2011…Pension rises will be shelved. The country’s €2,500 baby bonus will be canceled. Aid to the regions will be slashed and infrastructure projects will be put on ice….</p>
<p>“US President Barack Obama played a key role behind the scenes, pleading with Mr Zapatero for ‘resolute action’. The telephone call from the White House is a clear indication that contagion from Greece and Portugal to the much larger debt markets of Spain had become a global systemic threat by late last week.</p>
<p>“The markets were going in for the kill: the eurozone itself was on the brink of collapse,” said Jose Garcia Zarate from 4Cast.” (“EU imposes wage cuts on Spanish ‘Protectorate”, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph)</p>
<p>Is that why Obama was twisting arms all Saturday and Sunday, because he thought the EU might collapse? Does that explain why the Federal Reserve reopened its controversial swap lines with European central banks, providing unlimited short-term loans in dollars for collateral to prop up the euro and exposing the US to tens of billions in potential losses without congressional approval? And is that why ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet reversed his position on monetization and agreed to initiate an EU quantitative easing (QE) program to would buy up government and corporate bonds?</p>
<p>What’s clear, is that very little of last weekend’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering had anything to do with the problems facing ordinary Greeks, who are merely the victims in this latest bank bailout fiasco.</p>
<p>Greece will not escape default, so it’s not in its long-term interests to stick with the euro. That just ensures years of high unemployment, severe cuts to public spending, and neverending recession. A return to the drachma would provide an opportunity to restructure debt and regain fiscal equilibrium via devaluation. It would give Greek exports and tourism a boost by making them instantly cheaper.&#160; The fact that the Greek “rescue” and kindred efforts in Spain, Portugal and other tottering economies is designed to bail out bankers and the rich and sock it to ordinary people was well <a href="" type="internal">explained</a> on this site last week by Michael Hudson, and also by <a href="" type="internal">T.P. Wilkinson</a> on this site this weekend.</p>
<p>No country large or small has managed to close a fiscal gap as large as 10.9 per cent&#160; of GDP (which is what Greece is being asked to do.) It’s cruel, especially in an environment where deflation is gradually tightening its grip. Greece needs counter-cyclical fiscal stimulus to get out of the hole its in and to grow its way out of recession. The EU plan implements an anti-Keynesian regimen that is the exact opposite of Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) the $787 billion fiscal stimulus package to build aggregate demand and lower unemployment. The EU has no funding mechanism to implement such a plan, so it is prescribing extreme austerity measures instead. It’s stupid, cruel&#160; and won’t work, except as a short-term shot for the banks.</p>
<p>Greece didn’t create this crisis by itself anyway. It had help from Germany. Germany dictates monetary policy in the EU, which means that it bears much of the responsibility for the deficit-mess in the south. Of course, now that the countries that enriched Berlin (by gobbling up their exports) are flailing about in red ink, German politicians have started lecturing them about the evils of profligate spending. Here’s how Michael Pettis sums it up:</p>
<p>“The strong euro and burgeoning liquidity it brought on meant that much of Germany’s trade surplus had to be absorbed within the eurozone, forcing especially southern Europe into high trade deficits.&#160; These deficits were dismissed, very foolishly it turns out, and against all historical precedents, as being easily managed as long as the sanctity of the euro was maintained…..</p>
<p>“As I see it,&#160; domestic German policies, perhaps aimed at absorbing East German unemployment, forced a structural trade surplus.&#160; The strong euro, along with the automatic recycling of Germany’s large trade surplus within Europe, ensured the corresponding trade deficits in the rest of Europe – unless Europeans were willing to enact policies that raised unemployment in order to counter the deficits. &#160;As long as the ECB refused to raise interest rates, southern Europe had to accept asset bubbles and rapidly rising debt-fueled consumption.</p>
<p>“This couldn’t go on forever, or even for very long.&#160; Now southern Europe is paying the inevitable price, and of course the moralists are accusing the south of being shiftless and lazy, confusing the automatic balancing mechanisms in the balance of payments with moral weakness.” (“Are you ready for the united States of Germany?”, Michael Pettis, China Financial Markets)</p>
<p />
<p>Only a small portion of the nearly-$1 trillion bailout will go to Greece. And, even that pittance comes with strict “belt-tightening” conditions. The bulk of the funds will be held in an structured investment vehicle (SIV) as a way to ward off speculators who smell blood in the water and think they can make a killing by toppling sovereign bond markets in Portugal, Spain and Italy.</p>
<p>Obama’s concern is that a Greek default will put pressure on French and German banks (which have 110 billion-euro exposure) that will start the dominoes tumbling again. According to Dow Jones, “JP Morgan’s holdings of non-U.S. government bonds increased by $36.5 billion in 2009, while Citigroup’s increased by almost $40 B.” (“The European Bailout”, James Hamilton, Econbrowser)</p>
<p>So, despite the&#160; news this week that all four of the nation’s biggest banks (Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Citigroup) racked up perfect quarters off their trading desks, (showing that the Fed’s liquidity and zero-rates has restored profitability) the banking system is still so weak that the President of the United States has to spend his whole weekend hectoring heads-of-state throughout Euroland to beef up their bailout or the whole financial system will come crashing down.</p>
<p>What does that tell us? It tells us that the whole “recovery” meme is a fraud.&#160; It tells us that the banks (where lending is down 20 per cent, and foreclosures are running at 300,000 per month) are once again engaged in the riskiest type of speculation; that they’re using complex financial assets and repo to maximize leverage to goose profits in the middle of a slump. And, it tells us that Obama is Wall Street’s&#160; biggest champion, a real “enabler” in chief.</p>
<p>Greece should walk away from this farce and start fresh. “Thumbs down” on the EU bailout.</p>
<p>MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com</p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | barack obama must frightened indeed otherwise never would inserted forcefully greeces debt crisis truth theres much stake people seem realize greek default would major blow banking system damage would limited europe could easily spread united states trigger another meltdown thats obama spent weekend phone exhorting eu finance ministers take swift action put brushfire surprisingly details omitted us media heres excerpt uk independent explaining happened behind scenes last weekend dust settles markets cool details beginning emerge frantic background negotiations generated 750bn plan save euro early hours mondaythe startling pivotal role may played barack obama according american french officials convinced europeans time something something big rescue euro prevent world plunging another financial crisis recession calls headline figure eu rescue plan inflated rapidly 500bn plus another 250bn imf euro saved call barack obama john lichfield independent telegraphs ambrose evanspritchard tells similar tale twist incident obama spoke directly spanish premier jose luis zapatero heres excerpt telegraph premier jose luis zapatero told stunned nation public sector pay reduced 5 percent year frozen 2011pension rises shelved countrys 2500 baby bonus canceled aid regions slashed infrastructure projects put ice us president barack obama played key role behind scenes pleading mr zapatero resolute action telephone call white house clear indication contagion greece portugal much larger debt markets spain become global systemic threat late last week markets going kill eurozone brink collapse said jose garcia zarate 4cast eu imposes wage cuts spanish protectorate ambrose evanspritchard telegraph obama twisting arms saturday sunday thought eu might collapse explain federal reserve reopened controversial swap lines european central banks providing unlimited shortterm loans dollars collateral prop euro exposing us tens billions potential losses without congressional approval ecb chief jean claude trichet reversed position monetization agreed initiate eu quantitative easing qe program would buy government corporate bonds whats clear little last weekends behindthescenes maneuvering anything problems facing ordinary greeks merely victims latest bank bailout fiasco greece escape default longterm interests stick euro ensures years high unemployment severe cuts public spending neverending recession return drachma would provide opportunity restructure debt regain fiscal equilibrium via devaluation would give greek exports tourism boost making instantly cheaper160 fact greek rescue kindred efforts spain portugal tottering economies designed bail bankers rich sock ordinary people well explained site last week michael hudson also tp wilkinson site weekend country large small managed close fiscal gap large 109 per cent160 gdp greece asked cruel especially environment deflation gradually tightening grip greece needs countercyclical fiscal stimulus get hole grow way recession eu plan implements antikeynesian regimen exact opposite obamas american recovery reinvestment act arra 787 billion fiscal stimulus package build aggregate demand lower unemployment eu funding mechanism implement plan prescribing extreme austerity measures instead stupid cruel160 wont work except shortterm shot banks greece didnt create crisis anyway help germany germany dictates monetary policy eu means bears much responsibility deficitmess south course countries enriched berlin gobbling exports flailing red ink german politicians started lecturing evils profligate spending heres michael pettis sums strong euro burgeoning liquidity brought meant much germanys trade surplus absorbed within eurozone forcing especially southern europe high trade deficits160 deficits dismissed foolishly turns historical precedents easily managed long sanctity euro maintained see it160 domestic german policies perhaps aimed absorbing east german unemployment forced structural trade surplus160 strong euro along automatic recycling germanys large trade surplus within europe ensured corresponding trade deficits rest europe unless europeans willing enact policies raised unemployment order counter deficits 160as long ecb refused raise interest rates southern europe accept asset bubbles rapidly rising debtfueled consumption couldnt go forever even long160 southern europe paying inevitable price course moralists accusing south shiftless lazy confusing automatic balancing mechanisms balance payments moral weakness ready united states germany michael pettis china financial markets small portion nearly1 trillion bailout go greece even pittance comes strict belttightening conditions bulk funds held structured investment vehicle siv way ward speculators smell blood water think make killing toppling sovereign bond markets portugal spain italy obamas concern greek default put pressure french german banks 110 billioneuro exposure start dominoes tumbling according dow jones jp morgans holdings nonus government bonds increased 365 billion 2009 citigroups increased almost 40 b european bailout james hamilton econbrowser despite the160 news week four nations biggest banks bank america goldman sachs jp morgan citigroup racked perfect quarters trading desks showing feds liquidity zerorates restored profitability banking system still weak president united states spend whole weekend hectoring headsofstate throughout euroland beef bailout whole financial system come crashing tell us tells us whole recovery meme fraud160 tells us banks lending 20 per cent foreclosures running 300000 per month engaged riskiest type speculation theyre using complex financial assets repo maximize leverage goose profits middle slump tells us obama wall streets160 biggest champion real enabler chief greece walk away farce start fresh thumbs eu bailout mike whitney lives washington state reached fergiewhitneymsncom 160 words stick 160 | 797 |
<p>A new poll by BMG research shows that Labour holds a 5-point lead over the Tories among the general public, with voters now preferring Corbyn to May as their choice for Prime Minister.</p>
<p>Theresa May’s dream, “the British Dream” in her words, is turning out to be a nightmare. “Like your worst anxiety dream,” as the BBC put it, “playing out for real.”</p>
<p>Following the carnivalesque atmosphere of the Labour Party conference in late September, Prime Minister May’s speech at last week’s Conservative Party conference came off as an extraordinary come down. The speech may have&#160;been written to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/04/has-theresa-may-lifted-speech-west-wing/" type="external">recall</a> the lyrical cadences of the West Wing’s President Bartlet, but it imploded upon May’s reading. A slogan on the conference’s set, promising a country that “works for everyone,” self-destructed as she spoke. A protester handed her a fake P45 notice announcing her termination. Her voice ground down to a hoarse whisper, as she coughed and struggled through her words.</p>
<p>It wasn’t just bad presentation, however. The Conservatives appeared traumatized, as though something had crashed through all their defences, leaving them blindly tearing at one another. May is dragging out her leadership, seemingly flaunting her incompetence in the process. Her rivals are refusing to let her stand down, even though they continue to sabotage her—foreign secretary Boris Johnson is effectively running an open leadership campaign in the right-wing press. The mutual blood-letting is the behaviour of people united only by disaster and the fear of worse to come.</p>
<p>That disaster, for the Tories, has been Jeremy Corbyn’s ascendant Labour Party. In the June election, Labour unexpectedly attracted millions of new voters and experienced its biggest increase in electoral support since 1945, destroying both May’s parliamentary majority and her aura of autocratic power. A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/independent-bmg-research-labour-ahead-tories-corbyn-theresa-may-2017-10" type="external">new poll</a> by BMG research shows that Labour holds a 5-point lead over the Tories among the general public, with voters now preferring Corbyn to May as their choice for Prime Minister.</p>
<p>The June election wasn’t just difficult for the Tories. It showed that all the old truisms no longer held up. The Left was supposed to be unelectable. Non-voters were supposed to be lost to the voting system. The reactionary press was supposed to crush anyone too left-wing, especially if they could be defamed as anti-British, as Corbyn relentlessly was. All the old verities were made to walk a tightrope in that election, and plummeted down to earth, one by one.</p>
<p>Delayed celebration</p>
<p>For the Tories, the current nightmare didn’t start with this month’s conference: it has been dragging on for months.</p>
<p>A well-attended fringe meeting at the Conservative conference featured a <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/pxevents/is-the-intellectual-momentum-all-with-the-left/" type="external">panel</a> titled, “Is the intellectual initiative now with the Left?” The participants’ melancholy answer, overwhelmingly, was yes. A similar sadness has befallen the so-called “Centrist Dad” demographic, which has been the subject of gleeful meme making by Corbynistas. There was a time when Labour’s center-right had novelty, glamour and ideas, a profusion of think-tanks and publications supporting it. It was never a grassroots movement, but it had dynamism. No more.</p>
<p>The center of intellectual gravity during this year’s Labour conference instead was a raucous fringe event, run by the left-wing, Corbyn-supporting group Momentum, called “The World Transformed.” Meetings at the event were packed, featuring dozens of high profile intellectuals and celebrities such as Naomi Klein and David Harvey, as well as Labour MPs including Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn. Buzzfeed’s Jim Waterson <a href="https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/912327682909720576?lang=en" type="external">reported</a> one centrist delegate, exiting the Momentum event, as saying, “Everyone in there is more attractive and talking about more interesting things.”</p>
<p>The celebratory atmosphere felt like a delayed reaction to Corbyn’s 2015 election as Labour leader. At the time, many on the Left had been too wary, too battle-scarred, too worried about the fragility of the gain, to celebrate much. And Corbyn’s leadership was immediately under attack by a Labour Right determined to see off this interloper as soon as it could conveniently be arranged.</p>
<p>The damage done by this disruption, the strength of anti-immigrant sentiment signalled by Brexit&#160;and the constant media fire from both the Tories and Labour’s right-flank&#160;all compounded such reticence. Since Labour’s shocking showing on election night, however, the sense among the party’s hundreds of thousands of members has been giddiness and exuberance, years of internalised defeat giving way to absolute buoyancy.</p>
<p>What comes next</p>
<p>Along with the jubilee of delayed celebration, those on the Labour Left are also aware they’re part of an upward trajectory that comes with considerable historical responsibility. Labour’s success isn’t due solely to a long-term curve to the left among younger generations. Since the Grenfell fire—in which dozens of working-class people, many of them migrant workers, lost their lives—a new popular&#160;class consciousness has begun to form in Britain.</p>
<p>This matters because Corbyn’s analysis has never stopped at elections. His message has always held that Labour has to organize ordinary working-class people, in unions and social movements, to defend their interests and look out for one another. It is this momentous task that now faces the Left in Britain. A left-wing Labour government without such an active base would be isolated, encircled by hostile forces.</p>
<p>So it was critical that Labour’s conference didn’t focus only on policies and motions. Thanks to Momentum, it also took on bold ideas and difficult organizational questions—industrial strategy, antifascism, affordable housing, feminist struggles—that stand outside any governing frame of reference.</p>
<p>Yes, Corbyn and Labour are preparing for the chance to govern. But the movements supporting them are awaiting the chance to change the country, irreversibly.</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Richard Seymour is a Northern Irish writer and owner of the popular blog Lenin's Tomb. He has written for The Guardian, London Review of Books, and Al Jazeera and is the author of several books, most recently Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics (Verso).</p> | true | 4 | new poll bmg research shows labour holds 5point lead tories among general public voters preferring corbyn may choice prime minister theresa mays dream british dream words turning nightmare like worst anxiety dream bbc put playing real following carnivalesque atmosphere labour party conference late september prime minister mays speech last weeks conservative party conference came extraordinary come speech may have160been written recall lyrical cadences west wings president bartlet imploded upon mays reading slogan conferences set promising country works everyone selfdestructed spoke protester handed fake p45 notice announcing termination voice ground hoarse whisper coughed struggled words wasnt bad presentation however conservatives appeared traumatized though something crashed defences leaving blindly tearing one another may dragging leadership seemingly flaunting incompetence process rivals refusing let stand even though continue sabotage herforeign secretary boris johnson effectively running open leadership campaign rightwing press mutual bloodletting behaviour people united disaster fear worse come disaster tories jeremy corbyns ascendant labour party june election labour unexpectedly attracted millions new voters experienced biggest increase electoral support since 1945 destroying mays parliamentary majority aura autocratic power new poll bmg research shows labour holds 5point lead tories among general public voters preferring corbyn may choice prime minister june election wasnt difficult tories showed old truisms longer held left supposed unelectable nonvoters supposed lost voting system reactionary press supposed crush anyone leftwing especially could defamed antibritish corbyn relentlessly old verities made walk tightrope election plummeted earth one one delayed celebration tories current nightmare didnt start months conference dragging months wellattended fringe meeting conservative conference featured panel titled intellectual initiative left participants melancholy answer overwhelmingly yes similar sadness befallen socalled centrist dad demographic subject gleeful meme making corbynistas time labours centerright novelty glamour ideas profusion thinktanks publications supporting never grassroots movement dynamism center intellectual gravity years labour conference instead raucous fringe event run leftwing corbynsupporting group momentum called world transformed meetings event packed featuring dozens high profile intellectuals celebrities naomi klein david harvey well labour mps including diane abbott jeremy corbyn buzzfeeds jim waterson reported one centrist delegate exiting momentum event saying everyone attractive talking interesting things celebratory atmosphere felt like delayed reaction corbyns 2015 election labour leader time many left wary battlescarred worried fragility gain celebrate much corbyns leadership immediately attack labour right determined see interloper soon could conveniently arranged damage done disruption strength antiimmigrant sentiment signalled brexit160and constant media fire tories labours rightflank160all compounded reticence since labours shocking showing election night however sense among partys hundreds thousands members giddiness exuberance years internalised defeat giving way absolute buoyancy comes next along jubilee delayed celebration labour left also aware theyre part upward trajectory comes considerable historical responsibility labours success isnt due solely longterm curve left among younger generations since grenfell firein dozens workingclass people many migrant workers lost livesa new popular160class consciousness begun form britain matters corbyns analysis never stopped elections message always held labour organize ordinary workingclass people unions social movements defend interests look one another momentous task faces left britain leftwing labour government without active base would isolated encircled hostile forces critical labours conference didnt focus policies motions thanks momentum also took bold ideas difficult organizational questionsindustrial strategy antifascism affordable housing feminist strugglesthat stand outside governing frame reference yes corbyn labour preparing chance govern movements supporting awaiting chance change country irreversibly like youve read subscribe times magazine make taxdeductible donation fund reporting richard seymour northern irish writer owner popular blog lenins tomb written guardian london review books al jazeera author several books recently corbyn strange rebirth radical politics verso | 576 |
<p>Since the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, the rhetoric of President Bush has drawn heavily on Winston Churchill’s rhetoric at the commencement of the Battle of Britain. With the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq the Churchillian note is near deafening. Often it is called, “their finest hour.” What is meant? Anticipating the Battle of Britain here is what Churchill said on 18 June 1940 as France fell.</p>
<p>Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. … Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’</p>
<p>Christianity and empire are not freely spoken of as goals of the invasion of Iraq, though they are for some. Even if the Iraqi invasion in 2003 was not anybody’s finest hour, England being more or less alone in 1940, against the armed might of the National Socialists, most of western Europe having collapsed under their Blitzkrieg, actually did hang at the hinge of fate, a fine moment. Churchill spoke for many besides Christians and imperialists. What made it so fine?</p>
<p>Huge energy of fire and water and air and earth was mobilized by war. Epochal consequences were released in brief moments. A blitz is the lightening stroke, or a tremendous discharge of electrical energy originating in rain clouds striking through the atmosphere to the ground often igniting fires. It has transforming effects. We most notice the destruction of cities and peoples as it is memorialized. In contrast, generation, or the birth of the new, tends to merge with living forms in the epoch to come. Their beginnings however are no less part of the blitz than the endings entailed by destruction. Seeds of the future are born in the terrifying moment. Some seeds are airborne, others survive even in salt water (as Darwin showed), certain seeds need the great heat of the forest fire to open, and germination requires earth for all.</p>
<p>Looking back at May 1940 particularly and broadening our view generally to include all of 1940 (because I don’t know the calendar of composition of Christopher Hill’s essay) I would like to identify four seeds and their vectors.</p>
<p>One is anti-racism. A few months May 1940 C.L.R. James wrote “What we as Marxists have to see is the tremendous role played by Negroes in the transformation of Western civilization from feudalism to capitalism. It is only from this vantage-ground that we shall be able to appreciate (and prepare for) the still greater role they must of necessity play in the transition from capitalism to socialism.” The historical side to this project, despite the expansion of university research at the end of the 20th century, is incomplete. The political aspect of the proposition is the failure of de-colonization against the European and American empires. In May 1940 C.L.R. James reviewed Richard Wright’s <a href="" type="internal">Native Son</a>: “The great masses of negroes carry in their hearts the heavy heritage of slavery, and their present degradation. Such has been their past, it is their present, and, as far as they can see, it is their future. It is the revolution which will lift these millions from their knees. Nobody can do it for them. Men, personalities, will be freed from the centuries of chains and shame, as Bigger’s personality was freed, by violent action against their tyrants. It is on the evening after battle, with smoking rifle and bloody bayonet, that the Negro will be able to look all white men in the face, will be able to respect himself and be respected.” This is soldiering against empire and racism; it was a seed germinated by fire.</p>
<p>A second seed is anti-patriarchy. On 27 April 1940 Virginia Woolf gave a lecture at the Women’s Institute in Brighton; in May she gave it again to the WEA. Although it was the worst week of her experience, the lecture she offered raised hopes. It was called “The Leaning Tower.” In it she spoke as an outsider and a commoner (“are we not commoners, outsiders?”). In the 19th century human life “looked like a landscape cut up into separate fields.” After the war, however, there will be “no more classes and shall we stand, without hedges between us, on the common ground?” She quoted her father, the eminent Victorian, “Whenever you see a board up with ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted,’ trespass at once.” She recommended the practice. It is this vision of commoning which she applied in her critique of the Leftist generation of writers who became apostates or emigrants to America. Striding on the Sussex Downs, she contemplated “the subconscious Hitlerism in the hearts of men.” The end of class society, the cutting down of hedges, had to become the basis of that compensation of the man’s loss of his machine, the loss of his gun, his imprisonment within patriarchy. Against the RAF-Luftwaffe fights in the sky above her, she clasped her hands over her head and flung herself to the ground. Owing to the bombing the River Ouse flooded. Her great project, though derided at the time, is still alive, flowing in the world-wide peace marches against the Iraqi war. This is water.</p>
<p>A third seed which was to bloom quickly and bear fruit rapidly was provided by Aneurin Bevan (himself the cultivator of cabbages on Brimpton Common) who immediately went after Churchill, “Sometimes the Prime Minister’s ear is too sensitively attuned to the bugle notes of Blenheim for him to hear the whisperings in the streets.” Bevan wrote in January, “social problems thrust themselves upon the minds of the most obtuse and compel an interest, grudging at first, but which often afterwards grows into an eager thirst for new knowledge. War opens minds that were sealed, stimulates dormant intelligences, and recruits into political controversy thousands who otherwise would remain in the political hinterland.” He wrote “Britain is still controlled by those who think, consciously or unconsciously, that ordinary men and women are there to be governed and not to govern.” Mankind has progressed in arts, crafts, dignity, and learning “just to the extent that ordinary men and women won freedom and pushed their way into the central citadels of power.” Speaking in the House of Commons or the BBC, these whispering seeds were airborne.</p>
<p>Christopher Hill’s essay The English Revolution 1640 is a fourth seed. It was written for the soldiers going into battle and the civilians who suffered the Blitz. It is brief, it is lucid, and it does not weigh heavily in a soldier’s kit. Its address was to a class excluded from academia or the ruling elite. He quoted Oliver Cromwell on his soldiery, they “knew what they fought for and loved what they knew.” He explained how revolution was made, and the Communist Party leadership of 1940 did not like what he said. He introduced the idea of the “bourgeois revolution.” Getting it published was “a victory for politics as well as theory,” wrote Dona Torr. The victory was a lasting one—we see it in the formation of the postwar Communist Party History Group, we see it in the introduction to the first issue of Past &amp; Present (1952) quoting Ibn Khaldoun, the 14th century Islamic scholar, that history includes the “transformations that society undergoes by its very nature,” and we see it in “the living line of Marx’s analysis of British history” (as Thompson put it). It put the past into the present and into the future.</p>
<p>Christopher Hill’s counselor within the Party was Dona Torr of whom he (with John Savile and E.P. Thompson) would write, “She made us feel history on our pulses. History was not words on a page, not the goings-on of kings and prime ministers, not mere events. History was the sweat, blood, tears, and triumphs of the common people, our people.” See how they changed Churchill’s words which included sweat, blood, and tears among his offerings as prime minister in May 1940, but also toil. Christopher Hill and the historians of the common people, added triumphs instead.</p>
<p>Hill balanced historical necessity with human freedom. Voluntarism and determinism were placed in equilibrium, not of theory nor of politics, but in the actuality of the English civil war. Thus, “Winstanley’s communist idea was in one sense backward-looking, since it arose from the village community which capitalism was already disintegrating…,” yet Winstanley did not only look to the past; he also had glimpses of a future in which “wheresoever there is a people united by common community of livelihood into oneness it will be the strongest land in the world, for there they will be as one man to defend their inheritance.'” He wrote of both 1640 and 1940. “When the earth becomes a common treasury again, as it must … then this enmity in all lands will cease.” We still have much to learn from the seventeenth century,” Hill concluded.</p>
<p>These then were four seeds from the Blitz—fiery anti-racism, fluid anti-patriarchy, airborne broadcasting of social welfare, and these three requiring groundings in the earthly commons of past, present, and future found it in the scholarly husbandry of Christopher Hill. Seeds in 1940, they bloomed in different futures. At an ignominious hour in Anglo-American history, Christopher Hill reminds us of a fine one.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | since destruction twin towers world trade center new york september 11 2001 rhetoric president bush drawn heavily winston churchills rhetoric commencement battle britain angloamerican invasion iraq churchillian note near deafening often called finest hour meant anticipating battle britain churchill said 18 june 1940 france fell upon battle depends survival christian civilization upon depends british life long continuity institutions empire let us therefore brace duties bear british empire commonwealth last thousand years men still say finest hour christianity empire freely spoken goals invasion iraq though even iraqi invasion 2003 anybodys finest hour england less alone 1940 armed might national socialists western europe collapsed blitzkrieg actually hang hinge fate fine moment churchill spoke many besides christians imperialists made fine huge energy fire water air earth mobilized war epochal consequences released brief moments blitz lightening stroke tremendous discharge electrical energy originating rain clouds striking atmosphere ground often igniting fires transforming effects notice destruction cities peoples memorialized contrast generation birth new tends merge living forms epoch come beginnings however less part blitz endings entailed destruction seeds future born terrifying moment seeds airborne others survive even salt water darwin showed certain seeds need great heat forest fire open germination requires earth looking back may 1940 particularly broadening view generally include 1940 dont know calendar composition christopher hills essay would like identify four seeds vectors one antiracism months may 1940 clr james wrote marxists see tremendous role played negroes transformation western civilization feudalism capitalism vantageground shall able appreciate prepare still greater role must necessity play transition capitalism socialism historical side project despite expansion university research end 20th century incomplete political aspect proposition failure decolonization european american empires may 1940 clr james reviewed richard wrights native son great masses negroes carry hearts heavy heritage slavery present degradation past present far see future revolution lift millions knees nobody men personalities freed centuries chains shame biggers personality freed violent action tyrants evening battle smoking rifle bloody bayonet negro able look white men face able respect respected soldiering empire racism seed germinated fire second seed antipatriarchy 27 april 1940 virginia woolf gave lecture womens institute brighton may gave wea although worst week experience lecture offered raised hopes called leaning tower spoke outsider commoner commoners outsiders 19th century human life looked like landscape cut separate fields war however classes shall stand without hedges us common ground quoted father eminent victorian whenever see board trespassers prosecuted trespass recommended practice vision commoning applied critique leftist generation writers became apostates emigrants america striding sussex downs contemplated subconscious hitlerism hearts men end class society cutting hedges become basis compensation mans loss machine loss gun imprisonment within patriarchy rafluftwaffe fights sky clasped hands head flung ground owing bombing river ouse flooded great project though derided time still alive flowing worldwide peace marches iraqi war water third seed bloom quickly bear fruit rapidly provided aneurin bevan cultivator cabbages brimpton common immediately went churchill sometimes prime ministers ear sensitively attuned bugle notes blenheim hear whisperings streets bevan wrote january social problems thrust upon minds obtuse compel interest grudging first often afterwards grows eager thirst new knowledge war opens minds sealed stimulates dormant intelligences recruits political controversy thousands otherwise would remain political hinterland wrote britain still controlled think consciously unconsciously ordinary men women governed govern mankind progressed arts crafts dignity learning extent ordinary men women freedom pushed way central citadels power speaking house commons bbc whispering seeds airborne christopher hills essay english revolution 1640 fourth seed written soldiers going battle civilians suffered blitz brief lucid weigh heavily soldiers kit address class excluded academia ruling elite quoted oliver cromwell soldiery knew fought loved knew explained revolution made communist party leadership 1940 like said introduced idea bourgeois revolution getting published victory politics well theory wrote dona torr victory lasting onewe see formation postwar communist party history group see introduction first issue past amp present 1952 quoting ibn khaldoun 14th century islamic scholar history includes transformations society undergoes nature see living line marxs analysis british history thompson put put past present future christopher hills counselor within party dona torr john savile ep thompson would write made us feel history pulses history words page goingson kings prime ministers mere events history sweat blood tears triumphs common people people see changed churchills words included sweat blood tears among offerings prime minister may 1940 also toil christopher hill historians common people added triumphs instead hill balanced historical necessity human freedom voluntarism determinism placed equilibrium theory politics actuality english civil war thus winstanleys communist idea one sense backwardlooking since arose village community capitalism already disintegrating yet winstanley look past also glimpses future wheresoever people united common community livelihood oneness strongest land world one man defend inheritance wrote 1640 1940 earth becomes common treasury must enmity lands cease still much learn seventeenth century hill concluded four seeds blitzfiery antiracism fluid antipatriarchy airborne broadcasting social welfare three requiring groundings earthly commons past present future found scholarly husbandry christopher hill seeds 1940 bloomed different futures ignominious hour angloamerican history christopher hill reminds us fine one 160 | 827 |
<p>(cc photo: Felix Petersen)</p>
<p>It was “artificial intelligence history,” wrote CBSNews.com ( <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/computer-may-be-first-to-pass-turing-test-impersonating-a-human/" type="external">6/9/14</a>). We had crossed, according to New York Daily News columnist Harry Siegel ( <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/humanity-good-run-article-1.1823072" type="external">6/10/14</a>), “the latest line we’d drawn separating man from machine.” The news that a supercomputer in England had, for the first time, passed the famous “Turing test” by tricking a panel of judges into believing that it was actually a human being sparked superlatives and excited speculation on both sides of the Atlantic.</p>
<p>For anyone familiar with the computing field, however, something didn’t add up. First off, the contest had little to do with actual artificial intelligence (Daily Beast, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/10/the-ai-that-wasn-t-why-eugene-goostman-didn-t-pass-the-turing-test.html" type="external">6/10/14</a>): The winner, a program called “Eugene Goostman,” was a chatbot, more along the lines of Apple’s Siri than an actual supercomputer. Its gimmick, which dates back to the 1966 “therapist” program Eliza, is a simple one: Combine a few stock phrases with occasional references to keywords in the questioner’s statements, add in occasional misdirection (Eugene Goostman claimed to be a Ukrainian teen speaking in English, helping explain the occasional awkward answer) and hope that someone is fooled.</p>
<p>“The ‘standard interpretation’ of the Turing test, in which player C, the interrogator, is tasked with trying to determine which player–A or B–is a computer and which is a human. The interrogator is limited to using the responses to written questions to make the determination.” -Wikipedia</p>
<p>Moreover, this was hardly the first time that a computer program claimed to have passed the Turing test, first proposed by the pioneering British computer scientist Alan Turing in 1950. An annual Loebner Prize has been awarded since 1990 to the bot that best fools judges into thinking it could be human—in fact, Goostman itself had won a similar Turing competition in 2012, although by fooling only 29 percent of judges into thinking it was human as opposed to 33 percent this year, clearing what Mashable ( <a href="http://mashable.com/2014/06/09/computer-passes-the-turing-test/" type="external">6/9/14</a>) called the “official Turing test threshold.” (In fact, Turing only predicted that a computer could fool human judges 30 percent of the time by the year 2000; he never said that that would mean “passing” the test—Guardian, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/11/turing-test-computer-simulates-boy" type="external">6/11/14</a>.)</p>
<p>Any curious journalist had an easy way of checking claims of an unprecedented superintelligent computer: Go chat with Goostman itself at the website prince tonai.com. (It has since been taken down.) Apparently none of the initial reporters did so before writing their stories—or, at least, none tried to stump it with questions as simple as that posed by MIT computer science professor Scott Aaronson (NPR, <a href="http://kwbu.org/post/landmark-first-ai-program-fools-turing-test" type="external">6/9/14</a>), who asked, “Which is bigger, a shoebox or Mount Everest?” and received the answer: “I can’t make a choice right now. I should think it out later.”</p>
<p>Instead, the vast majority of media outlets merely repeated the claims made in the press release. CBC News ( <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/turing-test-passed-by-computer-1.2669649" type="external">6/9/14</a>) quoted the University of Reading as calling it a “historic milestone in artificial intelligence,” while NBCNews.com ( <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/turing-test-computer-program-convinces-judges-its-human-n125786" type="external">6/9/14</a>) cited the test organizer’s assertion that, in NBC’s paraphrase, “a computer that can think and act like a person will be an asset to battling cyber-crime.”</p>
<p>Even a little digging would have revealed that Kevin Warwick, the British engineering professor who arranged the test—and the press release—was, as TechDirt ( <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=gullible+journalists" type="external">6/9/14</a>) put it, “somewhat infamous for his ridiculous claims to the press, which gullible reporters repeat without question”:</p>
<p>All the way back in 2000, we were writing about all the ridiculous press he got for claiming to be the world’s first “cyborg” for <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/001006/1156237.shtml" type="external">implanting a chip</a>&#160;in his arm. There was even a — since taken down — Kevin Warwick Watch website that mocked and categorized all of his media appearances in which gullible reporters simply repeated all of his nutty claims. Warwick had gone quiet for a while, but back in 2010, we wrote about how his lab was getting bogus press for claiming to have&#160; <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100526/1800199593.shtml" type="external">“the first human infected with a computer virus.”</a></p>
<p>The Goostman affair was embarrassing for news outlets that had to walk back their initial excitement, but more worryingly, it pointed up the dangers of “stenography journalism”: the tendency for journalists to merely repeat what they are told, whether by powerful individuals or impressive-sounding press releases, regardless of whether or not it’s true. (One memorable example: Washington Post reporter Paul Kane’s defense of not calling Sen. Olympia Snowe on a blatant inconsistency because “that’s what she said” and “we are not opinion writers whose job is to play some sorta gotcha game with lawmakers”—Media Matters, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2009/04/09/stenography-v-journalism/149047" type="external">4/9/09</a>.)</p>
<p>This shortcut is certainly not new, but it may be on the rise with Web outlets’ desire for a constant stream of traffic—as when ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell was revealed to have posted multiple items that were thinly rewritten press releases (Deadspin, <a href="http://deadspin.com/why-is-espn-letting-darren-rovell-turn-ad-campaigns-int-1579749202" type="external">5/21/14,</a> <a href="http://deadspin.com/espns-darren-rovell-now-just-straight-out-rewriting-pre-1582628867" type="external">5/28/14</a>), including a segment for ABCNews.com ( <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/encounter-mariano-riveras-fastball/story?id=23737999" type="external">5/15/14</a>) that consisted entirely of the New Era clothing company having Rovell bat against retired pitcher Mariano Rivera as a promotion for its baseball caps.</p>
<p>This recycling of marketing materials straight to the news pages has gotten so ubiquitous, in fact, that a PR executive in Florida wrote to the editor of the Jacksonville Daily Record (JimRomenesko.com, <a href="http://jimromenesko.com/2014/06/24/pr-person-to-reporter-dont-put-your-byline-on-our-press-releases-that-youve-rewritten/" type="external">6/24/14</a>) to demand unironically that its staffers get a byline on reprinted press releases, declaring, “When you publish our work with your name, that is plagiarism.” Daily Record editor Marilyn Young replied that she’d edited a two-page release down to five paragraphs, and properly credited it as “according to a news release”—though she didn’t indicate how this was supposed to serve readers, even accurately sourced.</p>
<p>One might expect that this behavior would be less common in the world of science, where it’s easy enough to find experts who can confirm or deny the relevance of a press release’s claims. Yet as MIT’s Knight Science Journalism website ( <a href="https://ksj.mit.edu/tracker/2014/02/want-your-university-press-release-repri/" type="external">2/14/14</a>) revealed recently, the Washington Post’s science section regularly ran lightly rewritten press releases from such sources as the University of Zurich (on female viewers rating winning Tour de France racers more highly on their looks) and Stanford University (on groups that gossip fostering better cooperation) without seeking to determine whether the findings were valid or whether other scientists held dissenting views.</p>
<p>Real journalism, needless to say, re-quires questioning outrageous claims, not merely reprinting them, which seems like a job that could be done by…well, a robot. Maybe Goostman would make a good Washington Post hire—after all, he too lacks interest in playing gotcha games about whether Mount Everest is bigger than a shoebox.</p> | true | 4 | cc photo felix petersen artificial intelligence history wrote cbsnewscom 6914 crossed according new york daily news columnist harry siegel 61014 latest line wed drawn separating man machine news supercomputer england first time passed famous turing test tricking panel judges believing actually human sparked superlatives excited speculation sides atlantic anyone familiar computing field however something didnt add first contest little actual artificial intelligence daily beast 61014 winner program called eugene goostman chatbot along lines apples siri actual supercomputer gimmick dates back 1966 therapist program eliza simple one combine stock phrases occasional references keywords questioners statements add occasional misdirection eugene goostman claimed ukrainian teen speaking english helping explain occasional awkward answer hope someone fooled standard interpretation turing test player c interrogator tasked trying determine playera bis computer human interrogator limited using responses written questions make determination wikipedia moreover hardly first time computer program claimed passed turing test first proposed pioneering british computer scientist alan turing 1950 annual loebner prize awarded since 1990 bot best fools judges thinking could humanin fact goostman similar turing competition 2012 although fooling 29 percent judges thinking human opposed 33 percent year clearing mashable 6914 called official turing test threshold fact turing predicted computer could fool human judges 30 percent time year 2000 never said would mean passing testguardian 61114 curious journalist easy way checking claims unprecedented superintelligent computer go chat goostman website prince tonaicom since taken apparently none initial reporters writing storiesor least none tried stump questions simple posed mit computer science professor scott aaronson npr 6914 asked bigger shoebox mount everest received answer cant make choice right think later instead vast majority media outlets merely repeated claims made press release cbc news 6914 quoted university reading calling historic milestone artificial intelligence nbcnewscom 6914 cited test organizers assertion nbcs paraphrase computer think act like person asset battling cybercrime even little digging would revealed kevin warwick british engineering professor arranged testand press releasewas techdirt 6914 put somewhat infamous ridiculous claims press gullible reporters repeat without question way back 2000 writing ridiculous press got claiming worlds first cyborg implanting chip160in arm even since taken kevin warwick watch website mocked categorized media appearances gullible reporters simply repeated nutty claims warwick gone quiet back 2010 wrote lab getting bogus press claiming have160 first human infected computer virus goostman affair embarrassing news outlets walk back initial excitement worryingly pointed dangers stenography journalism tendency journalists merely repeat told whether powerful individuals impressivesounding press releases regardless whether true one memorable example washington post reporter paul kanes defense calling sen olympia snowe blatant inconsistency thats said opinion writers whose job play sorta gotcha game lawmakersmedia matters 4909 shortcut certainly new may rise web outlets desire constant stream trafficas espn sports business reporter darren rovell revealed posted multiple items thinly rewritten press releases deadspin 52114 52814 including segment abcnewscom 51514 consisted entirely new era clothing company rovell bat retired pitcher mariano rivera promotion baseball caps recycling marketing materials straight news pages gotten ubiquitous fact pr executive florida wrote editor jacksonville daily record jimromeneskocom 62414 demand unironically staffers get byline reprinted press releases declaring publish work name plagiarism daily record editor marilyn young replied shed edited twopage release five paragraphs properly credited according news releasethough didnt indicate supposed serve readers even accurately sourced one might expect behavior would less common world science easy enough find experts confirm deny relevance press releases claims yet mits knight science journalism website 21414 revealed recently washington posts science section regularly ran lightly rewritten press releases sources university zurich female viewers rating winning tour de france racers highly looks stanford university groups gossip fostering better cooperation without seeking determine whether findings valid whether scientists held dissenting views real journalism needless say requires questioning outrageous claims merely reprinting seems like job could done bywell robot maybe goostman would make good washington post hireafter lacks interest playing gotcha games whether mount everest bigger shoebox | 640 |
<p>We live in a world of deep inequality, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. We in the rich world generally agree that this is a problem we ought to help fix—but that the real beneficiaries will be the billions of people living in poverty. After all, inequality has little impact on the lives of those who find themselves on top of the pile. Right?</p>
<p>Not exactly, says British epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson.</p>
<p>For decades, Wilkinson has studied why some societies are healthier than others. He found that what the healthiest societies have in common is not that they have more—more income, more education, or more wealth—but that what they have is more equitably shared.</p>
<p>In fact, it turns out that not only disease, but a whole host of social problems ranging from mental illness to drug use are worse in unequal societies. In his latest book, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, co-written with Kate Pickett, Wilkinson details the pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, encouraging excessive consumption.</p>
<p>The good news is that increased equality has the opposite effect: statistics show that communities without large gaps between rich and poor are more resilient and their members live longer, happier lives.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">YES! Magazine</a> web editor Brooke Jarvis sat down with Richard Wilkinson to discuss the surprising importance of equality—and the best ways to build it.</p>
<p>Brooke: You've studied the <a href="" type="internal">impact of inequality on public health</a> for a long time. Did any of your recent findings surprise you?</p>
<p>Richard: Oh, all of them. In fact, the relationship is weaker for health than for many other problems—we looked at life expectancy, mental illness, teen birthrates, violence, the percent of populations in prison, and drug use. They were all not just a little bit worse, but much worse, in more unequal countries. If I'd known how strong those connections would be, I would have looked for them a decade earlier. In fact, I'm still surprised that no one did look at them earlier.</p>
<p>There's nothing complicated in what we've done. Epidemiologists and people working in public health have been doing this work for some time, not only controlling for relative poverty, but for all the income levels within, for instance, an American state. So once you know the relationship between income and death rates, for example, you should be able to predict what a state's death rate will be. Actually, though, that doesn't produce a good prediction; what matters aren't the incomes themselves but how unequal they are. If you're a more unequal state, the same level of income produces a higher death rate.</p>
<p>In fact, in more unequal societies, these problems aren't higher by ten or twenty percent. There are perhaps eight times the number of teenage births per capita, ten times the homicide rate, three times the rate of mental illness. Huge differences. If social mobility were a perfect sorting system and everyone was sorted by ability, that wouldn't make the number of problems in the society greater. It wouldn't change the overall IQ of the population; it would just change the social distribution of IQ. We know from the findings that it's the status divisions themselves that create the problems. We're not making a great leap to say that this is causal. We, I think, show that it's almost impossible to find any other consistent explanation.</p>
<p>Brooke: It seems possible that this link hasn't been explored because we're so used to thinking of these problems as linked to poverty. To find out that they're tied not to the level of income but to the stratification of income—it's sort of an unexpected conclusion.</p>
<p>Richard: We show that these problems aren't affected by rich countries getting still richer. There are problems that we think of as problems of poverty because they're in the poorest areas of society, but a country like the U.S. can be twice as rich as Greece, Portugal, or Israel—the poorer of the rich, developed countries we look at—and the problems are no better even though Americans are able to buy twice as much of everything as the poorer developed societies. That doesn't make any difference; it's only the gaps between us that matter now. And that's really quite a striking thing to learn about ourselves and the effects of the social structure on us.</p>
<p>Brooke: How does thinking about these problems in terms of inequality rather than poverty change how we grapple with them?</p>
<p>Richard: I think people have been worried by the scale of social problems in our societies—feeling that though we're materially very successful, a lot of stuff is going wrong, and we don't know why. The media are always full of these social problems, and they blame parents or teachers or lack of religion or whatever. It makes an important difference to people to have an analysis that really fits, not only in a sort of academic way, but also that fits intuitions that people have had. People have intuited for hundreds of years that inequality was divisive and socially corrosive. In a way, that's all the data shows. It shows that that intuition is much truer than any of us expected.</p>
<p>Brooke: Your findings related to crime and imprisonment rates seem to be particularly illustrative of the way inequality can lead to social corrosion.</p>
<p>Richard: We quote a prison psychiatrist who spent 25 years talking to really violent men, and he says he has yet to see an act of violence which was not caused by people feeling disrespected, humiliated, or like they've lost face. Those are the <a href="" type="internal">triggers to violence</a>, and they're more intense in more unequal societies, where status competition is intensified and we're more sensitive about social judgments.</p>
<p>We also found very big differences in the proportion of the population that's in prison in different countries and American states. But the differences aren't driven by the amount of crime, they're driven by the fact that people in unequal societies have more punitive attitudes about crime. It may have to do with fear across classes, lack of trust, and lack of involvement in community life. If you've got to go to prison, go to prison in Japan or one of the Scandinavian countries. You might get some <a href="" type="internal">rehabilitation</a>. If you go to prison in some of the more unequal countries, you are very likely to come out a good deal worse than you went in.</p>
<p>Brooke: When I first heard about your work, I expected the book to deal with the material impacts of inequality. But your focus is different.</p>
<p>Richard: Yes. This is about the psychosocial effects of inequality—the impact of living with anxiety about our feelings of superiority or inferiority. It's not the inferior housing that gives you heart disease, it's the stress, the hopelessness, the anxiety, the depression you feel around that. The psychosocial effects of inequality affect the quality of human relationships. Because we are social beings, it's the social environment and social relationships that are the most important stressors. For individuals, of course, if you're going to lose your home, or if you're terribly in debt, those can be more powerful stressors. But amongst the population as a whole, it looks as if these social factors are the biggest stressors because so many people are exposed to them.</p>
<p>Brooke: What psychological impact does living in an unequal society have on people who are at the top of the scale?</p>
<p>Richard: Status competition causes problems all the way up; we're all very sensitive to how we're judged. Think about Robert Frank's books Luxury Fever or Falling Behind, or the great French sociologist Bourdieu—they show how much of <a href="" type="internal">consumption</a> is about status competition. People spend thousands of pounds on a handbag with the right labels to make statements about themselves. In more unequal countries, people are more likely to <a href="" type="internal">get into debt</a>. They save less of their income and spend more. They <a href="" type="internal">work much longer hours</a>—the most unequal countries work perhaps nine weeks longer in a year.</p>
<p>If you grow up in an unequal society, your actual experience of human relationships is different. Your idea of human nature changes. If you grow up in a consumerist society, you think of human beings as self-interested. In fact, consumerism is so powerful because we're so highly social. It's not that we actually have an overwhelming desire to accumulate property, it's that we're concerned with how we're seen all the time. So actually, we're misunderstanding consumerism. It's not material self-interest, it's that we're so sensitive. We experience ourselves through each other's eyes—and that's the reason for the labels and the clothes and the cars.</p>
<p>Brooke: What's the effect of inequality on the way we perceive our communities—and how does that perception affect how they function?</p>
<p>Richard: Inequality affects our ability to trust and our sense that we are part of a community. In a way, that is the fundamental mediator between inequality and most of these outcomes, through the damage it does to social relations. For instance, in more equal countries or more equal states, two-thirds of the population may feel they can trust others in general, whereas in the more unequal countries or states, it may drop as low as 15 percent or 25 percent.</p>
<p>Let me tell you what I think is perhaps at the very bottom of all this. If you think of almost any animal species, there is a huge potential for conflict amongst members of the same species, because they have all the same needs. They eat the same food stuffs, they need the same nesting sites, they value the same feeding grounds or territories, they compete for sexual partners. It was that recognition in human populations that made the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century say that human beings, without a sovereign power to keep the peace, would war against each other and have "nasty, brutish, and short" lives. Amongst monkeys, inequality takes the form of dominance hierarchies, based on power and coercion and privileged access to resources: "I get it first because I'm stronger, and I don't care if you're hungry." Human hierarchies are similar—it's why power, status, and wealth all go together at the top and why powerlessness, hunger, and poverty go together at the bottom.</p>
<p>But human beings also have the opposite potential. We can be the best source of <a href="" type="internal">love and learning and cooperation</a> and assistance of every kind. In a sense, Hobbes was wrong about people in a state of nature. He was right about the potential for conflict, but people have avoided conflict through food sharing, gift exchange, and great social equality (for example, in hunter-gatherer societies). <a href="" type="internal">The gift</a> in a sense is a symbol that you and I don't compete for the necessities of life. We don't need to fight each other for them. You feel a sense of indebtedness and you reciprocate the gift, which anthropologists have suggested is a sort of basic social contract. That symbolism is still really important: You invite your friends over, sit around the same table, and share food, the basic necessity of life. The symbolism is also there in religious services and communion—these things are very fundamental, very deep.</p>
<p>Inequality is a reflection of how strong hierarchies are, how much we share or how much we don't. It shows us which part of our potential we're developing. What game do I play? Have I got to fend for myself? Or have I got to get people to trust me and cooperate with me? Is my survival dependent on good relationships? Are you my rival? Are you going to steal from me? Have I got to keep what I've got, defend it? Or can we share? Human beings can do both. We've lived in the most egalitarian and the most awful, hierarchical, tyrannical societies. It's very interesting that we can measure how unequal societies are and how that can elicit more of certain kinds of behavior.</p>
<p>Brooke: Once we become aware of the impact of inequality on all of these social ills, what do we do about it?</p>
<p>Richard: Countries seem to get their greater equality in quite different ways. Sweden, for example, uses the big government way: There are very big differences in earnings, which are redistributed through taxes and benefits. It has a large welfare state. Japan, on the other hand, has smaller income differences to start with, does much less redistribution, and doesn't have such high social expenditure. But both countries do very well—they're amongst the more equal countries and their health and social outcomes are very good.</p>
<p>What we've learned is that the <a href="" type="internal">real quality of life for all of us</a> now depends on improving the social environment, and that we have a policy handle on how to do that. It's not that we all need to have more therapy to try and make us nicer people. Income distribution, an issue government or big corporations can do something about, really affects the psychosocial well-being of the whole society. But we can't just rely just on taxes and benefits to increase equality—the next government can undo them all at a stroke. We've got to get this structure of equality much more deeply embedded in our society. I think that means more economic democracy, or workplace democracy, of every kind. We're talking about friendly societies, <a href="" type="internal">mutual societies</a>, employee ownership, employee representatives on the board, <a href="" type="internal">cooperatives</a>—ways in which business is subjected to democratic influence. The <a href="" type="internal">bonus culture</a> was only possible because the people at the top are not answerable to the employees at all.</p>
<p>Changing workplaces can have an enormous effect—not only is that where wealth is created, it's where income from production is initially divided up. It's also where we're most subjected to hierarchy and authority. <a href="" type="internal">Employee ownership</a> turns a company into a community. The chief executive becomes answerable to employees. You might vote for your boss to have, I don't know, three times as much income as you— <a href="" type="internal">not 300 or 400 times more</a>. Embedding greater equality and more democratic accountability in our institutions does much more than just changing income distribution or wealth distribution. And, a number of studies show that if you combine an even partial employee ownership, you get quite reliable increases in productivity. This is about how we work better together.</p>
<p>Brooke: Which is more important than ever, given that solving many of our major problems— <a href="" type="internal">global climate change</a>, for example—will require unprecedented levels of cooperation.</p>
<p>Richard: Global warming, more than almost any other problem you can imagine, involves acting for the common good. It involves public spiritedness. And in more equal societies, where there's a stronger community life, less violence, and more trust, people give higher priority to the common good.</p>
<p>To test this out, we looked at the proportion of their income that countries give in foreign aid, and it's higher in the more equal countries. We looked at the proportion of different waste materials that are recycled, and that's higher in more equal countries. You don't do those things for yourself; they both depend on an idea of the greater good. An international survey of business leaders included the question, "How important do you think it is that your government abides by international environmental agreements?" In the more equal countries, business leaders rate that as more important than in the less equal countries. Inequality changes our perceptions—are you out for yourself, or do you recognize that we're in this together, that we've got to do these things for the common good?</p> | true | 4 | live world deep inequality gap rich poor widening rich world generally agree problem ought help fixbut real beneficiaries billions people living poverty inequality little impact lives find top pile right exactly says british epidemiologist richard wilkinson decades wilkinson studied societies healthier others found healthiest societies common moremore income education wealthbut equitably shared fact turns disease whole host social problems ranging mental illness drug use worse unequal societies latest book spirit level equal societies almost always better cowritten kate pickett wilkinson details pernicious effects inequality societies eroding trust increasing anxiety illness encouraging excessive consumption good news increased equality opposite effect statistics show communities without large gaps rich poor resilient members live longer happier lives yes magazine web editor brooke jarvis sat richard wilkinson discuss surprising importance equalityand best ways build brooke youve studied impact inequality public health long time recent findings surprise richard oh fact relationship weaker health many problemswe looked life expectancy mental illness teen birthrates violence percent populations prison drug use little bit worse much worse unequal countries id known strong connections would would looked decade earlier fact im still surprised one look earlier theres nothing complicated weve done epidemiologists people working public health work time controlling relative poverty income levels within instance american state know relationship income death rates example able predict states death rate actually though doesnt produce good prediction matters arent incomes unequal youre unequal state level income produces higher death rate fact unequal societies problems arent higher ten twenty percent perhaps eight times number teenage births per capita ten times homicide rate three times rate mental illness huge differences social mobility perfect sorting system everyone sorted ability wouldnt make number problems society greater wouldnt change overall iq population would change social distribution iq know findings status divisions create problems making great leap say causal think show almost impossible find consistent explanation brooke seems possible link hasnt explored used thinking problems linked poverty find theyre tied level income stratification incomeits sort unexpected conclusion richard show problems arent affected rich countries getting still richer problems think problems poverty theyre poorest areas society country like us twice rich greece portugal israelthe poorer rich developed countries look atand problems better even though americans able buy twice much everything poorer developed societies doesnt make difference gaps us matter thats really quite striking thing learn effects social structure us brooke thinking problems terms inequality rather poverty change grapple richard think people worried scale social problems societiesfeeling though materially successful lot stuff going wrong dont know media always full social problems blame parents teachers lack religion whatever makes important difference people analysis really fits sort academic way also fits intuitions people people intuited hundreds years inequality divisive socially corrosive way thats data shows shows intuition much truer us expected brooke findings related crime imprisonment rates seem particularly illustrative way inequality lead social corrosion richard quote prison psychiatrist spent 25 years talking really violent men says yet see act violence caused people feeling disrespected humiliated like theyve lost face triggers violence theyre intense unequal societies status competition intensified sensitive social judgments also found big differences proportion population thats prison different countries american states differences arent driven amount crime theyre driven fact people unequal societies punitive attitudes crime may fear across classes lack trust lack involvement community life youve got go prison go prison japan one scandinavian countries might get rehabilitation go prison unequal countries likely come good deal worse went brooke first heard work expected book deal material impacts inequality focus different richard yes psychosocial effects inequalitythe impact living anxiety feelings superiority inferiority inferior housing gives heart disease stress hopelessness anxiety depression feel around psychosocial effects inequality affect quality human relationships social beings social environment social relationships important stressors individuals course youre going lose home youre terribly debt powerful stressors amongst population whole looks social factors biggest stressors many people exposed brooke psychological impact living unequal society people top scale richard status competition causes problems way sensitive judged think robert franks books luxury fever falling behind great french sociologist bourdieuthey show much consumption status competition people spend thousands pounds handbag right labels make statements unequal countries people likely get debt save less income spend work much longer hoursthe unequal countries work perhaps nine weeks longer year grow unequal society actual experience human relationships different idea human nature changes grow consumerist society think human beings selfinterested fact consumerism powerful highly social actually overwhelming desire accumulate property concerned seen time actually misunderstanding consumerism material selfinterest sensitive experience others eyesand thats reason labels clothes cars brooke whats effect inequality way perceive communitiesand perception affect function richard inequality affects ability trust sense part community way fundamental mediator inequality outcomes damage social relations instance equal countries equal states twothirds population may feel trust others general whereas unequal countries states may drop low 15 percent 25 percent let tell think perhaps bottom think almost animal species huge potential conflict amongst members species needs eat food stuffs need nesting sites value feeding grounds territories compete sexual partners recognition human populations made political philosopher thomas hobbes 17th century say human beings without sovereign power keep peace would war nasty brutish short lives amongst monkeys inequality takes form dominance hierarchies based power coercion privileged access resources get first im stronger dont care youre hungry human hierarchies similarits power status wealth go together top powerlessness hunger poverty go together bottom human beings also opposite potential best source love learning cooperation assistance every kind sense hobbes wrong people state nature right potential conflict people avoided conflict food sharing gift exchange great social equality example huntergatherer societies gift sense symbol dont compete necessities life dont need fight feel sense indebtedness reciprocate gift anthropologists suggested sort basic social contract symbolism still really important invite friends sit around table share food basic necessity life symbolism also religious services communionthese things fundamental deep inequality reflection strong hierarchies much share much dont shows us part potential developing game play got fend got get people trust cooperate survival dependent good relationships rival going steal got keep ive got defend share human beings weve lived egalitarian awful hierarchical tyrannical societies interesting measure unequal societies elicit certain kinds behavior brooke become aware impact inequality social ills richard countries seem get greater equality quite different ways sweden example uses big government way big differences earnings redistributed taxes benefits large welfare state japan hand smaller income differences start much less redistribution doesnt high social expenditure countries welltheyre amongst equal countries health social outcomes good weve learned real quality life us depends improving social environment policy handle need therapy try make us nicer people income distribution issue government big corporations something really affects psychosocial wellbeing whole society cant rely taxes benefits increase equalitythe next government undo stroke weve got get structure equality much deeply embedded society think means economic democracy workplace democracy every kind talking friendly societies mutual societies employee ownership employee representatives board cooperativesways business subjected democratic influence bonus culture possible people top answerable employees changing workplaces enormous effectnot wealth created income production initially divided also subjected hierarchy authority employee ownership turns company community chief executive becomes answerable employees might vote boss dont know three times much income 300 400 times embedding greater equality democratic accountability institutions much changing income distribution wealth distribution number studies show combine even partial employee ownership get quite reliable increases productivity work better together brooke important ever given solving many major problems global climate change examplewill require unprecedented levels cooperation richard global warming almost problem imagine involves acting common good involves public spiritedness equal societies theres stronger community life less violence trust people give higher priority common good test looked proportion income countries give foreign aid higher equal countries looked proportion different waste materials recycled thats higher equal countries dont things depend idea greater good international survey business leaders included question important think government abides international environmental agreements equal countries business leaders rate important less equal countries inequality changes perceptionsare recognize together weve got things common good | 1,318 |
<p>Exactly one year before the hijackers hit the Pentagon, Chalmers Johnson, a distinguished American academic, staunch supporter of the US during the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and one-time senior analyst for the CIA, tried to alert his fellow-citizens to the dangers that lay ahead. He offered a trenchant critique of his country’s post-cold war imperial policies: “Blowback,” he prophesied, “is shorthand for saying that a nation reaps what it sows, even if it does not fully know or understand what it has sown.</p>
<p>“Given its wealth and power, the United States will be a prime recipient in the foreseeable future of all of the more expectable forms of blowback, particularly terrorist attacks against Americans in and out of the armed forces anywhere on earth, including within the United States.”</p>
<p>But whereas Johnson drew on his past, as a senior state-intellectual within the heart of the American establishment, to warn us of the dangers inherent in the imperial pursuit of economic and military domination, former critics of imperialism found themselves trapped by the debris of September 11. Many have now become its most vociferous loyalists. I am not, in this instance, referring to the belligerati – Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and friends – ever-present in the liberal press on both sides of the Atlantic. They might well shift again. Rushdie’s decision to pose for the cover of a French magazine draped in the stars and stripes could be a temporary aberration. His new-found love for the empire might even turn out to be as short-lived as his conversion to Islam.</p>
<p>What concerns me more is another group: men and women who were once intensely involved in leftwing activities. It has been a short march for some of them: from the outer fringes of radical politics to the antechambers of the state department. Like many converts, they display an aggressive self-confidence. Having honed their polemical and ideological skills within the left, they now deploy them against their old friends. This is why they have become the useful idiots of the empire. They will be used and dumped. A few, no doubt, hope to travel further and occupy the space vacated by Chalmers Johnson, but they should be warned: there is already a very long queue.</p>
<p>Others still dream of becoming the Somali, Pakistani, Iraqi or Iranian equivalents of the Afghan puppet, Hamid Karzai. They, too, might be disappointed. Only tried and tested agents can be put in power. Most one-time Marxists or Maoists do not yet pass muster. To do so they have to rewrite their entire past and admit they were wrong in ever backing the old enemies of the empire – in Cuba, Vietnam, Angola, Afghanistan or the Arab East. They have, in other words, to pass the David Horowitz test. Horowitz, the son of communists and biographer of the late Isaac Deutscher, underwent the most amazing self-cleansing in post-1970s America. Today he is a leading polemicist of the right, constantly denouncing liberals as a bridge to the more sinister figures of the left.</p>
<p>Compared to him, former Trotskyists Christopher Hitchens and Kanaan Makiya must still appear as marginal and slightly frivolous figures. They would certainly fail the Horowitz test, but if the stakes are raised and Baghdad is bombed yet again, this time as a prelude to a land invasion, how will our musketeers react? Makiya, recently outed in this paper as “Iraq’s most eminent dissident thinker”, declared that: “September 11 set a whole new standard… if you’re in the terrorism business you’re going to start thinking big, and you’re going to need allies. And if you need allies in the terrorism business, you’re going to ask Iraq.”</p>
<p>Makiya’s capacity to spin extraordinary spirals of assertion, one above another, based on no empirical facts and without any sense of proportion, becomes – through sheer giddiness of fantastical levitation – completely absurd. Not a single US intelligence agency has managed to prove any Iraqi link with September 11. For that reason, in order to justify a war, they have moved on to other issues, such as possession of “dangerous weapons”. Not even Saddam’s old foes in the Arab world believe this nonsense.</p>
<p>Hitchens reacted more thoughtfully at first to the New York and Washington attacks. He insisted that the “analytical moment” had to be “indefinitely postponed”, but none the less linked the hits to past policies of the US and criticised George Bush for confusing an act of terrorism with an act of war. He soon moved on to denounce those who made similar, but much sharper criticisms, and began to talk of the supposed “fascist sympathies of the soft left” – Noam Chomsky, Harold Pinter, Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Edward Said et al. In recent television appearances he has sounded more like a saloon-bar bore than the fine, critical mind which blew away the haloes surrounding Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa.</p>
<p>What unites the new empire loyalists is an underlying belief that, despite certain flaws, the military and economic power of the US represents the only emancipatory project and, for that reason, has to be supported against all those who challenge its power. A few prefer Clinton-as-Caesar rather than Bush, but recognise this as a self-indulgence. Deep down they know the empire stands above its leaders.</p>
<p>What they forget is that empires always act in their own self-interests. The British empire cleverly exploited the anti-slavery campaigns to colonise Africa, just as Washington uses the humanitarian handwringing of NGOs and the bien pensants to fight its new wars today. September 11 has been used by the American empire to re-map the world. European continental pieties are beginning to irritate Cheney and Rumsfeld. They laugh in Washington when they hear European politicians talk of revitalising the UN. There are 189 member states of the UN. In 100 of these states there is a US military presence. For UN, read US?</p>
<p>Neo-liberal economics, imposed by the IMF mullahs, has reduced countries in every continent to penury and brought their populations to the edge of despair. The social democracy that appeared an attractive option during the cold war no longer exists. The powerlessness of democratic parliaments and the politicians who inhabit them to change anything has discredited democracy. Crony capitalism can survive without it.</p>
<p>At a time when much of the world is beginning to tire of being “emancipated” by the US, many liberals have been numbed into silence. One of the most attractive aspects of the US has always been the layers of dissent that have flourished beneath the surface. The generals in the Pentagon suffered a far greater blow than September 11 in the 1970s, when tens of thousands of serving and former GIs demonstrated in front of it in their uniforms and medals and declared their hope that the Vietnamese would win. The new empire loyalists, currently helping to snuff out this tradition, are creating the conditions for more blowbacks.</p>
<p>Tariq Ali is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859846793/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Clash of Fundamentalism</a>, published by Verso.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | exactly one year hijackers hit pentagon chalmers johnson distinguished american academic staunch supporter us wars korea vietnam onetime senior analyst cia tried alert fellowcitizens dangers lay ahead offered trenchant critique countrys postcold war imperial policies blowback prophesied shorthand saying nation reaps sows even fully know understand sown given wealth power united states prime recipient foreseeable future expectable forms blowback particularly terrorist attacks americans armed forces anywhere earth including within united states whereas johnson drew past senior stateintellectual within heart american establishment warn us dangers inherent imperial pursuit economic military domination former critics imperialism found trapped debris september 11 many become vociferous loyalists instance referring belligerati salman rushdie martin amis friends everpresent liberal press sides atlantic might well shift rushdies decision pose cover french magazine draped stars stripes could temporary aberration newfound love empire might even turn shortlived conversion islam concerns another group men women intensely involved leftwing activities short march outer fringes radical politics antechambers state department like many converts display aggressive selfconfidence honed polemical ideological skills within left deploy old friends become useful idiots empire used dumped doubt hope travel occupy space vacated chalmers johnson warned already long queue others still dream becoming somali pakistani iraqi iranian equivalents afghan puppet hamid karzai might disappointed tried tested agents put power onetime marxists maoists yet pass muster rewrite entire past admit wrong ever backing old enemies empire cuba vietnam angola afghanistan arab east words pass david horowitz test horowitz son communists biographer late isaac deutscher underwent amazing selfcleansing post1970s america today leading polemicist right constantly denouncing liberals bridge sinister figures left compared former trotskyists christopher hitchens kanaan makiya must still appear marginal slightly frivolous figures would certainly fail horowitz test stakes raised baghdad bombed yet time prelude land invasion musketeers react makiya recently outed paper iraqs eminent dissident thinker declared september 11 set whole new standard youre terrorism business youre going start thinking big youre going need allies need allies terrorism business youre going ask iraq makiyas capacity spin extraordinary spirals assertion one another based empirical facts without sense proportion becomes sheer giddiness fantastical levitation completely absurd single us intelligence agency managed prove iraqi link september 11 reason order justify war moved issues possession dangerous weapons even saddams old foes arab world believe nonsense hitchens reacted thoughtfully first new york washington attacks insisted analytical moment indefinitely postponed none less linked hits past policies us criticised george bush confusing act terrorism act war soon moved denounce made similar much sharper criticisms began talk supposed fascist sympathies soft left noam chomsky harold pinter gore vidal susan sontag edward said et al recent television appearances sounded like saloonbar bore fine critical mind blew away haloes surrounding henry kissinger bill clinton mother teresa unites new empire loyalists underlying belief despite certain flaws military economic power us represents emancipatory project reason supported challenge power prefer clintonascaesar rather bush recognise selfindulgence deep know empire stands leaders forget empires always act selfinterests british empire cleverly exploited antislavery campaigns colonise africa washington uses humanitarian handwringing ngos bien pensants fight new wars today september 11 used american empire remap world european continental pieties beginning irritate cheney rumsfeld laugh washington hear european politicians talk revitalising un 189 member states un 100 states us military presence un read us neoliberal economics imposed imf mullahs reduced countries every continent penury brought populations edge despair social democracy appeared attractive option cold war longer exists powerlessness democratic parliaments politicians inhabit change anything discredited democracy crony capitalism survive without time much world beginning tire emancipated us many liberals numbed silence one attractive aspects us always layers dissent flourished beneath surface generals pentagon suffered far greater blow september 11 1970s tens thousands serving former gis demonstrated front uniforms medals declared hope vietnamese would win new empire loyalists currently helping snuff tradition creating conditions blowbacks tariq ali frequent contributor counterpunch recent book clash fundamentalism published verso 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 646 |
<p>Alex Brandon/AP</p>
<p>When the Congressional Budget Office revealed on Monday that a Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more people without insurance, the public backlash forced GOP leaders to cancel a Senate vote. On Thursday, things got worse. The CBO released another report, this time making clear that the bill would lead to billions of dollars in additional cuts—and, presumably, millions more people without insurance—that hadn’t been included in its additional study.</p>
<p>The GOP legislation is usually described as an effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. But the&#160;most drastic changes in the various House and Senate versions of the bill actually involve Medicaid, a government&#160;program that has existed since 1965 and insures 74 million Americans.</p>
<p>The bill unveiled last week by&#160;Senate Republicans would make especially dramatic cuts to Medicaid. On Monday the CBO&#160;estimated that under that bill, the federal government would spend $772 billion less on Medicaid over the next 10 years&#160;than it would&#160;under current law. In 2026, that would result in 15 million fewer people getting coverage through Medicaid and a 26 percent decrease in Medicaid spending.</p>
<p>But what’s most astonishing is that thanks to a quirk of how the CBO analyzes legislation, the agency’s scoring of the bill actually&#160;understated&#160;the devastation that it would cause to Medicaid. That’s because the CBO generally&#160;only looks at a 10-year window; it didn’t examine what would happen after&#160;2026. And as it turns out, the&#160;biggest cuts to Medicaid proposed by the GOP bill would&#160;hit in 2025, with effects that will compound over time.</p>
<p>On Thursday afternoon, the CBO <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/52859-medicaid.pdf" type="external">released a second&#160;report</a>—and this time it analyzed the bill’s impact over a 20-year period.&#160;The agency predicts that by 2036, Medicaid funding under the Senate bill would&#160;be 35 percent below what it would be under current law. Citing the difficulty in making predictions far into the future, the CBO did not estimate the number of people who would lose Medicaid&#160;coverage&#160;thanks to the 35 percent dip in spending.&#160;It’s safe to assume that number would be sizable.</p>
<p>The GOP legislation would cut Medicaid in several different ways. Beginning&#160;in 2020, the Senate bill would wind down Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to families and individuals earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level. The federal government pays&#160;90 percent of the costs for these people, with the states paying the other 10 percent. The Senate bill would incrementally decrease that, so that by 2024, states would only be reimbursed at the traditional (much lower) Medicaid rate&#160;for people who joined under expansion.</p>
<p>Despite 19 states refusing to adopt Medicaid expansion, 11 million people have gained insurance through this provision.&#160;All of them would be at risk if the federal government starts&#160;dialing back funds. A number of states have trigger policies that would automatically end expansion as soon as the reimbursement rate dropped, and the rest of the states would likely roll back their expansion programs as funding decreased. The liberal-leaning&#160;Center for Budget and Policy Priorities <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/senate-bill-would-effectively-eliminate-medicaid-expansion-by-shifting-hundreds-of" type="external">estimates</a> that states would need to spend an extra $43 billion in 2024 if they want to maintain their programs under the Senate bill.</p>
<p>The legislation would also shift the traditional&#160;Medicaid program&#160;to a per capita funding scheme. Since it’s inception five decades ago, the federal government has run Medicaid as an open promise to the states: The feds would reimburse states for a set percentage&#160;of all costs incurred. Under the Senate bill, that promise would be broken starting in 2020; states would instead&#160;receive a set dollar figure per person covered by Medicaid, regardless of how much those people consume in medical services. That amount would&#160;only increase at the rate of inflation, which experts say would quickly&#160;fall behind the actual costs of health care.</p>
<p>At first, the change wouldn’t be&#160;cataclysmic. The per capita number is set to current spending levels, so for most states the set amount should roughly correspond with their costs. But over time, the gap between how much states receive and how much they spend would grow. And the Senate bill would actually be worse for the long-term future of Medicaid than the bill that House Republicans passed in early May.</p>
<p>It all comes down to how exactly the bill measures inflation. From 2020 to 2024, the Senate would follow the House’s definition of inflation, the Consumer Price Index-medical. CPI-M is&#160;a government calculation that is meant to capture the rate of increase of medical spending, but it actually falls short of the amount needed to keep up with the cost of Medicaid. An analysis by the Brookings Institution&#160; <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/effects-of-the-medicaid-per-capita-cap-included-in-the-house-passed-american-health-care-act/" type="external">calculated</a> that, if Medicaid had been capped at CPI-M in 2000, by 2011 states would have needed to find an additional $17.8 billion to maintain benefit levels, an 11 percent increase.</p>
<p>But the House and Senate bills diverge starting in 2025. That’s when the Senate bill would switch to the general inflation calculation, known as CPI-U. That’s a much slower&#160;inflation rate, one that is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/effects-of-the-more-austere-medicaid-per-capita-cap-included-in-the-senates-health-bill/" type="external">projected</a> to lag behind CPI-M by 1.3 percent each year over the next decade. “This change would ensure a shortfall between federal Medicaid payments and projected Medicaid costs that will grow over time,” the Urban Institute’s Matthew Buettgens <a href="http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/senate-health-bill-would-lower-medicaid-capita-cap-rate-causing-greater-state-budget-shortfalls" type="external">writes</a>.</p>
<p>“Estimates suggest that the long-run cuts to Medicaid from a per capita cap indexed to general inflation, as under the Senate bill, could be several times larger or more than those under the House cap,” CBPP’s Jacob Leibenluft <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/health/commentary-once-passed-medicaid-cuts-wont-be-easily-reversed" type="external">wrote</a> last week. “That difference likely amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars of&#160;additional&#160;federal cuts in the subsequent decade.”</p>
<p>The new CBO report confirms those expectations. But without a full analysis, it’s hard to say exactly how many people would lose out on health insurance thanks to the 35 percent drop in Medicaid spending.&#160;That number certainly won’t be small.</p> | true | 4 | alex brandonap congressional budget office revealed monday republican health care bill would leave 22 million people without insurance public backlash forced gop leaders cancel senate vote thursday things got worse cbo released another report time making clear bill would lead billions dollars additional cutsand presumably millions people without insurancethat hadnt included additional study gop legislation usually described effort repeal replace obamacare the160most drastic changes various house senate versions bill actually involve medicaid government160program existed since 1965 insures 74 million americans bill unveiled last week by160senate republicans would make especially dramatic cuts medicaid monday cbo160estimated bill federal government would spend 772 billion less medicaid next 10 years160than would160under current law 2026 would result 15 million fewer people getting coverage medicaid 26 percent decrease medicaid spending whats astonishing thanks quirk cbo analyzes legislation agencys scoring bill actually160understated160the devastation would cause medicaid thats cbo generally160only looks 10year window didnt examine would happen after1602026 turns the160biggest cuts medicaid proposed gop bill would160hit 2025 effects compound time thursday afternoon cbo released second160reportand time analyzed bills impact 20year period160the agency predicts 2036 medicaid funding senate bill would160be 35 percent would current law citing difficulty making predictions far future cbo estimate number people would lose medicaid160coverage160thanks 35 percent dip spending160its safe assume number would sizable gop legislation would cut medicaid several different ways beginning160in 2020 senate bill would wind obamacares expansion medicaid families individuals earning 138 percent poverty level federal government pays16090 percent costs people states paying 10 percent senate bill would incrementally decrease 2024 states would reimbursed traditional much lower medicaid rate160for people joined expansion despite 19 states refusing adopt medicaid expansion 11 million people gained insurance provision160all would risk federal government starts160dialing back funds number states trigger policies would automatically end expansion soon reimbursement rate dropped rest states would likely roll back expansion programs funding decreased liberalleaning160center budget policy priorities estimates states would need spend extra 43 billion 2024 want maintain programs senate bill legislation would also shift traditional160medicaid program160to per capita funding scheme since inception five decades ago federal government run medicaid open promise states feds would reimburse states set percentage160of costs incurred senate bill promise would broken starting 2020 states would instead160receive set dollar figure per person covered medicaid regardless much people consume medical services amount would160only increase rate inflation experts say would quickly160fall behind actual costs health care first change wouldnt be160cataclysmic per capita number set current spending levels states set amount roughly correspond costs time gap much states receive much spend would grow senate bill would actually worse longterm future medicaid bill house republicans passed early may comes exactly bill measures inflation 2020 2024 senate would follow houses definition inflation consumer price indexmedical cpim is160a government calculation meant capture rate increase medical spending actually falls short amount needed keep cost medicaid analysis brookings institution160 calculated medicaid capped cpim 2000 2011 states would needed find additional 178 billion maintain benefit levels 11 percent increase house senate bills diverge starting 2025 thats senate bill would switch general inflation calculation known cpiu thats much slower160inflation rate one projected lag behind cpim 13 percent year next decade change would ensure shortfall federal medicaid payments projected medicaid costs grow time urban institutes matthew buettgens writes estimates suggest longrun cuts medicaid per capita cap indexed general inflation senate bill could several times larger house cap cbpps jacob leibenluft wrote last week difference likely amounts hundreds billions dollars of160additional160federal cuts subsequent decade new cbo report confirms expectations without full analysis hard say exactly many people would lose health insurance thanks 35 percent drop medicaid spending160that number certainly wont small | 591 |
<p>The U.S. now has an Attorney General, Mr. Michael Mukasey, who does not know if waterboarding is torture. One wonders what else escapes the knowledge of the Mr. Mukasey.</p>
<p>Is he aware that U.S. law forbids the practice of waterboarding, as do numerous international treaties? He has stated that he must withhold judgment on it until he receives more information. Will he continue to ‘withhold judgment’ on this practice, that he himself calls ‘repugnant,’ until some nation starts waterboarding U.S. soldiers? One may well ask why other countries, especially those with whom the U.S. is at war, should hesitate to waterboard their prisoners if the U.S. will not refrain from doing so. The answer is common decency, but with the world’s most powerful nation not demonstrating that trait, one cannot long expect other nations victimized by the United States to exhibit it.</p>
<p>Since this so-called ‘interrogation technique’ has been banned by domestic law, why, one could reasonably wonder, is there any debate about it? The answer is because for some bizarre reason, domestic law does not apply to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and President Bush has refused to say whether or not he has allowed that agency to practice it. At least he is not denying its use, as he originally and vehemently denied the existence of CIA-run prisons in foreign lands that don’t even bother to discuss the morality of torture. Perhaps Mr. Bush can hold his head high with the knowledge that in the U.S., that beacon of peace, freedom and morality, the ethics of whether to torture or not to torture prisoners is discussed publicly in the hallowed halls of Congress. That the debate comes down to a quasi-conclusion of ‘well, it’s probably not all that bad as long as we call it something else’ does not seem to diminish Mr. Bush’s pride in the moral leadership of the United States.</p>
<p>If Mr. Bush, Mr. Mukasey and certainly Vice President Dick Cheney are, if not warm proponents of waterboarding, at least willing to consider its use, it might be helpful to know what the brouhaha is all about.</p>
<p>This particular ‘interrogation method’ is not new. It was very popular during the Italian Inquisition five-hundred years ago and has appeared now and then since. The Japanese used it at least sporadically during World War II, as did U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. More recently the Khmer Rouge used it on prisoners in Cambodia. And following the high moral standards set by Italian, Japanese and Cambodian torturers, the CIA listed waterboarding on its list of approved ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’ My, my, what a pretty term!</p>
<p>This ‘enhancement’ involves strapping an individual down face up so he or she is completely immobile, on an inclined board with the person’s feet raised above the head. The victim’s face is covered, sometimes wrapped with cellophane. Sometimes the victim is gagged. The torturer then pours water repeatedly onto the person’s face. This gives the impression of being submerged under waves and the victim believes he or she is drowning. The gag reflex activates as the person involuntarily tries to save him or herself from drowning. The experience, as related by those who have so been tortured, is terrifying.</p>
<p>This tame, academic description does not convey anything close to the enormity of the experience. Some information from the CIA which, for a time, waterboarded some of its employees as part of their training, may be beneficial. Those trainees lasted an average of fourteen seconds before begging to be released. And these were people who knew for a fact that they were not being drowned.</p>
<p>While the CIA will not classify waterboarding as torture, many CIA officials think it is useless because the victim will tell the ‘interrogator’ anything he or she wants to hear in order to stop the torture. In fact, this is one reason why torture is seen as unacceptable; information obtained in this way is generally useless.</p>
<p>As the term ‘waterboarding’ slowly found its way into the American consciousness, some interesting facts about its history were exposed. In 1947 the U.S. charged a Japanese army officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for using the technique on an American citizen. He was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor. It appears that the U.S. view on waterboarding has changed considerably since that day. Will the U.S. now acquit Mr. Asano posthumously?</p>
<p>So this cruel practice is now, if not acceptable, at least not unacceptable, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. One wonders how long this archaic, savage and barbaric ‘interrogation method’ has been practiced by the United States. One further wonders what other such methods are and have been used since the U.S.’s immoral, illegal and obscene invasion of Iraq. Is it possible that U.S. soldiers have attached electrodes to the genitals of Iraqi prisoners? Have they stripped them and led them around with collars and leashes like dogs? Did they force naked prisoners to form human pyramids, and then photograph themselves standing in front of them, grinning happily? No, such cruel and inhumane behaviors are never tolerated by the United States; military training and shared accountability is such that these and/or similar practices would never occur. Oh wait, one forgets that all those things were perpetrated by U.S. soldiers on Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad. Well, slap a few low-level U.S. military wrists and we’ll forget the whole thing.</p>
<p>Which seems to be just what the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress has done. As they blathered on about Mr. Mukasey’s refusal to term waterboarding torture; as they stood in righteous indignation that the highest law enforcement officer in the country would not endorse U.S. and international law; as they spluttered and dithered and then sought reasons to justify voting for him they apparently forgot not only their mandate, but their duty as well.</p>
<p>Mr. Bush had threatened to appoint an ‘acting’ Attorney General if Mr. Mukasey were not confirmed. Such an appointment would not require Congressional approval. Is Congress so deficient in clout, or perhaps it is spine that it lacks, that this action by the president would stand? Are the members of that governing body so willing to submit to presidential blackmail that they will confirm as the highest law enforcement officer in the country a man who will not support U.S. law that forbids waterboarding?</p>
<p>Mr. Bush, of course, has always bought into the jingoism that he personifies: any measure to protect the corporate interests of the exalted U.S. is justified. After all, this is the U.S., which can operate by different rules than the rest of the world. That seems to be sufficient reason to allow the torture of prisoners; the wiretapping of U.S. citizens; the dismissal of due process; restrictions on the rights to free speech and assembly, and a host of other measures Mr. Bush has taken in the name of freedom. One must give him credit: he has somehow caused Congress to interpret ‘supporting the troops’ as continuing the war for them, and equally as bizarre he has convinced them and many U.S. citizens that the best way for them to keep the rights of which they are so proud is to surrender them.</p>
<p>One naively looks to the next presidential election for some significant change. This will only mirror the disappointment of the last Congressional election that swept the war-mongering Republicans from office and replaced them with the war-tolerating Democrats. It took many years for the U.S. to learn important lessons from the mistakes of Vietnam, and not so many for them to forget them all. The confirmation of an Attorney General who condones torture is the latest in the U.S.’s long history of disgraceful injustice.</p>
<p>ROBERT FANTINA is author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">Desertion and the American Soldier: 1776–2006.</a>‘</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | us attorney general mr michael mukasey know waterboarding torture one wonders else escapes knowledge mr mukasey aware us law forbids practice waterboarding numerous international treaties stated must withhold judgment receives information continue withhold judgment practice calls repugnant nation starts waterboarding us soldiers one may well ask countries especially us war hesitate waterboard prisoners us refrain answer common decency worlds powerful nation demonstrating trait one long expect nations victimized united states exhibit since socalled interrogation technique banned domestic law one could reasonably wonder debate answer bizarre reason domestic law apply central intelligence agency cia president bush refused say whether allowed agency practice least denying use originally vehemently denied existence ciarun prisons foreign lands dont even bother discuss morality torture perhaps mr bush hold head high knowledge us beacon peace freedom morality ethics whether torture torture prisoners discussed publicly hallowed halls congress debate comes quasiconclusion well probably bad long call something else seem diminish mr bushs pride moral leadership united states mr bush mr mukasey certainly vice president dick cheney warm proponents waterboarding least willing consider use might helpful know brouhaha particular interrogation method new popular italian inquisition fivehundred years ago appeared since japanese used least sporadically world war ii us soldiers vietnam recently khmer rouge used prisoners cambodia following high moral standards set italian japanese cambodian torturers cia listed waterboarding list approved enhanced interrogation techniques pretty term enhancement involves strapping individual face completely immobile inclined board persons feet raised head victims face covered sometimes wrapped cellophane sometimes victim gagged torturer pours water repeatedly onto persons face gives impression submerged waves victim believes drowning gag reflex activates person involuntarily tries save drowning experience related tortured terrifying tame academic description convey anything close enormity experience information cia time waterboarded employees part training may beneficial trainees lasted average fourteen seconds begging released people knew fact drowned cia classify waterboarding torture many cia officials think useless victim tell interrogator anything wants hear order stop torture fact one reason torture seen unacceptable information obtained way generally useless term waterboarding slowly found way american consciousness interesting facts history exposed 1947 us charged japanese army officer yukio asano war crimes using technique american citizen convicted sentenced fifteen years hard labor appears us view waterboarding changed considerably since day us acquit mr asano posthumously cruel practice acceptable least unacceptable land free home brave one wonders long archaic savage barbaric interrogation method practiced united states one wonders methods used since uss immoral illegal obscene invasion iraq possible us soldiers attached electrodes genitals iraqi prisoners stripped led around collars leashes like dogs force naked prisoners form human pyramids photograph standing front grinning happily cruel inhumane behaviors never tolerated united states military training shared accountability andor similar practices would never occur oh wait one forgets things perpetrated us soldiers iraqi prisoners baghdad well slap lowlevel us military wrists well forget whole thing seems democraticcontrolled us congress done blathered mr mukaseys refusal term waterboarding torture stood righteous indignation highest law enforcement officer country would endorse us international law spluttered dithered sought reasons justify voting apparently forgot mandate duty well mr bush threatened appoint acting attorney general mr mukasey confirmed appointment would require congressional approval congress deficient clout perhaps spine lacks action president would stand members governing body willing submit presidential blackmail confirm highest law enforcement officer country man support us law forbids waterboarding mr bush course always bought jingoism personifies measure protect corporate interests exalted us justified us operate different rules rest world seems sufficient reason allow torture prisoners wiretapping us citizens dismissal due process restrictions rights free speech assembly host measures mr bush taken name freedom one must give credit somehow caused congress interpret supporting troops continuing war equally bizarre convinced many us citizens best way keep rights proud surrender one naively looks next presidential election significant change mirror disappointment last congressional election swept warmongering republicans office replaced wartolerating democrats took many years us learn important lessons mistakes vietnam many forget confirmation attorney general condones torture latest uss long history disgraceful injustice robert fantina author desertion american soldier 17762006 160 | 668 |
<p>The pre-inaugural madness before Donald Trump occupies the oval office makes one nostalgic for the craziness of the campaign season, despite the latter being only ten weeks long while the former felt like an eternity. Meanwhile under the cover of anti-Trumpism, lame-duck President Obama continues to stagger to the right.</p>
<p>Been Right So Long, It Looks Like Left to Me</p>
<p>Leading up to the November election, Peter Beinart <a href="" type="internal">writing</a> in The Atlantic reported that the US “ideological playing field” had shifted to the left and that even the “next Republican president won’t be able to return the nation to the pre-Obama era” of anti-liberalism. In a rationale too convoluted to reproduce, Beinart credits Obama with inadvertently contributing to the creation of the Occupy and Black Lives Matter movements.</p>
<p>Beinart’s “story of the Democratic Party’s journey leftward” is more a reflection on how the venerable Atlantic has drifted to the starboard, which in turn reflects the overall rightward trajectory of the mainstream US polity.</p>
<p>The Personal Is Not Necessarily Political</p>
<p>As the shock of an impending Trump presidency sinks in among the progressive community, focus on Trump’s personal qualities has intensified in the absence of a clear understanding how his politics will translate practically. We will soon find out, but the unpalatability of Trump’s personality may end up being the least objectionable aspect of his presidency.</p>
<p>Chris Hedges, who had brought us the incisive <a href="" type="internal">Death of the Liberal Class</a> and has been a supporter of third party efforts, has now launched into an agitated attack on the perceived <a href="" type="internal">personality of Trump</a>: “greed, a lust for power, a thirst for adulation and celebrity, a penchant for the manipulation of others, dishonesty, a lack of remorse and a frightening pathology in which reality is ignored.”</p>
<p>For Hedges, whose ethics have roots in Christian moralism, Trump represents “the sick expression of…the most depraved aspects of human nature.”</p>
<p>Hedges adds Trump to his list of “dictators” – Pinochet, Noriega, Hussein, Gadhafi, Assad, Honecker, Ceausescu, and Milosevic – all of whom “seek to immortalize their grandeur in huge building projects that are monuments to their immortality.” Hence Hedges cites the egregious (to him) example of Gadhafi’s bringing irrigation to the Libyan desert, but does not include – for example – FDR’s TVA and Grand Coulee Dam projects among the megalomaniacal works of dictators.</p>
<p>In essence, Hedges criticizes Trump more for his vulgarity than for his class stance. This type of often unproductive analysis tends to equate personality with politics. Obama may have one of most attractive <a href="" type="internal">public personas</a>, but that did not translate into a progressive political practice.</p>
<p>Blame Game for Trump</p>
<p>Patron saint of the left intelligentsia Noam Chomsky <a href="" type="internal">rebukes the left</a> for not sufficiently rallying around the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer thus allowing Trump to win. In his spirited advocacy of <a href="https://chomsky.info/an-eight-point-brief-for-lev-lesser-evil-voting/" type="external">lesser-evil-voting</a>, Chomsky abandons any pretense of building a left alternative to the two corporate parties. The choices Chomsky offers are voting for Democrats or abstention.</p>
<p>Going back in history, Chomsky <a href="https://chomsky.info/an-eight-point-brief-for-lev-lesser-evil-voting/" type="external">blames</a> “the ultra-left faction of the peace movement (for) having minimized the comparative dangers of the Nixon presidency during the 1968 elections. The result was six years of senseless death and destruction in Southeast Asia.” Sounds good, but the historical allegory doesn’t hold up.</p>
<p>Those of us who weren’t born yesterday remember that Richard Nixon’s opponent was the standing Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey who ran on a platform of supporting President Johnson’s Vietnam War. It would have been unlikely in the extreme for HHH to have ordered US withdrawal from Southeast Asia on inaugural day.</p>
<p>Republican Nixon, on the other hand, did eventually withdraw…or at least was forced to do so. Nixon considered the nuclear option, which might have produced a different outcome, and rejected it to his credit. In contrast, Democrats Truman and Kennedy in different contexts both played the nuclear card. In the case of JFK’s Cuban missile crisis, we have Khrushchev (who backed down) to thank that we are here to recall the story.</p>
<p>Nixon was “the <a href="" type="internal">last liberal president</a>” according to no less an authority than Chomsky himself. Nixon <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=4169" type="external">raised the minimum wage</a> by 40%, established wage/price controls, and recognized the People’s Republic of China. Nixon’s other progressive <a href="" type="internal">accomplishments</a> include the first significant federal affirmative action program, indexed Social Security for inflation¸ and creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Office of Minority Business Enterprise.</p>
<p>Since, we’ve come a long way and not in the right direction.</p>
<p>The historical lesson is not to eulogize Tricky Dick as he was called in his day, but to note that when the left was independent and strong it could force a progressive agenda on even such an anti-communist opportunist as Nixon. Had the left voted for HHH and accepted being a captive constituency of the Democrats, unwilling to withhold their vote to demand – for example – peace in Vietnam, it is unlikely that we would have enjoyed the progressive outcomes of the Nixon years.</p>
<p>In short, Chomsky’s example of Nixon is precisely a repudiation of his strategy of always voting for the lesser evil Democrat. What is needed is a politics independent of the corporate parties.</p>
<p>A Double Standard Is Better than No Standard at All</p>
<p>The Ploughshares Fund has launched a <a href="http://www.ploughshares.org/keep-donald-trumps-finger-off-nuclear-button" type="external">petition</a> urging President Obama to “take our [sic] nuclear missiles off hair-trigger alert before Donald Trump gets control of them.” Apparently we should rest in comfort that for now the ability to “destroy the world within 4 minutes” is in the safe hands of Mr. Obama.</p>
<p>The Obama State Department offered the reverse-logic rebuttal to the petition, arguing that it is safer for the US to hold humanity on the brink of Armageddon than to reduce the “ <a href="" type="internal">high-alert, hair-trigger status</a>” to a less volatile level, because if the US were then to return to high alert that would create more instability.</p>
<p>Obama Staggers Right under the Cover of Anti-Trumpism</p>
<p>Imagine Trump’s surprise when he starts to build his “big, beautiful wall” along the southern US border to find that Obama’s Department of Homeland Security is already maintaining over <a href="http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-history-and-future-hurdles-us-mexico-border-wall?gclid=CPTymauqodECFUiTfgodul8DVw" type="external">650 miles</a> of heavily armored and patrolled fencing. Somehow the <a href="" type="internal">New York Times</a> and other corporate press have been correctly disparaging Trump’s scheme but AWOL on informing their readers’ of Obama’s current actions.</p>
<p>With the <a href="" type="internal">world’s largest incarcerated population</a>, President Obama announced his end-of-term <a href="" type="internal">pardons</a> on December 19th for 78 individuals jailed on drug and other federal offenses. Not included on the list were US political prisoners such as Puerto Rican independentista <a href="" type="internal">Oscar López Rivera</a>, or Native American activist <a href="http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&amp;ea.campaign.id=27118&amp;ea.tracking.id=Country_USA~MessagingCategory_PrisonersandPeopleatRisk&amp;ac=WPSGGTL27118&amp;gclid=CMGhs4fQotECFQtqfgodV1kGiA" type="external">Leonard Peltier</a>, or Colombian leftist <a href="http://freericardopalmera.org/" type="external">Simon Trinidad</a>, and certainly not any of the whistleblowers such as <a href="https://www.chelseamanning.org/learn-more/bradley-manning" type="external">Chelsea Manning</a>, serving a 35-year sentence.</p>
<p>If Obama truly wanted to make a legacy that Trump could not reverse, pardons of these individuals would be a starting point. Instead what Obama wants to perpetuate is continuing hostilities against Russia. Jeffrey St. Clair of <a href="" type="internal">CounterPunch</a> wryly observed that some of the same characters who took such pleasure in ridiculing Sarah Palin for her gaffe about seeing Russia from her house are now seeing Russians everywhere.</p>
<p>In a precautionary move to ensure that at least 35 Russian diplomats won’t be hiding under his bed, Obama expelled them on December 29 and closed down two of their country retreats.</p>
<p>Putin <a href="" type="internal">did not retaliate</a> in an example of political jujitsu, where the opponents’ position is used against them, underlining the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_684321825&amp;feature=iv&amp;src_vid=-KHCNk9BYy4&amp;v=uwWMaJJ_MSg" type="external">Kremlin’s contention</a> that the Obama administration is paranoid anti-Russian and spoiling for a fight. Rubbing salt into the wound, Putin then invited the children of US diplomats in Moscow to celebrate Russian Orthodox Christmas with him.</p>
<p>Obama’s Christmas present to the nation on December 25 was establishing a $160 million ministry of propaganda to stifle dissent, called the Global Engagement Center. This <a href="" type="internal">Orwellian project</a> will engage the departments of State and Defense and the National Security Agency to combat those that don’t accept the government’s word as truth.</p>
<p>December 10th, the Pentagon announced its intention to nearly double <a href="" type="internal">US troops in Syria</a>, while increasing arms shipments to the jihadi terrorists there. Prior to that Obama pledged what <a href="" type="internal">Foreign Policy</a> called “a nearly $40 billion gift card at the Pentagon’s weapon bazaar” to Israel and what the State Department bragged is the “single largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in U.S. history.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile Obama’s aggressive pivot to Asia escalates <a href="" type="internal">threats to China</a>, and his massive nuclear weapons “modernization” threatens far more. As befitting the world’s sole superpower, Obama boasted in his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/exit-memos" type="external">farewell letter</a> to the American people on Thursday, “almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger.”</p>
<p>The logic of an empire lurching toward war is the legacy that is being handed over to the untested but mercurial Mr. Trump. Can that <a href="http://blackagendareport.com/locating_fascism_on_home_map" type="external">global military offensive</a> inheritance be reversed and will there be a social movement powerful enough to make that happen?</p>
<p>Emerging Political Movements against Trump</p>
<p>When ownership of the Iraq War seamlessly transferred from Republican Bush to Democrat Obama, many liberals abruptly abandoned the anti-war movement. Now with the imminent switch of parties, signs abound of renewed activism in the liberal camp. Anna Galland, head of MoveOn.org (the unofficial Clinton Democrat outfit masquerading as a grassroots organization) <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-gathering-storm-of-protest-against-trump" type="external">reports</a> her group “and our allies are sprinting to catch up to the mass movement that’s emerging” with anti-Trump actions spontaneously popping up across the US.</p>
<p>The Million Women’s March, now re-branded as the Women’s March on Washington, is scheduled for a day after Trump’s inauguration. Led and organized by former <a href="https://www.womensmarch.com/partners/" type="external">supporters of Hillary Clinton</a>, their champion will not be joining the protest…actually no longer called a protest either. According to the March’s co-founder Tamika Mallory “This effort is <a href="" type="internal">not anti-Trump</a>, this is pro-women.”</p>
<p>Rev. Al Sharpton, whom the <a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/4232" type="external">Black Agenda Report</a> in their more generous moments calls a member of the black misleadership class, has made a career of supporting Democrats in high places. His <a href="" type="internal">National Action Network</a> is calling for a January 14th protest at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">OrganizingUPGrade</a> advocates an “inside/outside approach,” which swings to the left in non-election years and returns to the “corporate Democrats (who) can and must be part of the opposition to the extreme right” in election years. Their paramount task is to put a Democrat in the White House in 2020. Ditto for the <a href="" type="internal">Communist Party USA</a>.</p>
<p>In opposition to a strategy of supporting the center, which is ever drifting further to the right, in order to defeat the right-of-center are groups working to promote a left alternative – to reverse the rightward trajectory. Their political actions are unambiguously anti-Trump protests with explicit demands, though returning a Democrat to the White House is not one of them.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.answercoalition.org/protest_on_inauguration_day" type="external">ANSWER Coalition</a> is planning inaugural day protests in DC and elsewhere to “say NO to the Trump agenda.” A social media campaign, <a href="" type="internal">#NotMyPresident</a>, plans an inauguration day silent protest on the Capital Building steps. They “refuse to recognize Donald Trump as the President of the United States, and refuse to take orders from a government that puts bigots into power.” <a href="http://www.worldcantwait.net/" type="external">World Can’t Wait</a> and their fellow travelers are promoting a <a href="https://refusefascism.org/the-plan/" type="external">plan</a> to “prevent the Trump/Pence regime from taking power” under the banner of “in the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America.”</p>
<p>Dangers of Politically Incorrect Anti-Trumpism</p>
<p>This renewed anti-Trump political activity is a positive development, especially if informed by an underlying critique of neoliberalism. However, Cinzia Arruzza <a href="http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2956-lessons-from-italy-the-dangers-of-anti-trumpism" type="external">warns</a> about the dangers of ill-conceived anti-Trumpism from the perspective of the lessons learned from struggle against rightist Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.</p>
<p>Berlusconi and Trump are both reputed misogynists, sport artificial tans, and are filthy rich businessmen who came to power from outside of politics. But the political contexts are different for these two right-wing insurgents.</p>
<p>Berlusconi’s first term in office was a mere six months. A center-left coalition replaced him, espousing a program of neoliberal austerity and even anti-immigrant measures; that is, a Berlusconi-lite program in the name of combatting him. The major Italian labor unions acquiesced to this drift to the right to combat the right.</p>
<p>After six years of a little-less-evil, the center-left had alienated its constituency who voted Berlusconi back stronger than ever. Further, Arruzza reports the “excessive focus on his character actually worked to strengthen Berlusconi’s power instead of weakening it.”</p>
<p>“And here is the lesson,” according to Arruzza, “Italian anti-Berlusconism ended up consolidating and strengthening Berlusconi’s power, rather than undermining it, by consistently avoiding the real causes of Berlusconi’s success and by justifying and legitimizing years of harsh austerity in the name of preventing Berlusconi’s return to power at all costs.”</p>
<p>She concludes: “As the disaster of Italian anti-Berlusconism shows, the only way to effectively oppose authoritarian, racist, and sexist neoliberalism is by offering a radical and credible alternative.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | preinaugural madness donald trump occupies oval office makes one nostalgic craziness campaign season despite latter ten weeks long former felt like eternity meanwhile cover antitrumpism lameduck president obama continues stagger right right long looks like left leading november election peter beinart writing atlantic reported us ideological playing field shifted left even next republican president wont able return nation preobama era antiliberalism rationale convoluted reproduce beinart credits obama inadvertently contributing creation occupy black lives matter movements beinarts story democratic partys journey leftward reflection venerable atlantic drifted starboard turn reflects overall rightward trajectory mainstream us polity personal necessarily political shock impending trump presidency sinks among progressive community focus trumps personal qualities intensified absence clear understanding politics translate practically soon find unpalatability trumps personality may end least objectionable aspect presidency chris hedges brought us incisive death liberal class supporter third party efforts launched agitated attack perceived personality trump greed lust power thirst adulation celebrity penchant manipulation others dishonesty lack remorse frightening pathology reality ignored hedges whose ethics roots christian moralism trump represents sick expression ofthe depraved aspects human nature hedges adds trump list dictators pinochet noriega hussein gadhafi assad honecker ceausescu milosevic seek immortalize grandeur huge building projects monuments immortality hence hedges cites egregious example gadhafis bringing irrigation libyan desert include example fdrs tva grand coulee dam projects among megalomaniacal works dictators essence hedges criticizes trump vulgarity class stance type often unproductive analysis tends equate personality politics obama may one attractive public personas translate progressive political practice blame game trump patron saint left intelligentsia noam chomsky rebukes left sufficiently rallying around democratic partys standardbearer thus allowing trump win spirited advocacy lesserevilvoting chomsky abandons pretense building left alternative two corporate parties choices chomsky offers voting democrats abstention going back history chomsky blames ultraleft faction peace movement minimized comparative dangers nixon presidency 1968 elections result six years senseless death destruction southeast asia sounds good historical allegory doesnt hold us werent born yesterday remember richard nixons opponent standing vice president hubert horatio humphrey ran platform supporting president johnsons vietnam war would unlikely extreme hhh ordered us withdrawal southeast asia inaugural day republican nixon hand eventually withdrawor least forced nixon considered nuclear option might produced different outcome rejected credit contrast democrats truman kennedy different contexts played nuclear card case jfks cuban missile crisis khrushchev backed thank recall story nixon last liberal president according less authority chomsky nixon raised minimum wage 40 established wageprice controls recognized peoples republic china nixons progressive accomplishments include first significant federal affirmative action program indexed social security inflation creation environmental protection agency occupational safety health administration national oceanic atmospheric administration office minority business enterprise since weve come long way right direction historical lesson eulogize tricky dick called day note left independent strong could force progressive agenda even anticommunist opportunist nixon left voted hhh accepted captive constituency democrats unwilling withhold vote demand example peace vietnam unlikely would enjoyed progressive outcomes nixon years short chomskys example nixon precisely repudiation strategy always voting lesser evil democrat needed politics independent corporate parties double standard better standard ploughshares fund launched petition urging president obama take sic nuclear missiles hairtrigger alert donald trump gets control apparently rest comfort ability destroy world within 4 minutes safe hands mr obama obama state department offered reverselogic rebuttal petition arguing safer us hold humanity brink armageddon reduce highalert hairtrigger status less volatile level us return high alert would create instability obama staggers right cover antitrumpism imagine trumps surprise starts build big beautiful wall along southern us border find obamas department homeland security already maintaining 650 miles heavily armored patrolled fencing somehow new york times corporate press correctly disparaging trumps scheme awol informing readers obamas current actions worlds largest incarcerated population president obama announced endofterm pardons december 19th 78 individuals jailed drug federal offenses included list us political prisoners puerto rican independentista oscar lópez rivera native american activist leonard peltier colombian leftist simon trinidad certainly whistleblowers chelsea manning serving 35year sentence obama truly wanted make legacy trump could reverse pardons individuals would starting point instead obama wants perpetuate continuing hostilities russia jeffrey st clair counterpunch wryly observed characters took pleasure ridiculing sarah palin gaffe seeing russia house seeing russians everywhere precautionary move ensure least 35 russian diplomats wont hiding bed obama expelled december 29 closed two country retreats putin retaliate example political jujitsu opponents position used underlining kremlins contention obama administration paranoid antirussian spoiling fight rubbing salt wound putin invited children us diplomats moscow celebrate russian orthodox christmas obamas christmas present nation december 25 establishing 160 million ministry propaganda stifle dissent called global engagement center orwellian project engage departments state defense national security agency combat dont accept governments word truth december 10th pentagon announced intention nearly double us troops syria increasing arms shipments jihadi terrorists prior obama pledged foreign policy called nearly 40 billion gift card pentagons weapon bazaar israel state department bragged single largest pledge bilateral military assistance us history meanwhile obamas aggressive pivot asia escalates threats china massive nuclear weapons modernization threatens far befitting worlds sole superpower obama boasted farewell letter american people thursday almost every country earth sees america stronger logic empire lurching toward war legacy handed untested mercurial mr trump global military offensive inheritance reversed social movement powerful enough make happen emerging political movements trump ownership iraq war seamlessly transferred republican bush democrat obama many liberals abruptly abandoned antiwar movement imminent switch parties signs abound renewed activism liberal camp anna galland head moveonorg unofficial clinton democrat outfit masquerading grassroots organization reports group allies sprinting catch mass movement thats emerging antitrump actions spontaneously popping across us million womens march rebranded womens march washington scheduled day trumps inauguration led organized former supporters hillary clinton champion joining protestactually longer called protest either according marchs cofounder tamika mallory effort antitrump prowomen rev al sharpton black agenda report generous moments calls member black misleadership class made career supporting democrats high places national action network calling january 14th protest martin luther king jr memorial washington organizingupgrade advocates insideoutside approach swings left nonelection years returns corporate democrats must part opposition extreme right election years paramount task put democrat white house 2020 ditto communist party usa opposition strategy supporting center ever drifting right order defeat rightofcenter groups working promote left alternative reverse rightward trajectory political actions unambiguously antitrump protests explicit demands though returning democrat white house one answer coalition planning inaugural day protests dc elsewhere say trump agenda social media campaign notmypresident plans inauguration day silent protest capital building steps refuse recognize donald trump president united states refuse take orders government puts bigots power world cant wait fellow travelers promoting plan prevent trumppence regime taking power banner name humanity refuse accept fascist america dangers politically incorrect antitrumpism renewed antitrump political activity positive development especially informed underlying critique neoliberalism however cinzia arruzza warns dangers illconceived antitrumpism perspective lessons learned struggle rightist italian prime minister silvio berlusconi berlusconi trump reputed misogynists sport artificial tans filthy rich businessmen came power outside politics political contexts different two rightwing insurgents berlusconis first term office mere six months centerleft coalition replaced espousing program neoliberal austerity even antiimmigrant measures berlusconilite program name combatting major italian labor unions acquiesced drift right combat right six years littlelessevil centerleft alienated constituency voted berlusconi back stronger ever arruzza reports excessive focus character actually worked strengthen berlusconis power instead weakening lesson according arruzza italian antiberlusconism ended consolidating strengthening berlusconis power rather undermining consistently avoiding real causes berlusconis success justifying legitimizing years harsh austerity name preventing berlusconis return power costs concludes disaster italian antiberlusconism shows way effectively oppose authoritarian racist sexist neoliberalism offering radical credible alternative 160 | 1,246 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Here we have one of the most widely derided presidents in the history of the United States and a war abhorred by a majority of all Americans and the Democrats have near zero traction as a credible party of opposition. The sequence of events after Representative Jack Murtha’s speech on Capitol Hill on November 17 tells the story.</p>
<p>It truly was a great speech, as the Marine veteran (37 years in the US Marine Corps, then 31 years in Congress) actually delivered it with extempore additions to the prepared text handed out after his news conference.</p>
<p>Listen to Murtha and you are hearing how the US commanders in Iraq really see the situation. Murtha is trusted by the military and has visited Iraq often. “Many say the Army is broken. Some of our troops are on a third deployment. Recruitment is down even as the military has lowed its standards. They expect to take 20 percent category 4, which is the lowest category, which they said they’d never take. Much of our ground equipment is worn out.”</p>
<p>On Iraq’s condition: “Oil production and energy production are below prewar level. You remember they said that was going to pay for the war, and it’s below prewar level. Our reconstruction efforts have been crippled by the security situation. Only $9 billion of $18 billion appropriated for reconstruction has been spent. Unemployment is 60 percentClean water is scarce and they only spent $500 million of the $2.2 billion appropriated for water projects.</p>
<p>“And, most importantly — this is the most important point ­ incidents have increased from 150 a week to over 700 in the last year.”</p>
<p>Then, amid his tears, came Murtha’s sketches of war’s consequences in today’s America:</p>
<p>“Now, let me personalize this thing for youI have a young fellow in my district who was blinded and he lost his foot. And they did everything they could for him at Walter Reed, then they sent him home. His father was in jail; he had nobody at home — imagine this: young kid that age — 22, 23 years old — goes home to nobody. V.A. did everything they could do to help him. He was reaching out, so they sent him — to make sure that he was blind, they sent him to John Hopkins. John Hopkins started to send him bills. Then the collection agency started sending billsImagine, a young person being blinded, without a foot, and he’s getting bills from a collection agency.”</p>
<p>And finally, Murtha’s call for rapid pullout of US troops from Iraq capped by one of the most amazing resumes of political reality ever administered to an audience on Capitol Hill:</p>
<p>“I believe we need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis. I believe before the Iraqi elections, scheduled for mid-December, the Iraqi people and the emerging government must be put on notice: The United States will immediately redeploy — immediately redeploy. All of Iraq must know that Iraq is free, free from a United States occupation. And I believe this will send a signal to the Sunnis to join the political process.”</p>
<p>This was no wimp. This was a 73-year old Marine veteran with Purple Hearts and Bronze Star, one of the Armed Forces’ most constant supporters. What more credible advocate a speedy end to an unpopular war could the Democrats ever hope for?</p>
<p>Barely had he stopped speaking before the halls of Congress echoed with the squeaks Democrats whimpering with panic as they skipped clear of Murtha’s shadow. Emboldening the White House to savage Murtha, John Kerry hurried before the cameras of MSNBC to frag the Pennsylvania congressman and to tell Chris Mathews how he, John Kerry, had a better plan, involving something in the nature of a schedule for withdrawal possibly limping into action in 2006.</p>
<p>Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ leader in the House abruptly retreated from a scheduled pres conference to express support for Murtha. Scenting weakness, the Republicans put up a resolution calling for withdrawal now. Democratic panic escalated into pell mell retreat, shouting back over their shoulders that they weren’t going to fall for such a dirty Republican trick. Why not? What better chance will they get to go on record against the war? In the end just three Democrats (Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, Jose Serrano of New York, and Robert Wexler of Florida voted for immediate withdrawal and six voted “present”). McKinney put it starkly:</p>
<p>“I will not vote to give one more soldier to the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney war machine. A vote on war is the single most important vote we can make in this House. I understand the feelings of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who might be severely conflicted by the decision we have to make here tonight. But the facts of US occupation of Iraq are also very clear.”</p>
<p>They may be clear to McKinney, and Murtha and 60 per cent of the American people, but not to the three Democratic Senators interested in the presidential nomination in 2008. Even after Murtha’s lead Russell Feingold continued to mumble about the “target date” for withdrawal being 2006, as does Kerry. For her part Hillary Clinton announced at the start of Thanksgiving week that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be “a big mistake” which “would cause more problems for us in America. It will matter to us if Iraq totally collapses into civil war, if it becomes a failed state”</p>
<p>The importance of Murtha’s speech was that it vaulted over these laboriously prudent schedules into the reality of what is actually happening in Iraq. As his military sources in Iraq most certainly urged him to point out, the main fuel for the Sunni Arab insurgency is foreign occupation. So long as it continues the resistance is likely to go on. . The idea that the Sunni taking part in the election somehow means a shift from military action is also baloney.</p>
<p>Would there actually be a power vacuum if US withdrew, followed by civil war, as is widely argued in the U.S.? The Sunni can’t take Baghdad. They can’t penetrate the main Kurdish and Shia areas. How exactly is the US military preventing a civil war at the moment? The refusal of the Shia to retaliate is the most important factor here and this is primarily the result of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani standing firmly against it.</p>
<p>Now suppose Sistani calls for a withdrawal? Then the US and Britain will have little choice but to go, probably over an 18 month period. This very week, incidentally, a gathering in Cairo of Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders (under the auspices of the Arab League) called for a timetable for US withdrawal and also said that Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right to resistance.” The Sunni are not going to stop fighting while the occupation continues. The quid pro quo for the US leaving would presumably be a ceasefire by the Sunni and an end to suicide bombing attacks.</p>
<p>All those Democratic Party withdrawal dates are predicated on the idea that Iraqi army security forces will be built up and can take over. This scenario is as unrealistic as calls to “internationalize” the occupying force. All the evidence is that only an agreement on the departure of the US will lead to an end to the armed resistance, just as Murtha said. The idea that the Sunni taking part in the election somehow means a shift from military action is also baloney. It is clearly an ‘Armalite and ballot box’ strategy.</p>
<p>The Evolving Postures of Prof. Juan Cole</p>
<p>First the professor from the University of Michigan, influential in liberal circles as an expert on Iraq, said he wanted withdrawal. Then he said that to urge withdrawal would be advocacy of genocide. Then this, on his website. Can you figure out what he wants?</p>
<p>Cockburn Misrepresents Cole</p>
<p>ALEXANDER COCKBURN says in his piece in The Nation: ‘Cole says to The Nation Institute’s Tom Engelhardt that for the United States to “up and leave” Iraq would be to become an accomplice to genocide. He counsels the heightened use in Iraq of “special forces and air power.” In other words, assassinations and saturation bombing.’</p>
<p>Cockburn is referring to my interview with Tom Engelhardt.</p>
<p>I actually haven’t called for any assassinations or saturation bombing, and Mr. Cockburn’s “In other words” is just a trite way to open up a mendacious smear.</p>
<p>For the thousandth time, what I have in mind is that in the wake of a substantial drawdown of US troops (which I think advisable), a civil war may well break out in Iraq. It is also likely that Sunni Arab militiamen will attempt to kill the members of the current government. (I mean, they are already trying to kill them, they just aren’t usually succeeding.)</p>
<p>I am distressed at the prospect of a Cambodia in Iraq, which strikes me as a real possibility. As it is, there was that nastiness of Shiite and Sunni militiamen killing each other Thursday.</p>
<p>I’d like to see such an outcome prevented. I said earlier that I thought the best outcome would be for Iraq to be internationalized and to have a United Nations military force enforce the peace. However, it does seem increasingly a rather forlorn hope (the UN is made up of member nations whose politicians would like to stay in power, and that might be difficult if they send their constituents’ young men into the meat grinder of Anbar province.) The Bushies aren’t very likely even to allow it during the next 3 years. I haven’t stopped advocating it, I just don’t see it happening tomorrow.</p>
<p>So what is left, if I am right that the US ground troops engaged in assaults such as Fallujah, Tal Afar and Qaim are doing more harm than good and there is no cavalry coming to the rescue any time soon?</p>
<p>I’m suggesting that the sort of tactics used in northern Afghanistan be retrofitted. The Northern Alliance fighters (surely not that much better than the current Iraqi army) accepted Special Ops embeds. They told the Special Ops guys where the Taliban positions were, and the GIs put lasers on the targets and called down smart air strikes on warlord HQs, tanks, etc. Once the Taliban positions were disrupted and their armor and machine guns taken out, the Northern Alliance could advance on cities like Mazar and take them, even on horseback. I think the same sorts of synergies can be deployed to protect, e.g., the Green Zone from the Sunni Arab guerrilla movement should it mount an aggressive army to march on parliament.</p>
<p>Many readers have told me that this tactic would not prevent car bombings or other killings. That is correct. Nothing can prevent the low-intensity guerrilla war from continuing, probably for a decade or more. The question is only if it can be kept from escalating into a civil war that kills a million Iraqis and sparks a generalized Middle East war.</p>
<p>I am arguing for a defensive set of tactics, not offensive. I think I am probably the first observer in Iraq to speak out consistently against US bombing raids on civilian neighborhoods in Iraqi cities. I don’t know where Cockburn gets his weird misinterpretation of what I said.</p>
<p>If Mr. Cockburn has any realistic ideas for preventing this outcome, I’d be glad to hear them. But, he can’t just dismiss the possibility of massive killing– that would be intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible. The real possibility exists. How to guard against it?</p>
<p>What Cole is recommending is very similar to what the British did in Iraq after the rebellion of 1920. They relied on airpower and “Bomber Harris”, the man in charge of the RAF effort made no effort to conceal that he was going after civilians and their villages.</p>
<p>Bombing a la Cole is going to be a suspiciously benign exercise. The Special Ops soldiers in Afghanistan were supposedly able to “call down smart air strikes on warlord HQs, tanks, etc. Once the Taliban positions were disrupted and their armor and machine guns taken out, the Northern alliance could advance on cities like Mazar and take them.” Note that there is no mention of people here but all the targets to be so aseptically destroyed are inanimate objects. In reality the US bombing of the Taliban front line in Afghanistan was largely carried out by B-52s. In any case the evaporation of Taliban forces was primarily the result of the withdrawal of Pakistani support and bribes to the warlords to change sides.</p>
<p>Somehow US airpower is only to be used for a ‘defensive’ (Cole’s italics) set of tactics. What on earth is this supposed to mean? Does it imply that he supposes that US aircraft in Afghanistan were somehow being used “defensively”. There is also a little problem that the insurgents in Iraq do not have armor, machine guns and headquarters ready and waiting to be taken out by smart bombs.</p>
<p>Cole gives himself a quick slap on the back for being “the first observer in Iraq to speak out consistently against US bombing raids on civilian neighborhoods.” Now first of all it is news that Cole is “in Iraq”. If so when and for how long? Secondly I seem to recall Robert Fisk and others denouncing eloquently and at great length the bombardment of civilians by the US. Did Cole pre-date Fisk on this? If so congratulations but let him produce the quote and the date when he said it.</p>
<p>Of course Cole hasn’t “called for any assassinations or saturation bombings”. Few people ever have. But if there is such a distinction between the genteel and discriminating bombing he prescribes and “saturation bombing” why was so much of Fallujah destroyed by the US Marines and the aircraft supporting them during their assault in November 2004 though they were able to put “lasers on targets”? The answer is that the GIs do not know where the enemy is so they destroy everything which might be used by the other side or, in other words, saturation bombing.</p>
<p>Cole’s earlier statement that “there are few third world armies that couldn’t be enticed by a couple of billion dollars” is demonstrably untrue of Iraq from the word go. The Turkish parliament turned down more than a couple of billion when refusing to let the US invade Iraq from the north in 2003. The Turkish refusal to send troops to Iraq has been followed by a large number of states, despite all the money on offer. The cupidity of the world is inspiringly less than Cole imagines.</p>
<p>The prescription suggested by Cole: no US ground troops but heavy air support for local allies is very similar to situation in Cambodia prior to take over by Khmer Rouge. I don’t see why it should avert genocide.</p>
<p>Prof. Cole’s history is sometimes severely botched. He claims that Dwight Eisenhower “got De Gaulle out of Algeria before the latter could go Communist by threatening to call in US loans to France.” This is a ludicrous speculation, as anyone with the slightest knowledge of French history or of De Gaulle will confirm. I assume Cole got in a muddle, and confused the circumstances of the French withdrawal from Algeria with Eisenhower’s successful pressure on Britain, France and Israel to halt their attack on Egypt in 1956. Field Day for the Sex Haters</p>
<p>November 22 is a day that will live in infamy, of course. I refer to the “guilty” plea forced that dark day, last week, on Debbie Lafave in Tampa, Florida. Lafave is the teacher at Greco Middle School who, 23 at the time, had sex with a fourteen-year old boy. The lad told the cops he and Lafave had sex in a classroom at the school, located in Temple Terrace near Tampa, in her Riverview town house and once in an SUV while his 15-year-old cousin drove them around.</p>
<p>The boy said he and Lafave, a newlywed at the time, got to know each other on their way back from a class trip to SeaWorld Orlando in May 2004. He also said Lafave told him her marriage was in trouble and that she was aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed.</p>
<p>But instead of being elevated to sainthood for these charitable acts, Ms Lafave was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery.</p>
<p>The blue noses had a field day. Debra Lafave’s Attorney John Fitzgibbons says the Temple Terrace police took inappropriate pictures of her sexual organs during the investigation. According to Tampa news reports the detective who investigated and the Debra case got arrested for offering a woman $140 to have sex. His name is John Gillespie, and he is the police officer who signed the search warrant which enabled police to take graphic nude photos of LaFave while she was in stirrups in a jail cell.</p>
<p>Debra, now 25, will serve three years of house arrest and seven years of probation. She could have gone to the joint for 15 years on each count.</p>
<p>Lafave’s ex-husband, Owen Lafave, doesn’t show to advantage in this saga. He said after his ex’s the guilty plea that it was a double standard that she avoided prison. “She is a sexual offender and if it were a male she would have definitely gotten jail time,” he told CBS’s “The Early Show.”</p>
<p>The 14-year old’s mother said piously that “My prayer is that he can leave this behind him and go on and be a happy, healthy young man.” Mom says he’s “well-adjusted” and shows no signs of having been traumatized. Amazing! Most teenagers having sex with older women are scarred by this “gateway” experience and become addicted to carnal pleasure.</p>
<p>Lafave apologized during the hearing Tuesday, saying that “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”</p>
<p>Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman said LaFave will lose her teaching certificate, must register with the state as a sexual predator, may not have any contact with children including the victim, and will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or personal appearances.</p>
<p>This is the witch hysteria in yet another modern guise, a follow-on from the child-care hysteria destroyed so many lives. Four hundred years ago they’d have burned Debbie at the stake. Slandering the Man He Helped to Kill: Howard Kurtz and Gary Webb</p>
<p>Under the headline “Investigative Reporters, Digging Until It Hurts” the Washington Post ran a piece on November 21 by Howard Kurtz, on the travails of journalists whose stories came under withering fire and whose careers suffered as a consequence.</p>
<p>Kurtz wrote piously that</p>
<p>Perhaps the saddest case involved Gary Webb, a San Jose Mercury News reporter who suggested in a 1996 series that the CIA knew a drug ring linked to the Nicaraguan contras had been selling crack in Los Angeles. When the ‘Dark Alliance’ series caused an uproar, the Mercury News editor concluded after a review (and critical pieces in other major newspapers) that it “fell short” of the paper’s standards. Webb, who called the findings “bizarre” and “nauseating,” left the paper after being demoted. He committed suicide last year.</p>
<p>Later, referring to his colleague Bob Woodward, Kurtz commented that</p>
<p>He gave his detractors ammunition by commenting on the case while keeping quiet about his involvement.</p>
<p>It would have been more seemly if Kurtz had bothered to disclose to his readers his own involvement in the onslaught on Gary Webb. In fact Kurtz’s attack on Gary Webb, in the Post for October 2, 1996, was the paradigm for many of the subsequent slanders on Webb’s reporting. Here’s the relevant passage from <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Whiteout, The CIA, Drugs and the Press</a>, by Jeffrey St Clair and the present writer:</p>
<p>October 1, Webb got a call in San Diego from Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media reporter. “Kurtz called me,” Webb remembers, “and after a few innocuous questions I thought that was that.” It wasn’t. Kurtz’s critique came out on October 2 and became a paradigm for many of the assaults that followed. The method was simplicity itself: a series of straw men swiftly raised up, and as swiftly demolished. Kurtz opened by describing how blacks, liberal politicians and “some” journalists “have been trumpeting a Mercury News story that they say links the CIA to drug trafficking in the United States.” Kurtz told how Webb’s story had become “a hot topic,” through the unreliable mediums of the Internet and black talk radio. “There’s just one problem,” Kurtz went on. “The series doesn’t actually say the CIA knew about the drug trafficking.” To buttress this claim, Kurtz then wrote that Webb had “admitted” as much in their brief chat with the statement, “We’d never pretended otherwise. This doesn’t prove the CIA targeted black people. It doesn’t say this was ordered by the CIA. Essentially, our trail stopped at the door of the CIA. They wouldn’t return my phone calls.”</p>
<p>What Webb had done in the series was show in great detail how a Contra funding crisis had engendered enormous sales of crack in South Central, how the wholesalers of that cocaine were protected from prosecution until the funding crisis ended, and how these same wholesalers were never locked away in prison, but were hired as informants by federal prosecutors. It could be argued that Webb’s case is often circumstantial, but prosecutions on this same amount of circumstantial evidence have seen people put away on life sentences. Webb was telling the truth on another point as well: the CIA did not return his phone calls. And unlike Kurtz’s colleagues at the Washington Post or New York Times reporter Tim Golden, who offered twenty-four off-the-record interviews in his attack, Webb refused to run quotes from officials without attribution. In fact, Webb did have a CIA source. “He told me,” Webb remembers, “he knew who these guys were and he knew they were cocaine dealers. But he wouldn’t go on the record so I didn’t use his stuff in the story. I mean, one of the criticisms is we didn’t include CIA comments in [the] story. And the reason we didn’t is because they wouldn’t return my phone calls and they denied my Freedom of Information Act requests.”</p>
<p>But suppose the CIA had returned Webb’s calls? What would a spokesperson have said, other than that Webb’s allegations were outrageous and untrue? The CIA is a government entity pledged to secrecy about its activities. On scores of occasions, it has remained deceptive when under subpoena before a government committee. Why should the Agency be expected to answer frankly a bothersome question from a reporter? Yet it became a fetish for Webb’s assailants to repeat, time after time, that the CIA denied his charges and that he had never given this denial as the Agency’s point of view.</p>
<p>The CIA is not a kindergarten. The Agency has been responsible for many horrible deeds, including killings. Yet journalists kept treating it as though it was some above-board body, like the US Supreme Court. Many of the attackers assumed that Webb had been somehow derelict in not unearthing a signed order from William Casey mandating Agency officers to instruct Enrique Bermúdez to arrange with Norwin Meneses and Danilo Blandón to sell “x kilos of cocaine.” This is an old tactic, known as “the hunt for the smoking gun.” But of course, such a direct order would never be found by a journalist. Even when there is a clearly smoking gun, like the references to cocaine paste in Oliver North’s notebooks, the gun rarely shows up in the news stories. North’s notebooks were released to the public in the early 1990s. There for all to see was an entry on July 9, 1984, describing a conversation with CIA man Dewey Clarridge: “Wanted aircraft to go to Bolivia to pick up paste.” Another entry on the same day stated, “Want aircraft to pick up 1,500 kilos.”</p>
<p>“In Bolivia they have only one kind of paste,” says former DEA agent Michael Levine, who spent more than a decade tracking down drug smugglers in Mexico, Southeast Asia and Bolivia. “That’s cocaine paste. We have a guy working for the NSC talking to a CIA agent about a phone call to Adolfo Calero. In this phone call they discuss picking up cocaine paste from Bolivia and wanting an aircraft to pick up 1,500 kilos.” None of Webb’s attackers mentioned these diary entries.</p>
<p>A sort of manic literalism permeated the attacks modeled on Kurtz’s chop job. For instance, critics repeatedly returned to Webb’s implied accusation that the CIA had targeted blacks. As we have noted, Webb didn’t actually say this, but merely described the sequence which had led to blacks being targeted by the wholesaler. However, we shall see that there have been many instances where the CIA, along with other government bodies, has targeted blacks quite explicitly in testing the toxicity of disease organisms, or the effects of radiation and mind-altering drugs. Yet Webb’s critics never went anywhere near the well-established details of such targeting. Instead, they relied on talk about “black paranoia,” which liberals kindly suggested could be traced to the black historical experience, and which conservatives more brusquely identified as “black irrationality.”</p>
<p>Kurtz lost no time in going after Webb’s journalistic ethics and denouncing the Mercury News for exploitative marketing of the series. As an arbiter of journalistic morals, Kurtz castigated Webb for referring to the Contras as “the CIA’s army,” suggesting that Webb used this phrase merely to implicate the Agency. This charge recurs endlessly in the onslaughts on Webb, and it is by far the silliest. One fact is agreed upon by everyone except a few berserk Maoists-turned-Reaganites, like Robert Leiken of Harvard. That fact is that the Contras were indeed the CIA’s army, and that they had been recruited, trained and funded under the Agency’s supervision. It’s true that in the biggest raids of all the mining of the Nicaraguan harbors and the raids on the Nicaraguan oil refineries the Agency used its own men, not trusting its proxies. But for a decade the main Contra force was indeed the CIA’s army, and followed its orders obediently.</p>
<p>In attacks on reporters who have overstepped the bounds of political good taste, the assailants will often make an effort to drive a wedge between the reporter and the institution for which the reporter works. For example, when Ray Bonner, working in Central America for the New York Times, sent a dispatch saying the unsayable that US personnel had been present at a torture session the Wall Street Journal and politicians in Washington attacked the Times as irresponsible for running such a report. The Times did not stand behind Bonner, and allowed his professional credentials to be successfully challenged.</p>
<p>The fissure between Webb and his paper opened when Kurtz elicited a statement from Jerry Ceppos, executive editor of the Mercury News, that he was “disturbed that so many people have leaped to the conclusion that the CIA was involved.” This apologetic note from Ceppos was not lost on Webb’s attackers, who successfully worked to widen the gap between reporter and editor.</p>
<p>Another time-hallowed technique in such demolition jobs is to charge that this is all “old news” as opposed to that other derided commodity, “ill-founded speculation.” Kurtz used the “old news” ploy when he wrote, “The fact that Nicaraguan rebels were involved in drug trafficking has been known for a decade. ” Kurtz should have felt some sense of shame in writing these lines, since his own paper had sedulously avoided acquainting its readers with this fact. Kurtz claimed, ludicrously, that “the Reagan Administration acknowledged as much in the 1980s, but subsequent investigations failed to prove that the CIA condoned or even knew about it.” This odd sentence raised some intriguing questions. When had the Reagan administration “acknowledged as much”? And if the Reagan administration knew, how could the CIA have remained in ignorance? Recall that in the 1980s, the Reagan administration was referring to the Contras as the “moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers,” and accusing the Sandinistas of being drug runners.</p>
<p>Kurtz also slashed at Webb personally, stating that he “appeared conscious of making the news.” As illustration, Kurtz quoted a letter that Webb had written to Rick Ross in July 1996 about the timing of the series. Webb told Ross that it would probably be run around the time of his sentencing, in order to “generate as much public interest as possible.” As Webb candidly told Ross, this was the way the news business worked. So indeed it does, at the Washington Post far more than at the Mercury News, as anyone following the Post’s promotion of Bob Woodward’s books will acknowledge. But Webb is somehow painted as guilty of self-inflation for telling Ross a journalistic fact of life.</p>
<p>Puritans and Torture</p>
<p>In his <a href="" type="internal">fine piece</a> on this site on Thanksgiving Day Bob Shirley was a mite to kind to the Puritans when he wrote that “Puritans, and many non-Puritans, disdained torture and created a nation ‘conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.'”</p>
<p>The Puritans piled stones on dissenters and pierced their tongues with hot irons. Torture was endemic in precinct houses where suspects had confessions tortured out of them by the Third Degree, until the Wickersham Commission’s 1931 Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement concluded that “the third degree is the employment of methods which inflict suffering, physical or mental, upon a person, in order to obtain from that person information about a crime The third degree is widespread. The third degree is a secret and illegal practice.”</p>
<p>Footnote: a version of the first item ran in the print edition of The Nation that went to press last Wednesday.</p> | true | 4 | 160 one widely derided presidents history united states war abhorred majority americans democrats near zero traction credible party opposition sequence events representative jack murthas speech capitol hill november 17 tells story truly great speech marine veteran 37 years us marine corps 31 years congress actually delivered extempore additions prepared text handed news conference listen murtha hearing us commanders iraq really see situation murtha trusted military visited iraq often many say army broken troops third deployment recruitment even military lowed standards expect take 20 percent category 4 lowest category said theyd never take much ground equipment worn iraqs condition oil production energy production prewar level remember said going pay war prewar level reconstruction efforts crippled security situation 9 billion 18 billion appropriated reconstruction spent unemployment 60 percentclean water scarce spent 500 million 22 billion appropriated water projects importantly important point incidents increased 150 week 700 last year amid tears came murthas sketches wars consequences todays america let personalize thing youi young fellow district blinded lost foot everything could walter reed sent home father jail nobody home imagine young kid age 22 23 years old goes home nobody va everything could help reaching sent make sure blind sent john hopkins john hopkins started send bills collection agency started sending billsimagine young person blinded without foot hes getting bills collection agency finally murthas call rapid pullout us troops iraq capped one amazing resumes political reality ever administered audience capitol hill believe need turn iraq iraqis believe iraqi elections scheduled middecember iraqi people emerging government must put notice united states immediately redeploy immediately redeploy iraq must know iraq free free united states occupation believe send signal sunnis join political process wimp 73year old marine veteran purple hearts bronze star one armed forces constant supporters credible advocate speedy end unpopular war could democrats ever hope barely stopped speaking halls congress echoed squeaks democrats whimpering panic skipped clear murthas shadow emboldening white house savage murtha john kerry hurried cameras msnbc frag pennsylvania congressman tell chris mathews john kerry better plan involving something nature schedule withdrawal possibly limping action 2006 nancy pelosi democrats leader house abruptly retreated scheduled pres conference express support murtha scenting weakness republicans put resolution calling withdrawal democratic panic escalated pell mell retreat shouting back shoulders werent going fall dirty republican trick better chance get go record war end three democrats cynthia mckinney georgia jose serrano new york robert wexler florida voted immediate withdrawal six voted present mckinney put starkly vote give one soldier george w bushdick cheney war machine vote war single important vote make house understand feelings colleagues sides aisle might severely conflicted decision make tonight facts us occupation iraq also clear may clear mckinney murtha 60 per cent american people three democratic senators interested presidential nomination 2008 even murthas lead russell feingold continued mumble target date withdrawal 2006 kerry part hillary clinton announced start thanksgiving week immediate us withdrawal iraq would big mistake would cause problems us america matter us iraq totally collapses civil war becomes failed state importance murthas speech vaulted laboriously prudent schedules reality actually happening iraq military sources iraq certainly urged point main fuel sunni arab insurgency foreign occupation long continues resistance likely go idea sunni taking part election somehow means shift military action also baloney would actually power vacuum us withdrew followed civil war widely argued us sunni cant take baghdad cant penetrate main kurdish shia areas exactly us military preventing civil war moment refusal shia retaliate important factor primarily result grand ayatollah ali alsistani standing firmly suppose sistani calls withdrawal us britain little choice go probably 18 month period week incidentally gathering cairo sunni shiite kurdish leaders auspices arab league called timetable us withdrawal also said iraqs opposition legitimate right resistance sunni going stop fighting occupation continues quid pro quo us leaving would presumably ceasefire sunni end suicide bombing attacks democratic party withdrawal dates predicated idea iraqi army security forces built take scenario unrealistic calls internationalize occupying force evidence agreement departure us lead end armed resistance murtha said idea sunni taking part election somehow means shift military action also baloney clearly armalite ballot box strategy evolving postures prof juan cole first professor university michigan influential liberal circles expert iraq said wanted withdrawal said urge withdrawal would advocacy genocide website figure wants cockburn misrepresents cole alexander cockburn says piece nation cole says nation institutes tom engelhardt united states leave iraq would become accomplice genocide counsels heightened use iraq special forces air power words assassinations saturation bombing cockburn referring interview tom engelhardt actually havent called assassinations saturation bombing mr cockburns words trite way open mendacious smear thousandth time mind wake substantial drawdown us troops think advisable civil war may well break iraq also likely sunni arab militiamen attempt kill members current government mean already trying kill arent usually succeeding distressed prospect cambodia iraq strikes real possibility nastiness shiite sunni militiamen killing thursday id like see outcome prevented said earlier thought best outcome would iraq internationalized united nations military force enforce peace however seem increasingly rather forlorn hope un made member nations whose politicians would like stay power might difficult send constituents young men meat grinder anbar province bushies arent likely even allow next 3 years havent stopped advocating dont see happening tomorrow left right us ground troops engaged assaults fallujah tal afar qaim harm good cavalry coming rescue time soon im suggesting sort tactics used northern afghanistan retrofitted northern alliance fighters surely much better current iraqi army accepted special ops embeds told special ops guys taliban positions gis put lasers targets called smart air strikes warlord hqs tanks etc taliban positions disrupted armor machine guns taken northern alliance could advance cities like mazar take even horseback think sorts synergies deployed protect eg green zone sunni arab guerrilla movement mount aggressive army march parliament many readers told tactic would prevent car bombings killings correct nothing prevent lowintensity guerrilla war continuing probably decade question kept escalating civil war kills million iraqis sparks generalized middle east war arguing defensive set tactics offensive think probably first observer iraq speak consistently us bombing raids civilian neighborhoods iraqi cities dont know cockburn gets weird misinterpretation said mr cockburn realistic ideas preventing outcome id glad hear cant dismiss possibility massive killing would intellectually dishonest morally reprehensible real possibility exists guard cole recommending similar british iraq rebellion 1920 relied airpower bomber harris man charge raf effort made effort conceal going civilians villages bombing la cole going suspiciously benign exercise special ops soldiers afghanistan supposedly able call smart air strikes warlord hqs tanks etc taliban positions disrupted armor machine guns taken northern alliance could advance cities like mazar take note mention people targets aseptically destroyed inanimate objects reality us bombing taliban front line afghanistan largely carried b52s case evaporation taliban forces primarily result withdrawal pakistani support bribes warlords change sides somehow us airpower used defensive coles italics set tactics earth supposed mean imply supposes us aircraft afghanistan somehow used defensively also little problem insurgents iraq armor machine guns headquarters ready waiting taken smart bombs cole gives quick slap back first observer iraq speak consistently us bombing raids civilian neighborhoods first news cole iraq long secondly seem recall robert fisk others denouncing eloquently great length bombardment civilians us cole predate fisk congratulations let produce quote date said course cole hasnt called assassinations saturation bombings people ever distinction genteel discriminating bombing prescribes saturation bombing much fallujah destroyed us marines aircraft supporting assault november 2004 though able put lasers targets answer gis know enemy destroy everything might used side words saturation bombing coles earlier statement third world armies couldnt enticed couple billion dollars demonstrably untrue iraq word go turkish parliament turned couple billion refusing let us invade iraq north 2003 turkish refusal send troops iraq followed large number states despite money offer cupidity world inspiringly less cole imagines prescription suggested cole us ground troops heavy air support local allies similar situation cambodia prior take khmer rouge dont see avert genocide prof coles history sometimes severely botched claims dwight eisenhower got de gaulle algeria latter could go communist threatening call us loans france ludicrous speculation anyone slightest knowledge french history de gaulle confirm assume cole got muddle confused circumstances french withdrawal algeria eisenhowers successful pressure britain france israel halt attack egypt 1956 field day sex haters november 22 day live infamy course refer guilty plea forced dark day last week debbie lafave tampa florida lafave teacher greco middle school 23 time sex fourteenyear old boy lad told cops lafave sex classroom school located temple terrace near tampa riverview town house suv 15yearold cousin drove around boy said lafave newlywed time got know way back class trip seaworld orlando may 2004 also said lafave told marriage trouble aroused fact sex allowed instead elevated sainthood charitable acts ms lafave charged two counts lewd lascivious battery blue noses field day debra lafaves attorney john fitzgibbons says temple terrace police took inappropriate pictures sexual organs investigation according tampa news reports detective investigated debra case got arrested offering woman 140 sex name john gillespie police officer signed search warrant enabled police take graphic nude photos lafave stirrups jail cell debra 25 serve three years house arrest seven years probation could gone joint 15 years count lafaves exhusband owen lafave doesnt show advantage saga said exs guilty plea double standard avoided prison sexual offender male would definitely gotten jail time told cbss early show 14year olds mother said piously prayer leave behind go happy healthy young man mom says hes welladjusted shows signs traumatized amazing teenagers sex older women scarred gateway experience become addicted carnal pleasure lafave apologized hearing tuesday saying accept full responsibility actions hillsborough circuit judge wayne timmerman said lafave lose teaching certificate must register state sexual predator may contact children including victim allowed profit sale story personal appearances witch hysteria yet another modern guise followon childcare hysteria destroyed many lives four hundred years ago theyd burned debbie stake slandering man helped kill howard kurtz gary webb headline investigative reporters digging hurts washington post ran piece november 21 howard kurtz travails journalists whose stories came withering fire whose careers suffered consequence kurtz wrote piously perhaps saddest case involved gary webb san jose mercury news reporter suggested 1996 series cia knew drug ring linked nicaraguan contras selling crack los angeles dark alliance series caused uproar mercury news editor concluded review critical pieces major newspapers fell short papers standards webb called findings bizarre nauseating left paper demoted committed suicide last year later referring colleague bob woodward kurtz commented gave detractors ammunition commenting case keeping quiet involvement would seemly kurtz bothered disclose readers involvement onslaught gary webb fact kurtzs attack gary webb post october 2 1996 paradigm many subsequent slanders webbs reporting heres relevant passage whiteout cia drugs press jeffrey st clair present writer october 1 webb got call san diego howard kurtz washington post media reporter kurtz called webb remembers innocuous questions thought wasnt kurtzs critique came october 2 became paradigm many assaults followed method simplicity series straw men swiftly raised swiftly demolished kurtz opened describing blacks liberal politicians journalists trumpeting mercury news story say links cia drug trafficking united states kurtz told webbs story become hot topic unreliable mediums internet black talk radio theres one problem kurtz went series doesnt actually say cia knew drug trafficking buttress claim kurtz wrote webb admitted much brief chat statement wed never pretended otherwise doesnt prove cia targeted black people doesnt say ordered cia essentially trail stopped door cia wouldnt return phone calls webb done series show great detail contra funding crisis engendered enormous sales crack south central wholesalers cocaine protected prosecution funding crisis ended wholesalers never locked away prison hired informants federal prosecutors could argued webbs case often circumstantial prosecutions amount circumstantial evidence seen people put away life sentences webb telling truth another point well cia return phone calls unlike kurtzs colleagues washington post new york times reporter tim golden offered twentyfour offtherecord interviews attack webb refused run quotes officials without attribution fact webb cia source told webb remembers knew guys knew cocaine dealers wouldnt go record didnt use stuff story mean one criticisms didnt include cia comments story reason didnt wouldnt return phone calls denied freedom information act requests suppose cia returned webbs calls would spokesperson said webbs allegations outrageous untrue cia government entity pledged secrecy activities scores occasions remained deceptive subpoena government committee agency expected answer frankly bothersome question reporter yet became fetish webbs assailants repeat time time cia denied charges never given denial agencys point view cia kindergarten agency responsible many horrible deeds including killings yet journalists kept treating though aboveboard body like us supreme court many attackers assumed webb somehow derelict unearthing signed order william casey mandating agency officers instruct enrique bermúdez arrange norwin meneses danilo blandón sell x kilos cocaine old tactic known hunt smoking gun course direct order would never found journalist even clearly smoking gun like references cocaine paste oliver norths notebooks gun rarely shows news stories norths notebooks released public early 1990s see entry july 9 1984 describing conversation cia man dewey clarridge wanted aircraft go bolivia pick paste another entry day stated want aircraft pick 1500 kilos bolivia one kind paste says former dea agent michael levine spent decade tracking drug smugglers mexico southeast asia bolivia thats cocaine paste guy working nsc talking cia agent phone call adolfo calero phone call discuss picking cocaine paste bolivia wanting aircraft pick 1500 kilos none webbs attackers mentioned diary entries sort manic literalism permeated attacks modeled kurtzs chop job instance critics repeatedly returned webbs implied accusation cia targeted blacks noted webb didnt actually say merely described sequence led blacks targeted wholesaler however shall see many instances cia along government bodies targeted blacks quite explicitly testing toxicity disease organisms effects radiation mindaltering drugs yet webbs critics never went anywhere near wellestablished details targeting instead relied talk black paranoia liberals kindly suggested could traced black historical experience conservatives brusquely identified black irrationality kurtz lost time going webbs journalistic ethics denouncing mercury news exploitative marketing series arbiter journalistic morals kurtz castigated webb referring contras cias army suggesting webb used phrase merely implicate agency charge recurs endlessly onslaughts webb far silliest one fact agreed upon everyone except berserk maoiststurnedreaganites like robert leiken harvard fact contras indeed cias army recruited trained funded agencys supervision true biggest raids mining nicaraguan harbors raids nicaraguan oil refineries agency used men trusting proxies decade main contra force indeed cias army followed orders obediently attacks reporters overstepped bounds political good taste assailants often make effort drive wedge reporter institution reporter works example ray bonner working central america new york times sent dispatch saying unsayable us personnel present torture session wall street journal politicians washington attacked times irresponsible running report times stand behind bonner allowed professional credentials successfully challenged fissure webb paper opened kurtz elicited statement jerry ceppos executive editor mercury news disturbed many people leaped conclusion cia involved apologetic note ceppos lost webbs attackers successfully worked widen gap reporter editor another timehallowed technique demolition jobs charge old news opposed derided commodity illfounded speculation kurtz used old news ploy wrote fact nicaraguan rebels involved drug trafficking known decade kurtz felt sense shame writing lines since paper sedulously avoided acquainting readers fact kurtz claimed ludicrously reagan administration acknowledged much 1980s subsequent investigations failed prove cia condoned even knew odd sentence raised intriguing questions reagan administration acknowledged much reagan administration knew could cia remained ignorance recall 1980s reagan administration referring contras moral equivalent founding fathers accusing sandinistas drug runners kurtz also slashed webb personally stating appeared conscious making news illustration kurtz quoted letter webb written rick ross july 1996 timing series webb told ross would probably run around time sentencing order generate much public interest possible webb candidly told ross way news business worked indeed washington post far mercury news anyone following posts promotion bob woodwards books acknowledge webb somehow painted guilty selfinflation telling ross journalistic fact life puritans torture fine piece site thanksgiving day bob shirley mite kind puritans wrote puritans many nonpuritans disdained torture created nation conceived liberty dedicated proposition men created equal puritans piled stones dissenters pierced tongues hot irons torture endemic precinct houses suspects confessions tortured third degree wickersham commissions 1931 report lawlessness law enforcement concluded third degree employment methods inflict suffering physical mental upon person order obtain person information crime third degree widespread third degree secret illegal practice footnote version first item ran print edition nation went press last wednesday | 2,709 |
<p>Today, Muammar Gaddafi controls the northwestern corner of Libya, and forces loyal to him with the most powerful weapons of the Libyan army are fighting off a slowly advancing popular revolution that has liberated most of the country to the east.</p>
<p>How might U.S. policymakers want the Libyan Revolution to turn out? What could they do to tilt the odds in favor of their preference? Would any of this be good or bad for the Libyans, and for the U.S. public generally? What follows is a reasonably logical speculation on some potential U.S. actions to influence the course of the Libyan Revolution. The most useful result of these speculations is the delineation of some possible outcomes, and some cautions.</p>
<p>The U.S. will want to to be on good terms with the future Libyan government, for the obvious reason of access to its oil, and to influence the direction of future Libyan spending, preferably toward U.S. commercial interests but also away from regional politics (any pan-Arabic umma, including Palestine) that threatens the ever-so-defensive Israelis.</p>
<p>Clearly, the time of Gaddafi is over; at best he will cause a period of bloody civil war in western Libya. When this will end, and how the country will be divided between the opposing forces, will be determined by the quantity of arms and ammunition each side has available. Each side can resupply by selling the oil production it controls, and buying arms from dealers capable of supplying that belligerent.</p>
<p>Clearly, the balance of power could be noticeably affected by subtle inputs crafted as arms embargoes and weapons sales. One thinks of the effect on the Spanish Civil War of the British, French and American embargo of arms to Spain, the Russian arms sales to the Spanish Republic, and the arms sales by fascist Germany and Italy to Franco’s rebel forces. No doubt, one can point to numerous examples since of foreign influence in civil wars without overt invasion.</p>
<p>It might seem easy for the U.S. to “knock off” Gaddafi with a few aerial bombardments launched from an aircraft carrier, as a gift to the Libyan government of the future. But such an act would not sit well with many U.S. client dictators, especially in the Islamic Petroleum Arc from Morocco through the Levant and the Persian Gulf. The U.S. needs a subtle strategy to both win an acceptance (which cannot be assumed permanent) by the rebellious Libyan public, who will clearly influence the makeup of the immediate post-war government, while at the same time retaining the confidence (which can never be assumed complete) of its client ruling elites in the lands of Islam and oil.</p>
<p>Clearly, any introduction of U.S. and even NATO troops would be a disastrous mistake. These would all too soon blow up too many civilians, and become targets for Libyan bullets from all sides. Also, the Gaddafi forces would probably experience an upsurge of recruitment from jihadis inspired by Libyan nationalism and defense-of-Islam anti-American feeling. And that would frustrate resolution of the original problem (i.e., getting rid of Gaddafi without getting anyone else too upset).</p>
<p>Enforcing no-fly zones on Gaddafi’s forces is logistically and politically close to a ground invasion, so it, too, is a likely counterproductive strategy. The Gaddafi forces (mercenaries?, certainly they must have been promised great rewards to save the dictator) have probably used helicopters gun ships to attack rebel (liberation) forces. It would be difficult (and expensive) for NATO fighter-bomber aircraft (from carriers at sea?) to constantly patrol Gaddafi-controlled territory so as to be in position to quickly shoot down any helicopter gunships launched against rebel positions. This is simply a slower and more painstaking process of piecemeal bombing of Gaddafi’s military, still with the hazard of civilian casualties, and begs the question: why not just launch a major aerial bombing assault and eliminate the Gaddafi belligerency quickly.</p>
<p>So, our thinking must proceed. A diplomatic approach for removing Gaddafi, by negotiating his renunciation of power and his future personal security (and wealth?), and the commanding of his troops to cease fire (and surrender?), through the mediation of a third party (Venezuela’s Chavez?, or an Arab League or UN diplomat?) might seem ideal, but could be engaged in disingenuously, drawing out a bloody effort to gain militarily. From the U.S. point of view, and probably from that of the Libyan liberation forces, a dead Gaddafi is preferred. So, while the diplomatic approach offers both belligerents some potential benefits (and relieves many anxieties outside Libya), it also has inherent psychological obstacles to its own proceedings, from both perspectives.</p>
<p>We arrive again at the “Spanish Civil War problem,” the supply and/or denial of arms to a particular belligerent. The reflexive moral position of some, that foreign nations should remain legalistically neutral by not supplying any arms to either Libyan belligerent, is simply a choice to favor the Libyan belligerent with the largest (and/or most powerful) present supply of arms, the surest access to oil revenue, and the greatest number of foreign allies and arms suppliers.</p>
<p>Is it evident that all other nations are willing to act in concert to neither supply any Libyan side with arms, and to also patrol all Libyan borders to prevent the smuggling of arms to either belligerent? If so, then such world unity would be a vote for the Libyan side with the biggest arsenal and potential pocketbook at present, and the “knock out” will occur when the weaker side finally runs out of ammunition and credit.</p>
<p>It is doubtful that all foreigners will be willing to watch this grim and possibly long bloody denouement without an urge to “stop it.” Thus, it is unlikely that a perfect world consensus for “nonintervention” (a word that forever echos the Spanish Civil War) will occur in practice (it may in words), and if this is the case, then those who intervene will be affecting the odds of possible outcomes. Can U.S. policymakers allow a fluid political situation in North Africa (or anywhere) be affected and possibly determined by foreign influences, without getting involved? We can assume that the consensus opinion of U.S. policymakers — their preferred outcome in Libya — will be acted upon, and the only question is: how?</p>
<p>We can speculate that U.S. reconnaissance satellites, aircraft and ships will image the movement of Gaddafi and liberation military formations and military and resupply craft, as well as record and decode (as needed, and if possible) communications. These data would help quantify the military situations of the two camps. U.S. space and aerial reconnaissance, and data exchanges with NATO allies with intelligence assets in Africa (in particular France, Italy and the U.K.) could quantify the extent of arms resupply and smuggling across all of Libya’s borders, and identify the suppliers. These data could help to enforce an arms embargo, or to contribute anonymously to a resupply channel for a favored belligerent.</p>
<p>Assuming a US-led NATO consensus to disfavor Gaddafi, but subtly, so as to keep from ruffling the nervous client Sheiks, Kings, Presidents and Premiers in the Islam Petroleum Arc (and client dictators generally), then a strategy of feeding useful supplies to the Libyan liberation forces anonymously through private third party arms suppliers, while quietly disrupting Gaddafi’s resupply channels (NATO special forces destroying arms caravans from sub-Sahara Africa?, diplomacy to establish an embargo at sea?) would seem best (for the policy objectives attributed to the US-NATO).</p>
<p>The types of military equipment that might be sent to the Libyan rebels (unattributable, from the world market like former Warsaw Pact hardware, or Iranian, Chinese or North Korean hardware) would be small arms and machine guns, light artillery (like anti-tank weapons), ammunition and ordnance, field communications with coding electronics, armored vehicles, shoulder-fired missiles, tactical radars, (these last two for shooting down attack helicopters; small or short-range truck-mounted anti-aircraft missiles might seem too risky of future problems to pass along), and supplies for troops: uniforms, boots, protective gear (helmets and vests), medical supplies, field rations, camping and feeding gear. The right mix of supplies would depend on the specifics of the military situation to be resolved. Given the high morale and apparently good supply of manpower for the liberation forces, they might only need a moderate infusion of basic light infantry equipment to proceed to victory after a short campaign.</p>
<p>Perhaps such a strategy is easily within the capabilities of the U.S. and NATO, and perhaps it has an excellent chance of success. But, would it actually advance the U.S. interests, and, would it be a benefit to Libya? Recall that in being successful the strategy hides the influences of U.S. intentions. Libya would appear to have ended its civil war on its own, with the Gaddafi camp eliminated. There might be some in the new Libyan government with an inkling of the U.S. role, and perhaps even a positive feeling about that. But a widely popular attitude of pro-Americanism would be quite unlikely.</p>
<p>We could tally the possible benefits this way: a quicker end to the war would mean preventing further casualties, a very good thing; removing Gaddafi from power is a generally acknowledged desideratum; allowing the Libyan popular revolution to organize a new constitution and democratic government is a generally acknowledged good; the apparent absence of U.S. interference during the liberation struggle would be a good thing for everyone concerned, and would leave a reasonable entrée for the U.S. to ingratiate itself diplomatically with the new Libyan government.</p>
<p>The pitfalls for the U.S. circulate about the word “apparent” in the previous sentence. The U.S. will encounter future resentments and resistances to the extent that its “interference” in the Libyan revolution — however this is interpreted — is detected. The safest course from this perspective is to do nothing, to just wait it out. And if Gaddafi hangs on, then the U.S. (and everyone else) just accepts him back into the head-of-state club (naturally, he will sniff around afterwards to see who helped or hurt him when he was fighting for this political and actual life, and against his own people).</p>
<p>So, my suspicion is that the U.S. will use its technical resources to find the minimum number of straws it can surreptitiously place on the Gaddafi military’s back to have it crack under the weight of the revolutionary onslaught. Then U.S. diplomats will try charming U.S. interests into the new Libyan government’s esteem, with the belief that it is now made up of reasonable (at least not insane) people, and in the hopes that the subtle influences introduced by the U.S. into the Libyan struggle will not bubble up in some Wikileaks fashion, to cause problematical resentments and future difficulties in getting its way.</p>
<p>A final caution for us here is to realize that nothing prevents our governments from trying to act in ways that we in our logical exercises have found to be obviously harmful and counterproductive.</p>
<p>Let us hope for a quick and complete victory by the liberation forces, and for a rapid formalization of the Libyan popular revolution into a democratic government that authentically represents the will of the Libyan people.</p>
<p>MANUEL GARCIA, Jr., once a physicist, is now a lazy househusband who writes out his analyses of physical or societal problems or interactions. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:mangogarcia@att.net" type="external">mangogarcia@att.net</a></p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | today muammar gaddafi controls northwestern corner libya forces loyal powerful weapons libyan army fighting slowly advancing popular revolution liberated country east might us policymakers want libyan revolution turn could tilt odds favor preference would good bad libyans us public generally follows reasonably logical speculation potential us actions influence course libyan revolution useful result speculations delineation possible outcomes cautions us want good terms future libyan government obvious reason access oil influence direction future libyan spending preferably toward us commercial interests also away regional politics panarabic umma including palestine threatens eversodefensive israelis clearly time gaddafi best cause period bloody civil war western libya end country divided opposing forces determined quantity arms ammunition side available side resupply selling oil production controls buying arms dealers capable supplying belligerent clearly balance power could noticeably affected subtle inputs crafted arms embargoes weapons sales one thinks effect spanish civil war british french american embargo arms spain russian arms sales spanish republic arms sales fascist germany italy francos rebel forces doubt one point numerous examples since foreign influence civil wars without overt invasion might seem easy us knock gaddafi aerial bombardments launched aircraft carrier gift libyan government future act would sit well many us client dictators especially islamic petroleum arc morocco levant persian gulf us needs subtle strategy win acceptance assumed permanent rebellious libyan public clearly influence makeup immediate postwar government time retaining confidence never assumed complete client ruling elites lands islam oil clearly introduction us even nato troops would disastrous mistake would soon blow many civilians become targets libyan bullets sides also gaddafi forces would probably experience upsurge recruitment jihadis inspired libyan nationalism defenseofislam antiamerican feeling would frustrate resolution original problem ie getting rid gaddafi without getting anyone else upset enforcing nofly zones gaddafis forces logistically politically close ground invasion likely counterproductive strategy gaddafi forces mercenaries certainly must promised great rewards save dictator probably used helicopters gun ships attack rebel liberation forces would difficult expensive nato fighterbomber aircraft carriers sea constantly patrol gaddaficontrolled territory position quickly shoot helicopter gunships launched rebel positions simply slower painstaking process piecemeal bombing gaddafis military still hazard civilian casualties begs question launch major aerial bombing assault eliminate gaddafi belligerency quickly thinking must proceed diplomatic approach removing gaddafi negotiating renunciation power future personal security wealth commanding troops cease fire surrender mediation third party venezuelas chavez arab league un diplomat might seem ideal could engaged disingenuously drawing bloody effort gain militarily us point view probably libyan liberation forces dead gaddafi preferred diplomatic approach offers belligerents potential benefits relieves many anxieties outside libya also inherent psychological obstacles proceedings perspectives arrive spanish civil war problem supply andor denial arms particular belligerent reflexive moral position foreign nations remain legalistically neutral supplying arms either libyan belligerent simply choice favor libyan belligerent largest andor powerful present supply arms surest access oil revenue greatest number foreign allies arms suppliers evident nations willing act concert neither supply libyan side arms also patrol libyan borders prevent smuggling arms either belligerent world unity would vote libyan side biggest arsenal potential pocketbook present knock occur weaker side finally runs ammunition credit doubtful foreigners willing watch grim possibly long bloody denouement without urge stop thus unlikely perfect world consensus nonintervention word forever echos spanish civil war occur practice may words case intervene affecting odds possible outcomes us policymakers allow fluid political situation north africa anywhere affected possibly determined foreign influences without getting involved assume consensus opinion us policymakers preferred outcome libya acted upon question speculate us reconnaissance satellites aircraft ships image movement gaddafi liberation military formations military resupply craft well record decode needed possible communications data would help quantify military situations two camps us space aerial reconnaissance data exchanges nato allies intelligence assets africa particular france italy uk could quantify extent arms resupply smuggling across libyas borders identify suppliers data could help enforce arms embargo contribute anonymously resupply channel favored belligerent assuming usled nato consensus disfavor gaddafi subtly keep ruffling nervous client sheiks kings presidents premiers islam petroleum arc client dictators generally strategy feeding useful supplies libyan liberation forces anonymously private third party arms suppliers quietly disrupting gaddafis resupply channels nato special forces destroying arms caravans subsahara africa diplomacy establish embargo sea would seem best policy objectives attributed usnato types military equipment might sent libyan rebels unattributable world market like former warsaw pact hardware iranian chinese north korean hardware would small arms machine guns light artillery like antitank weapons ammunition ordnance field communications coding electronics armored vehicles shoulderfired missiles tactical radars last two shooting attack helicopters small shortrange truckmounted antiaircraft missiles might seem risky future problems pass along supplies troops uniforms boots protective gear helmets vests medical supplies field rations camping feeding gear right mix supplies would depend specifics military situation resolved given high morale apparently good supply manpower liberation forces might need moderate infusion basic light infantry equipment proceed victory short campaign perhaps strategy easily within capabilities us nato perhaps excellent chance success would actually advance us interests would benefit libya recall successful strategy hides influences us intentions libya would appear ended civil war gaddafi camp eliminated might new libyan government inkling us role perhaps even positive feeling widely popular attitude proamericanism would quite unlikely could tally possible benefits way quicker end war would mean preventing casualties good thing removing gaddafi power generally acknowledged desideratum allowing libyan popular revolution organize new constitution democratic government generally acknowledged good apparent absence us interference liberation struggle would good thing everyone concerned would leave reasonable entrée us ingratiate diplomatically new libyan government pitfalls us circulate word apparent previous sentence us encounter future resentments resistances extent interference libyan revolution however interpreted detected safest course perspective nothing wait gaddafi hangs us everyone else accepts back headofstate club naturally sniff around afterwards see helped hurt fighting political actual life people suspicion us use technical resources find minimum number straws surreptitiously place gaddafi militarys back crack weight revolutionary onslaught us diplomats try charming us interests new libyan governments esteem belief made reasonable least insane people hopes subtle influences introduced us libyan struggle bubble wikileaks fashion cause problematical resentments future difficulties getting way final caution us realize nothing prevents governments trying act ways logical exercises found obviously harmful counterproductive let us hope quick complete victory liberation forces rapid formalization libyan popular revolution democratic government authentically represents libyan people manuel garcia jr physicist lazy househusband writes analyses physical societal problems interactions reached mangogarciaattnet 160 160 160 | 1,052 |
<p>Juanmonino/Getty Images</p>
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<p>America is a prosperous nation, but not a super happy one. That’s been true for a while. But the policies of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are making matters worse. That’s according to the latest “ <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/" type="external">World Happiness Report</a>,” which is put together by the <a href="http://unsdsn.org/" type="external">Sustainable Development Solutions Network</a> in conjunction with the United Nations.</p>
<p>Per capita income in America has tripled since the 1960s, but we are no happier now,&#160;collectively, than we were then. “Per capita GDP is still rising, but happiness is now actually falling,” writes Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s authors. Indeed, in 2007 America ranked third in happiness among the 35 <a href="http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/list-oecd-member-countries.htm" type="external">member nations</a> of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. By 2016, we were down to 19th place.</p>
<p>A rising per capita GDP, after all, doesn’t mean much in a nation with rapidly growing inequality. To get that number, economists simply divide the value of the nation’s total economic output by the population. So if the rich are getting vastly richer while the poor have stagnant wages, per capita GDP may increase anyway. Boosting a person’s income, in any case, only goes so far in contributing to their well-being. Once your basic needs are reasonably met—food, clothing, shelter, transportation, entertainment—it’s pretty <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full" type="external">well established</a> that more money doesn’t equal more happiness.</p>
<p>Poverty, though, begets misery. According to a chapter of the report titled, “The Key Determinants of Happiness and Misery,” the biggest contributors to misery in America are, in this order, a diagnosed mental illness (anxiety, depression), poverty, and not having a partner—followed by physical illness, joblessness, and lack of education. So it’s easy to see how kicking people off health insurance and cutting anti-poverty programs and education will make us more miserable.</p>
<p>The report’s overview notes that “increasingly, happiness is considered to be the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy.” America is on the opposite track. Economic growth has long been the holy grail in Washington. That applies to both parties, but it is especially true of the Republicans and the Trump administration, who are now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-deregulation-guns-wall-st-climate.html" type="external">rushing to eliminate</a> all kinds of regulations on the grounds that they interfere with growth. Never mind that many of these rules contribute to our well-being in other ways: protecting people’s retirement savings; ensuring that Americans have decent health care and a social safety net; preventing rapacious industries from befouling the air, water, and atmosphere. As the leaders of 137 nonprofit groups put it in a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-deregulation-guns-wall-st-climate.html" type="external">letter</a> to the White House, “Americans did not vote to be exposed to more health, safety, environmental and financial dangers.”</p>
<p>Trump’s budget blueprint calls for drastic cuts that could make a lot of people—including <a href="" type="internal">many of his core supporters</a>—substantially more miserable. And Trump has gone around stoking divisions, using Islamic terrorism as a bogeyman to justify the exclusion of Muslim refugees and the addition of $54 billion to a military budget that is already,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">by a huge margin</a>, the planet’s largest.</p>
<p>The authors of the happiness report used six measures to determine each nation’s “subjective wellbeing.” America has improved on the material measures (per capita income and healthy life expectancy) over the past decade. But it has fared worse on the social measures, which include the generosity of charitable giving; public support and safety net; perceived corruption in government and business; and freedom (a measure based on a people’s wealth, education and skills, rights as citizens, and democratic representation in government).</p>
<p>“America’s crisis is, in short, a social crisis, not an economic crisis,” Sachs writes in the chapter “Restoring American Happiness.” He goes on…</p>
<p>Almost all of the policy discourse in Washington, DC, centers on naïve attempts to raise the economic growth rate, as if a higher growth rate would somehow heal the deepening divisions and angst in American society. This kind of growth-only agenda is doubly wrong-headed. First, most of the pseudo-elixirs for growth—especially the Republican Party’s beloved nostrum of endless tax cuts and voodoo economics—will only exacerbate America’s social inequalities and feed the distrust that is already tearing society apart. Second, a forthright attack on the real sources of social crisis would have a much larger and more rapid beneficial effect on US happiness.</p>
<p>As Sachs points out, income inequality in America <a href="" type="internal">is soaring</a> and trust in our government is at “its lowest level in modern history.” Perceived corruption is also on the rise—the result, Sachs writes, of the “profoundly damaging” Citizen’s United&#160;Supreme Court decision that further expanded the political influence of billionaire megadonors: “There is a strong and correct feeling among Americans that the government does not serve their interest, but rather the interest of powerful lobbies, wealthy Americans, and of course, the politicians themselves.”</p>
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<p>Sachs cites research showing a sharp decline in “helping behavior”—the willingness to do something kind for a stranger (often measured by how many people will go out of their way to mail addressed, stamped envelopes the researchers scatter around public places)—from 2001 to 2011. He also points to the recent “startling” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/opinion/why-are-white-death-rates-rising.html" type="external">rise in mortality rates</a> for middle-aged, non-Hispanic whites, mainly the result of “drug and alcohol poisoning, suicide, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.” Economically and ethnically segregated communities are another factor, he writes, as are the deterioration of our educational system and the legacy of America’s response to the 9/11 attacks:</p>
<p>The US government launched an open-ended global war on terror, appealing to the darkest side of human nature by invoking a stark “us versus them” dualism, and terrifying American citizens through the government’s projections of fear…The US remains traumatized to this day; Trump’s ban on travel to the United States from certain Muslim-majority countries is a continuing manifestation of the exaggerated and irrational fears that grip the nation.</p>
<p>“In sum,” he writes, “the United States offers a vivid portrait of a country that is looking for happiness in all the wrong places.”</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | juanmoninogetty images america prosperous nation super happy one thats true policies president donald trump republican party making matters worse thats according latest world happiness report put together sustainable development solutions network conjunction united nations per capita income america tripled since 1960s happier now160collectively per capita gdp still rising happiness actually falling writes columbia university economist jeffrey sachs one reports authors indeed 2007 america ranked third happiness among 35 member nations organisation economic cooperation development 2016 19th place rising per capita gdp doesnt mean much nation rapidly growing inequality get number economists simply divide value nations total economic output population rich getting vastly richer poor stagnant wages per capita gdp may increase anyway boosting persons income case goes far contributing wellbeing basic needs reasonably metfood clothing shelter transportation entertainmentits pretty well established money doesnt equal happiness poverty though begets misery according chapter report titled key determinants happiness misery biggest contributors misery america order diagnosed mental illness anxiety depression poverty partnerfollowed physical illness joblessness lack education easy see kicking people health insurance cutting antipoverty programs education make us miserable reports overview notes increasingly happiness considered proper measure social progress goal public policy america opposite track economic growth long holy grail washington applies parties especially true republicans trump administration rushing eliminate kinds regulations grounds interfere growth never mind many rules contribute wellbeing ways protecting peoples retirement savings ensuring americans decent health care social safety net preventing rapacious industries befouling air water atmosphere leaders 137 nonprofit groups put recent letter white house americans vote exposed health safety environmental financial dangers trumps budget blueprint calls drastic cuts could make lot peopleincluding many core supporterssubstantially miserable trump gone around stoking divisions using islamic terrorism bogeyman justify exclusion muslim refugees addition 54 billion military budget already160 huge margin planets largest authors happiness report used six measures determine nations subjective wellbeing america improved material measures per capita income healthy life expectancy past decade fared worse social measures include generosity charitable giving public support safety net perceived corruption government business freedom measure based peoples wealth education skills rights citizens democratic representation government americas crisis short social crisis economic crisis sachs writes chapter restoring american happiness goes almost policy discourse washington dc centers naïve attempts raise economic growth rate higher growth rate would somehow heal deepening divisions angst american society kind growthonly agenda doubly wrongheaded first pseudoelixirs growthespecially republican partys beloved nostrum endless tax cuts voodoo economicswill exacerbate americas social inequalities feed distrust already tearing society apart second forthright attack real sources social crisis would much larger rapid beneficial effect us happiness sachs points income inequality america soaring trust government lowest level modern history perceived corruption also risethe result sachs writes profoundly damaging citizens united160supreme court decision expanded political influence billionaire megadonors strong correct feeling among americans government serve interest rather interest powerful lobbies wealthy americans course politicians sachs cites research showing sharp decline helping behaviorthe willingness something kind stranger often measured many people go way mail addressed stamped envelopes researchers scatter around public placesfrom 2001 2011 also points recent startling rise mortality rates middleaged nonhispanic whites mainly result drug alcohol poisoning suicide chronic liver disease cirrhosis economically ethnically segregated communities another factor writes deterioration educational system legacy americas response 911 attacks us government launched openended global war terror appealing darkest side human nature invoking stark us versus dualism terrifying american citizens governments projections fearthe us remains traumatized day trumps ban travel united states certain muslimmajority countries continuing manifestation exaggerated irrational fears grip nation sum writes united states offers vivid portrait country looking happiness wrong places | 586 |
<p>Image from <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-nuclear-test-hydrogen-bomb-kim-jong-un-658962" type="external">Newsweek</a></p>
<p>Tensions have reached a boiling point as a result of North Korea's launch of a medium-range missile over Japan and the country's test of a hydrogen bomb less than a week later. Trump's inflammatory rhetoric, promising to bring "fire and fury like the world has never seen," contrasts with the few realistic options that Washington has to contain Kim Jong Un's regime.</p>
<p>But the conflict and the risks that go along with it have implications that reach further than the Korean Peninsula. It's clear that Trump's escalation in rhetoric is an indirect shot at China. This was made even more clear by Trump's tweet threatening to cut off all trade relations with countries who trade with North Korea - an obvious jab at China.</p>
<p>Since Trump's inauguration, tensions between North Korea and the U.S. have steadily grown, reaching a zenith this past week. Although <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/04/politics/haley-north-korea-united-nations/index.html" type="external">Nikki Haley has characterized North Korea's behavior as "begging for war,"</a> neither side is willing to take that step.</p>
<p>On August 9, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/north-korea-considering-guam-strike-trump/index.html" type="external">Kim Jong Un threatened to launch an attack against Guam</a>, the U.S. territory closest to North Korea. While it did not actually attack the territory, it did make a show of force dangerously close to an important U.S. ally. On August 29, North Korea launched a medium-range ballistic missile, but instead of firing south in the direction of Guam, it fired north, flying over the Japanese island of Hokkaido and landing in the Pacific Ocean. (Only a few days earlier, Hokkaido had been the site of military exercises by American and Japanese forces.)</p>
<p>This is not the first time that missiles launched from North Korea reached Japanese territory. The same thing occurred in 1998 and 2009, but in both of those instances, the Japanese government had been forewarned. This newest missile launch signals a clear escalation of the threat of violent military confrontation. It is currently North Korea's longest-reach missile and is considered to be just a step below the acquisition of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach U.S. territory.</p>
<p>Kim Jong Un's move was meant to show off North Korea's new military capacity and send a message to its enemies and reluctant allies (like China) without crossing a "red line" that would signify a point of no return. Kim Jong Un went further in showing off his military capacities on Sunday with the sixth and most powerful nuclear test - this one from a hydrogen bomb, the reverberations of which were felt as far away as towns in China. The bomb was between 4 and 16 times more powerful than any bomb ever set off by North Korea.</p>
<p>The responses to Kim Jong Un's challenge highlight the divisions within the White House that arise from unsolvable dilemmas for the U.S. The U.S. is unwilling to allow North Korea into the privileged club of countries for which the possession of nuclear weapons is considered acceptable but neither is it willing to risk a war to prevent their attainment of these weapons. While Trump threatens "fire and fury" on Twitter, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis assures the world that the administration has never abandoned diplomatic options. Rex Tillerson echoed this message.</p>
<p>Since the most recent hydrogen bomb test, new divisions have been revealed and others seem to be soothed over, for now. In this case, the Trump administration - including general Mattis - are in agreement that the threat of the use of a hydrogen bomb against the US <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/03/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear/index.html" type="external">"will be met with a massive military response."?</a>.</p>
<p>However, this does not represent a new era of agreement within the Trump administrations. Rather, the divisions show themselves after Trump tweeted that "the United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea" (in other words, China). This is a laughably empty threat as stopping trade with China would mean the collapse of the US economy, and as a consequence, the global economy. Once again, representatives of the Trump administration had to quickly distance themselves from Trump's tweets. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin used an appearance on Fox News to do damage control. "We are going to work with our allies. We'll work with China."</p>
<p>Trump's foreign policy vacillates between threats of preemptive military strikes and dialogue designed to pressure China to check its fractious ally. Beyond its incendiary language, the U.S. has, until now, responded with more of the usual, deepening U.N. Security Council sanctions against the North Korean regime, while engaging in joint military exercises with South Korea. Thousands of soldiers participated in this latest show of strength. This annual ritual is no doubt an obscene demonstration of military power and a reminder that "all options are on the table." Although for now, no one wants to use them.</p>
<p>The U.S. and its allies want to avoid a military conflict that would have huge costs even as a conventional war and incalculable costs if it were nuclear. This does not mean that the militarization of the Korean Peninsula has not reach the point in which a conflict could be opened, even accidentally.</p>
<p>It has been a quite while since Japan decided to leave behind its official policy of pacifism after the country's defeat in the Second World War. The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is using the state of panic to advance his agenda of strengthening the military and the defensive capacity of his country.</p>
<p>Moon Jae-in, the liberal President of South Korea won the elections in May promising to put forward a policy of negotiation with its northern neighbor. Furthermore, a focus of the campaign was opposition to the installation of the THAAD missile system by the U.S. The stated goal of THAAD is to intercept missiles launched by North Korea; but the U.S. makes little attempt to hide that the program's real aim is threatening China, a country well within the range of these missiles.</p>
<p>However, Moon abandoned the thrust of these promises that would create confront U.S. interests. Once again, he took the "realistic" path of subordinating himself to his most powerful ally, the United States.</p>
<p>China, meanwhile, is engaging in a difficult balancing act. The country's policy is de-escalation, in other words, hoping that all parties somehow magically retreat. The worst situation for China would be that Kim Jong Un gives an excuse to North Korea's enemies to increase their military presence in the region. But the North Korean leader has demonstrated himself to be an uncomfortable ally and willing to bite the hand that feeds him. There is nothing that Beijing can to do further discipline North Korea without risking a major crisis along its own border. And of course, China has a special interest in preserving North Korea, which continues to act as an obstacle to the aggressive policies of the US and its allies.</p>
<p>This complex web of interests creates an unstable geopolitical and military situation.</p>
<p>And what about North Korea? Without a doubt, Kim Jong Un is at the head of a detestable dictatorial regime. But to consider him a crazy and capricious dictator, or a provocateur, as much of the corporate media does, is an exercise in intellectual laziness. This does not justify Kim Jong Un's actions and does not mean that wrong decisions may be taken, which would have a very high cost. Kim Jong Un's apparent irrationality emerges from trying to survive without being eaten alive by his neighbors - South Korea or China, nor swept off the map by the United States, as has happened to other regimes like those of Saddam Hussein or Kadafi.</p>
<p>Kim Jong Un may be mad, but there is a method to his madness. Like any Bonapartist, his power comes from being an arbiter between different factions of the military and the party bureaucracy, using a system of purges and rewards. According to some information, it is calculated that Kim Jong Un has executed 140 people in the military, among them, his own uncle. Accounts also claim that he ordered the murder of his half-brother who maintained good relations with China, Kim Jong Am.</p>
<p>The combination of development of nuclear arsenal plus economic reforms announced by Kim Jong Un at the Workers? Party Congress last year (the first congress in 30 years) has allowed him to develop a base in the new middle class made up of government officials.</p>
<p>The nuclear program plays an essential part in the North Korean agenda, required by the country to survive. This transforms the nuclear program in a practically non-negotiable aspect for North Korea. Its dissolution was only apparently on the table during a brief window between 1994 and 2000. This coincides with the Clinton administration's politics of dialogue, as well as the worst famine in recent North Korean history.</p>
<p>As Bruce Cummings argues in a <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n10/bruce-cumings/a-murderous-history-of-korea" type="external">recent article</a>, U.S. policy has historically been one of agression toward North Korea: non-recognition in 1948, economic sanctions beginning in 1950, and the Korean War from 1951-1952 which is technically still going on today, and was only placed on hold by an armistice in 1957.</p>
<p>Imperialist aggression, which by targeting North Korea also takes indirect aim at China, is not abstract. As a brief overview, the U.S. has 40,000 soldiers in Japan on 112 bases, primarily on the Island of Okinawa. This is addition to the headquarters of the Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, which includes aircraft carriers, submarines and missiles. There are 35,000 U.S. soldiers in South Korea, along with tanks and the THAAD missile system. Guam is essentially a military base and nearby is the Pacific command in Hawaii and a significant U.S. military presence in Phillipines, Singapore and Thailand.</p>
<p>The pivot towards the Asian Pacific region began under the Obama administration. The difference is that, with Trump in the White House, this militarism has increased, as a strategy to mitigate the decline of U.S. hegemony. The U.S. and North Korea are now toeing the line with a war that it seems that no one really wants.</p>
<p>Related</p>
<p><a href="Asia-Pacific-Islands-662" type="external">Asia-Pacific Islands</a>&#160;&#160;&#160;/&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="North-Korea" type="external">North Korea</a>&#160;&#160;&#160;/&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="Donald-Trump" type="external">Donald Trump</a>&#160;&#160;&#160;/&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="United-States" type="external">United States</a></p> | true | 4 | image newsweek tensions reached boiling point result north koreas launch mediumrange missile japan countrys test hydrogen bomb less week later trumps inflammatory rhetoric promising bring fire fury like world never seen contrasts realistic options washington contain kim jong uns regime conflict risks go along implications reach korean peninsula clear trumps escalation rhetoric indirect shot china made even clear trumps tweet threatening cut trade relations countries trade north korea obvious jab china since trumps inauguration tensions north korea us steadily grown reaching zenith past week although nikki haley characterized north koreas behavior begging war neither side willing take step august 9 kim jong un threatened launch attack guam us territory closest north korea actually attack territory make show force dangerously close important us ally august 29 north korea launched mediumrange ballistic missile instead firing south direction guam fired north flying japanese island hokkaido landing pacific ocean days earlier hokkaido site military exercises american japanese forces first time missiles launched north korea reached japanese territory thing occurred 1998 2009 instances japanese government forewarned newest missile launch signals clear escalation threat violent military confrontation currently north koreas longestreach missile considered step acquisition intercontinental ballistic missiles could reach us territory kim jong uns move meant show north koreas new military capacity send message enemies reluctant allies like china without crossing red line would signify point return kim jong un went showing military capacities sunday sixth powerful nuclear test one hydrogen bomb reverberations felt far away towns china bomb 4 16 times powerful bomb ever set north korea responses kim jong uns challenge highlight divisions within white house arise unsolvable dilemmas us us unwilling allow north korea privileged club countries possession nuclear weapons considered acceptable neither willing risk war prevent attainment weapons trump threatens fire fury twitter secretary defense jim mattis assures world administration never abandoned diplomatic options rex tillerson echoed message since recent hydrogen bomb test new divisions revealed others seem soothed case trump administration including general mattis agreement threat use hydrogen bomb us met massive military response however represent new era agreement within trump administrations rather divisions show trump tweeted united states considering addition options stopping trade country business north korea words china laughably empty threat stopping trade china would mean collapse us economy consequence global economy representatives trump administration quickly distance trumps tweets sunday treasury secretary steve mnuchin used appearance fox news damage control going work allies well work china trumps foreign policy vacillates threats preemptive military strikes dialogue designed pressure china check fractious ally beyond incendiary language us responded usual deepening un security council sanctions north korean regime engaging joint military exercises south korea thousands soldiers participated latest show strength annual ritual doubt obscene demonstration military power reminder options table although one wants use us allies want avoid military conflict would huge costs even conventional war incalculable costs nuclear mean militarization korean peninsula reach point conflict could opened even accidentally quite since japan decided leave behind official policy pacifism countrys defeat second world war prime minister japan shinzo abe using state panic advance agenda strengthening military defensive capacity country moon jaein liberal president south korea elections may promising put forward policy negotiation northern neighbor furthermore focus campaign opposition installation thaad missile system us stated goal thaad intercept missiles launched north korea us makes little attempt hide programs real aim threatening china country well within range missiles however moon abandoned thrust promises would create confront us interests took realistic path subordinating powerful ally united states china meanwhile engaging difficult balancing act countrys policy deescalation words hoping parties somehow magically retreat worst situation china would kim jong un gives excuse north koreas enemies increase military presence region north korean leader demonstrated uncomfortable ally willing bite hand feeds nothing beijing discipline north korea without risking major crisis along border course china special interest preserving north korea continues act obstacle aggressive policies us allies complex web interests creates unstable geopolitical military situation north korea without doubt kim jong un head detestable dictatorial regime consider crazy capricious dictator provocateur much corporate media exercise intellectual laziness justify kim jong uns actions mean wrong decisions may taken would high cost kim jong uns apparent irrationality emerges trying survive without eaten alive neighbors south korea china swept map united states happened regimes like saddam hussein kadafi kim jong un may mad method madness like bonapartist power comes arbiter different factions military party bureaucracy using system purges rewards according information calculated kim jong un executed 140 people military among uncle accounts also claim ordered murder halfbrother maintained good relations china kim jong combination development nuclear arsenal plus economic reforms announced kim jong un workers party congress last year first congress 30 years allowed develop base new middle class made government officials nuclear program plays essential part north korean agenda required country survive transforms nuclear program practically nonnegotiable aspect north korea dissolution apparently table brief window 1994 2000 coincides clinton administrations politics dialogue well worst famine recent north korean history bruce cummings argues recent article us policy historically one agression toward north korea nonrecognition 1948 economic sanctions beginning 1950 korean war 19511952 technically still going today placed hold armistice 1957 imperialist aggression targeting north korea also takes indirect aim china abstract brief overview us 40000 soldiers japan 112 bases primarily island okinawa addition headquarters seventh fleet yokosuka japan includes aircraft carriers submarines missiles 35000 us soldiers south korea along tanks thaad missile system guam essentially military base nearby pacific command hawaii significant us military presence phillipines singapore thailand pivot towards asian pacific region began obama administration difference trump white house militarism increased strategy mitigate decline us hegemony us north korea toeing line war seems one really wants related asiapacific islands160160160160160160 north korea160160160160160160 donald trump160160160160160160 united states | 945 |
<p>Mother Jones illustration</p>
<p>For Californians, legal cannabis is right around the corner. But we have questions. And as it turns out, many of you do, too. A couple weeks ago we wanted to know what <a href="" type="internal">questions you had about pot</a>, and the responses were overwhelming. So we went through them and weeded out the most common questions.</p>
<p>First, let’s be clear about what the law says. On November 8th, 2016, Californians passed the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, or Proposition 64. That law went into effect immediately, but licensed cannabis businesses aren’t allowed to start selling recreational weed until January 1. On a basic level, <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/text-proposed-laws.pdf#prop64" type="external">Prop 64</a>:</p>
<p>Still, the law leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Here’s what you, Mother Jones readers, wanted to know:</p>
<p>Just because you’re allowed to possess weed in California doesn’t mean that cities and counties will let businesses sell it. So far, only a few places have passed legislation allowing the sale of cannabis—and even fewer have started handing out licenses to pot shops. That means there will only be a small number of places you’ll be able to buy recreational weed in California on January 1. Some of those places include <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-marijuana-qanda-20171108-story.html" type="external">San Diego</a>, <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/14/californian-issues-first-licenses-to-sell-recreational-marijuana/" type="external">San Jose</a>, and <a href="https://aca5.accela.com/bcc/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Licenses&amp;TabName=Licenses&amp;capID1=DUB17&amp;capID2=00000&amp;capID3=000QF&amp;agencyCode=BCC&amp;IsToShowInspection=" type="external">Oakland</a>.</p>
<p>To find out if your city or county does allow&#160;recreational sales, you should check your local laws. The San Francisco Chronicle has spent months building a local law lookup tool. You can try it out <a href="http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2017/embed-pot-lookup/" type="external">here</a>. (While the tool is updated regularly, the best way to look up&#160;your area’s rules is on your city or county’s website.)</p>
<p>At a basic level, Prop 64 allows those convicted with cannabis crimes to get out of jail—though not immediately—and have their records cleared in accordance to what the laws read now. It also makes a lot of crimes that were felonies now misdemeanors. For example, under Prop 64, the possession of weed with the intent to sell (previously a felony) is <a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/prop64-resentencing-guideoctober2017_0.pdf" type="external">now a misdemeanor</a>. So yes, a lot of those convicted with pot crimes could eventually get out of jail or have their sentences reduced.&#160;</p>
<p>Mother Jones’ Brandon E. Patterson&#160;wrote <a href="" type="internal">a&#160;much longer piece</a>&#160;about how Prop 64 will affect people with weed charges, and how existing pot laws (e.g. the law prohibiting smoking in public) may still continue to disproportionately affect people of color.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/prop64.htm" type="external">Here’</a>s more information on how to get a weed-related charge removed from your record.&#160;</p>
<p>This is the million-dollar question, and nobody really knows the answer. But other states like Washington and Colorado, which have already legalized recreational pot, may give us a clue about what to expect.</p>
<p>Recreational cannabis sales began <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2014/01/01/worlds-first-legal-recreational-marijuana-sales-begin-in-colorado/" type="external">January 1, 2014</a> in Colorado, and between then and July 2017, weed prices dropped from about $1,900 per pound to about $1,300 per pound—a decline of about 30 percent, according to data from the <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/tax" type="external">Colorado Department of Revenue</a> and <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/902035" type="external">analyzed</a> by research firm Fitch Ratings. Prices are similar in California, where the average wholesale cost of weed was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/debraborchardt/2017/09/26/california-cannabis-retail-market-revealed-big-data-tells-all/#441e471839e3" type="external">$1,525 per pound</a> for the first half of 2017, while the national average was $1,614 per pound, according to industry data firm <a href="https://www.cannabisbenchmarks.com/about-us.html" type="external">Cannabis Benchmarks</a>.</p>
<p>While this price decline may be good for consumers, without an increase in demand for cannabis, states will see a loss of tax revenue as the price of pot drops. “A long-term decline in prices may ultimately be the greatest risk for state cannabis revenues,” according to the Fitch Ratings report.&#160;</p>
<p>Yes, under Prop 64, employers still have the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drug-testing-marijuana-20161206-story.html" type="external">right to a drug-free workplace</a>. Even medical cannabis users aren’t exempt from workplace drug tests.</p>
<p>You’re right. State economists <a href="http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Economics/Major_Regulations/Major_Regulations_Table/documents/20170203FinalMCCPSRIA.pdf" type="external">estimate</a> that&#160;Golden State&#160;farmers produce about 13.5 million pounds of cannabis per year while residents only consume about 2.5 million. That leaves a whooping 11 million pounds of weed that <a href="http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Economics/Major_Regulations/Major_Regulations_Table/documents/20170203FinalMCCPSRIA.pdf" type="external">probably</a>&#160;gets shipped to the rest of the country. And even with legalization, economists predict about half of that 2.5 million pounds of cannabis consumed by Californians will still be bought from non-licensed sources.</p>
<p>The effect of California’s legalization on the rest of the country’s pot supply is uncertain. If taxes on legal cannabis are too high, researchers <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/902035" type="external">predict</a> that growers and buyers may choose to stay in the untaxed black market, which means, in theory, the out-of-state price of cannabis wouldn’t change.&#160;But, legalization&#160;could also make it a lot harder to grow and sell pot illegally. For example, California’s cannabis cultivation licensing office in the Department of Food and Agriculture is developing a system where anyone can report illegal operations, the San Francisco Chronicle <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Even-with-legalized-weed-California-s-black-11737954.php" type="external">reports</a>. And some local law enforcement agencies&#160; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article185974313.html" type="external">plan</a>&#160;to use&#160;revenue generated from recreational sales to fund illegal pot busts, which would drive black market prices up.</p>
<p>While there is no physical difference between recreational and medical pot, California’s recreational cannabis will be <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/prop64-title-summ-analysis.pdf" type="external">taxed</a> in three major ways: (1) a 15 percent excise tax on cannabis retail sales; (2) a cannabis cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce of flowers and $2.75 per ounce of leaves; (3) local and state taxes ranging from about <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/902035" type="external">7.75 percent to 9.75 percent</a>. All of this adds up to what <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/site/pr/1029632" type="external">experts predict</a> will be an effective tax rate of about 45 percent on recreational pot. That’s more than twice as much as Oregon and Alaska tax&#160;their non-medical cannabis.&#160;</p>
<p>California’s medical marijuana patients will have to pay these new taxes as well, but are&#160;exempt from paying any sales tax.&#160;</p>
<p>This will make medical cannabis more expensive, but could ultimately be a good thing for the state of California.</p>
<p>If recreational pot is taxed at a significantly higher rate (making it more expensive) than medical pot and&#160;it’s easy to obtain a medical cannabis card, many consumers would just choose to buy weed in an untaxed, medical market—and the state would miss out on millions of dollars in tax revenue. That <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/recreational-marijuana-washington-state-tax-revenue-2015-7" type="external">happened</a> in Washington following the beginning of retail sales in <a href="https://lcb.wa.gov/mj2015/faqs_i-502#Retail-Stores" type="external">2014</a> (though, in the first year of legalization, the state still raked in&#160; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/recreational-marijuana-washington-state-tax-revenue-2015-7" type="external">$70 million</a> in tax revenue from legal weed sales).</p>
<p>Other states, like <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/qualifying-medical-conditions-medical-marijuana-registry" type="external">Colorado</a> and <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/OHA/PH/DISEASESCONDITIONS/CHRONICDISEASE/MEDICALMARIJUANAPROGRAM/Pages/Physicians.aspx#role" type="external">Oregon</a>, have chosen to fix this problem by enforcing strict laws&#160;on who can obtain a medical cannabis card. Since California laws <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_California#Legislative_tampering" type="external">prevent</a> the state from&#160;making it harder for medical patients to access marijuana, lawmakers decided to tax both markets nearly the same.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>On January 1, it will still be illegal to drive “ <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/text-proposed-laws.pdf#prop64" type="external">while impaired by marijuana.</a>” However, law enforcement agencies in California haven’t started using pot breathalyzers to enforce that law—yet. That’s because they don’t have a reliable method of measuring how much weed&#160;is&#160;in someone’s system. While most breathalyzers work by measuring a person’s blood alcohol content, or BAC, the compounds found in weed take <a href="http://clinchem.aaccjnls.org/content/59/3/519?ijkey=a927bcbbeb53d8ef57c60ba692526a411dcfa19d&amp;keytype2=tf_ipsecsha" type="external">much longer</a> to dissolve in our bodies, so the same kind of blood test won’t work. Oakland’s&#160;Hound Labs&#160; <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Oakland-Company-Develops-Breathalyzer-Test-Marijuana-465180253.html" type="external">is finalizing a breathalyzer</a> that&#160;can measure (in parts per trillion) the amount of THC, an active ingredient in cannabis, on a person’s breath. Still, it’s unclear what the state will set as a legal limit, if anything all.&#160;</p>
<p>In terms of motor vehicle accidents—we don’t really know what the effect of legalization will be on this. Here’s what other states can tell us: In one <a href="http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/legalizing-recreational-marijuana-is-linked-to-increased-crashes" type="external">study</a> conducted by the&#160;Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, researchers noticed a three percent increase in the number of insurance claims filled for auto collisions following recreational weed legalization in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon, compared to nearby states that did not legalize cannabis. Another <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303848" type="external">study</a> published in the American Journal of Public Health around the same time found that legalization had no effect on the number of fatal car crashes in Colorado and Washington following legalization. While the two studies may seem to contradict each other, they were actually measuring two different things: the&#160;first measured the number of insurance claims filed and the second measured the number of fatal car crashes. This suggests&#160;that legalization may lead to an increase in only non-fatal crashes. Both studies concede, however, that future research is warranted.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>First, here’s some background: <a href="http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2016/general/en/pdf/text-proposed-laws.pdf#prop64" type="external">Prop 64</a>, as passed by voters in 2016,&#160;originally restricted licensed&#160;cannabis farms to one acre in size. That measure, set to expire in 2023, was intended to give small-scale farmers a head start in the new recreational market. Last month, however, a set of <a href="https://static.cdfa.ca.gov/MCCP/document/Proposed%20Emergency%20Regulations%20Final_12.12.17.pdf" type="external">emergency regulations</a> issued by the state changed that. The new regulations now&#160;allow farmers to seek an <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pot-rules-20171117-story.html" type="external">unlimited</a> number of small-farm licenses, beginning in January 2018—opening the market to Big Ag.</p>
<p>“California only has one chance to get this right, and it is already on the wrong path with this last-minute change that flies in the face of what the backers of Prop. 64 promised,”&#160; Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the <a href="http://www.calgrowersassociation.org/" type="external">California Growers Association</a>, a group that lobbies for cannabis farmers,&#160; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-lawmakers-pot-growers-say-california-s-1513626513-htmlstory.html" type="external">told</a> the LA Times earlier this month. “This single decision will hand over the California marketplace to multinational corporations and a wealthy few at the expense of thousands of growers who are&#160;ready to&#160;play by the rules and provide&#160;economic opportunity in communities that until recently were criminalized or—at the very least—marginalized.”</p>
<p>Still, all cannabis grown in California will subject to the same quality standards as small-scale growers. If you do wish to support small business, we recommend asking your local budtenders (the folks who work at pot shops) about which farms to support.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Yup, but only CBD-infused ice cream (CBD is a non-psychoactive chemical found in hemp). For people with a medical card, THC-infused ice cream has been around for years (Ben &amp; Jerry’s founders even <a href="http://time.com/3731728/ben-jerrys-founders-think-pot-ice-cream-makes-sense/" type="external">considered</a> making pot ice cream in 2015), but in 2018, that <a href="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OLS/CDPH%20Document%20Library/DPH-17-010E_TEXT_FINAL-ADA.pdf" type="external">won’t be the case</a>. There are places, however, that sell THC-infused goodies including cookies, brownies, candy, <a href="http://www.7x7.com/new-marijuana-infused-cold-brew-uses-ritual-coffee-beans-2219330114.html" type="external">coffee</a>, nuts, teas, granola, potato chips, olive oil, butter, peanut butter, and <a href="https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-drinks/cannabis-infused-sparkling-water" type="external">water</a>.</p>
<p>In states that&#160;already&#160;have legalized pot, the market for edibles is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemontgomery/2017/07/19/edibles-are-the-next-big-thing-for-pot-entrepreneurs/#73c17561576b" type="external">booming</a>&#160;as more non-smokers get into cannabis. Across Washington, Colorado, and Oregon, edibles ranked third in terms of market share (after <a href="https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/5-differences-between-cannabis-concentrates-and-flower" type="external">flowers and concentrated cannabis products</a>), with 12 percent of the $2.33 billion weed market across all three states, according to cannabis market research group <a href="http://www.bdsanalytics.com/edibles-2/" type="external">BDS Analytics</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Image credit: kazatin/Getty</p> | true | 4 | mother jones illustration californians legal cannabis right around corner questions turns many couple weeks ago wanted know questions pot responses overwhelming went weeded common questions first lets clear law says november 8th 2016 californians passed adult use marijuana act proposition 64 law went effect immediately licensed cannabis businesses arent allowed start selling recreational weed january 1 basic level prop 64 still law leaves lot questions unanswered heres mother jones readers wanted know youre allowed possess weed california doesnt mean cities counties let businesses sell far places passed legislation allowing sale cannabisand even fewer started handing licenses pot shops means small number places youll able buy recreational weed california january 1 places include san diego san jose oakland find city county allow160recreational sales check local laws san francisco chronicle spent months building local law lookup tool try tool updated regularly best way look up160your areas rules city countys website basic level prop 64 allows convicted cannabis crimes get jailthough immediatelyand records cleared accordance laws read also makes lot crimes felonies misdemeanors example prop 64 possession weed intent sell previously felony misdemeanor yes lot convicted pot crimes could eventually get jail sentences reduced160 mother jones brandon e patterson160wrote a160much longer piece160about prop 64 affect people weed charges existing pot laws eg law prohibiting smoking public may still continue disproportionately affect people color160 heres information get weedrelated charge removed record160 milliondollar question nobody really knows answer states like washington colorado already legalized recreational pot may give us clue expect recreational cannabis sales began january 1 2014 colorado july 2017 weed prices dropped 1900 per pound 1300 per pounda decline 30 percent according data colorado department revenue analyzed research firm fitch ratings prices similar california average wholesale cost weed 1525 per pound first half 2017 national average 1614 per pound according industry data firm cannabis benchmarks price decline may good consumers without increase demand cannabis states see loss tax revenue price pot drops longterm decline prices may ultimately greatest risk state cannabis revenues according fitch ratings report160 yes prop 64 employers still right drugfree workplace even medical cannabis users arent exempt workplace drug tests youre right state economists estimate that160golden state160farmers produce 135 million pounds cannabis per year residents consume 25 million leaves whooping 11 million pounds weed probably160gets shipped rest country even legalization economists predict half 25 million pounds cannabis consumed californians still bought nonlicensed sources effect californias legalization rest countrys pot supply uncertain taxes legal cannabis high researchers predict growers buyers may choose stay untaxed black market means theory outofstate price cannabis wouldnt change160but legalization160could also make lot harder grow sell pot illegally example californias cannabis cultivation licensing office department food agriculture developing system anyone report illegal operations san francisco chronicle reports local law enforcement agencies160 plan160to use160revenue generated recreational sales fund illegal pot busts would drive black market prices physical difference recreational medical pot californias recreational cannabis taxed three major ways 1 15 percent excise tax cannabis retail sales 2 cannabis cultivation tax 925 per ounce flowers 275 per ounce leaves 3 local state taxes ranging 775 percent 975 percent adds experts predict effective tax rate 45 percent recreational pot thats twice much oregon alaska tax160their nonmedical cannabis160 californias medical marijuana patients pay new taxes well are160exempt paying sales tax160 make medical cannabis expensive could ultimately good thing state california recreational pot taxed significantly higher rate making expensive medical pot and160its easy obtain medical cannabis card many consumers would choose buy weed untaxed medical marketand state would miss millions dollars tax revenue happened washington following beginning retail sales 2014 though first year legalization state still raked in160 70 million tax revenue legal weed sales states like colorado oregon chosen fix problem enforcing strict laws160on obtain medical cannabis card since california laws prevent state from160making harder medical patients access marijuana lawmakers decided tax markets nearly same160160 january 1 still illegal drive impaired marijuana however law enforcement agencies california havent started using pot breathalyzers enforce lawyet thats dont reliable method measuring much weed160is160in someones system breathalyzers work measuring persons blood alcohol content bac compounds found weed take much longer dissolve bodies kind blood test wont work oaklands160hound labs160 finalizing breathalyzer that160can measure parts per trillion amount thc active ingredient cannabis persons breath still unclear state set legal limit anything all160 terms motor vehicle accidentswe dont really know effect legalization heres states tell us one study conducted the160insurance institute highway safety researchers noticed three percent increase number insurance claims filled auto collisions following recreational weed legalization washington colorado oregon compared nearby states legalize cannabis another study published american journal public health around time found legalization effect number fatal car crashes colorado washington following legalization two studies may seem contradict actually measuring two different things the160first measured number insurance claims filed second measured number fatal car crashes suggests160that legalization may lead increase nonfatal crashes studies concede however future research warranted160160 first heres background prop 64 passed voters 2016160originally restricted licensed160cannabis farms one acre size measure set expire 2023 intended give smallscale farmers head start new recreational market last month however set emergency regulations issued state changed new regulations now160allow farmers seek unlimited number smallfarm licenses beginning january 2018opening market big ag california one chance get right already wrong path lastminute change flies face backers prop 64 promised160 hezekiah allen executive director california growers association group lobbies cannabis farmers160 told la times earlier month single decision hand california marketplace multinational corporations wealthy expense thousands growers are160ready to160play rules provide160economic opportunity communities recently criminalized orat leastmarginalized still cannabis grown california subject quality standards smallscale growers wish support small business recommend asking local budtenders folks work pot shops farms support160160 yup cbdinfused ice cream cbd nonpsychoactive chemical found hemp people medical card thcinfused ice cream around years ben amp jerrys founders even considered making pot ice cream 2015 2018 wont case places however sell thcinfused goodies including cookies brownies candy coffee nuts teas granola potato chips olive oil butter peanut butter water states that160already160have legalized pot market edibles booming160as nonsmokers get cannabis across washington colorado oregon edibles ranked third terms market share flowers concentrated cannabis products 12 percent 233 billion weed market across three states according cannabis market research group bds analytics160 image credit kazatingetty | 1,027 |
<p>As an American, I would like to thank all those people and countries around the world who are helping to pull my country back from the brink of war. And I want to assure you that your efforts are having a big impact in the United States.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the claim that the Bush Administration is determined to make a pre-emptive attack on Iraq has been validated over and over–most recently by Colin Powell’s assertion on the BBC that Washington might pursue “regime change” in Iraq even if the Iraqi leader complies fully with weapons inspections.</p>
<p>Softening up bombing, the classic first phase of an invasion, has already begun. So has the transport of war personnel and materiel to the Persian Gulf region. The war marketing campaign is in full gear. To paraphrase Bertolt Brecht, “When the leaders speak of peace, the mobilization orders have already been given.”</p>
<p>The Bush team’s meticulous planning had presumed UN and Congressional votes authorizing US attacks on Iraq by now, laying the groundwork for permission to use Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, and other countries as bases for attack. After President Bush’s address to the UN, the US Congress was poised to overwhelmingly pass a bi-partisan resolution giving the President a blank check for war.</p>
<p>But a funny thing happened on the way to the battlefield. For months people around the world have been expressing their outrage. Overwhelming majorities in almost every country except Britain and Israel opposed US plans. Politicians and national elites, while loathe to court the wrath of their patrons and protectors in Washington, have been even more terrified of the forces likely to be unleashed by the Bush Administration’s irrational obsession.</p>
<p>The effects of this global opposition on the US have been greatly underestimated. There is broad support here for international efforts to deal with Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. But there is virtually no sector of American society that supports a unilateral preemptive attack against Iraq without international support except the President’s immediate clique, a few members of Congress in both parties, and the Air Force.</p>
<p>The top uniformed military, except for the Air Force, have been widely reported to be extremely skeptical of such an effort. This summer they aroused the wrath of the pro-war clique by submitting estimates of troop requirements and casualties so high as to make the war seem too costly to pursue. While the military brass haven’t spoken against a unilateral attack on the record, their retired colleagues have done so forcefully. Top Republican military experts like Brent Scowcroft, many of them cronies of former President George Bush and formerly high officials in his Administration, spoke out against a unilateral attack.</p>
<p>This summer, popular and Congressional support for the Bush war plans seemed overwhelming. But as members of Congress visited their districts in August they were met both by organized delegations opposing the war and by profound worry among their ordinary constituents. Democratic leaders announced hearings and no “rush to judgment” on war policy. As the Administration launched its war marketing campaign in September, floods of phone calls and e-mails to members of Congress led former Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore and the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress to end silence or reverse explicit support for Bush’s policies.</p>
<p>Most of the popular and elite opposition is not opposition to any attack on Iraq, but rather to an attack on Iraq without allies. Little of this opposition would have arisen had the rest of the world caved in to Bush Administration demands for support. But the global united front against a US war is transforming the balance of forces within this country. While panicky Democrats in Congress may pass a watered-down resolution authorizing war, US opinion is now clearly divided, and policy elite, especially the Vietnam-burned military, is strongly averse to going to war without broad popular support. If the international front holds, there is a real chance that a US attack can be averted.</p>
<p>If the Security Council refuses to authorize US military action and the UN inspectors go to Iraq, Bush Administration war promoters will have at least two big problems. Neither public nor elite opinion in the US is likely to support a unilateral, unprovoked attack. Neighboring states are more likely to be firm in their resolve not to let their countries be used as bases for US attacks on Iraq. (Bush’s friend Ariel Sharon is also making it easier for them to just say no to US demands.)</p>
<p>If a full-scale attack on Iraq becomes untenable, the Bush Administration will probably follow three tactics. First, it will try its best to undermine and discredit the UN inspection process; the faintest hint of Iraqi non-cooperation will be met with fresh attempts to initiate war. Second, it will expand the bombing it is conducting already. Third, it will look for new openings to bully or bribe other countries back into line.</p>
<p>This indicates the probable next steps needed to contain US aggression. The tacit coalition of people and states opposing the US war on Iraq, acting through the UN, should demand that the US stop bombing Iraq while the inspection process goes forward. Of course the US will veto such a resolution, but the demonstrated international opposition will strengthen both popular and elite opposition in the US. “State-supported nonviolence” — for example placement of foreign volunteers in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities with the support of their national governments — might also provide a deterrent to US bombing.</p>
<p>It is also essential that the inspection process go forward successfully. While it is impossible to know exactly what led Iraq to readmit inspectors, there was clearly at least a tacit quid pro quo that other countries would attempt to stave off an American attack. Iraq must be made to feel that it is safest if the inspection process proceeds successfully. After all, Iraq can reasonably feel that, by allowing inspection of its real or imagined weapons of mass destruction, it is giving up a significant deterrent to US attack. The containment coalition needs to indicate that it will try to protect Iraq from US attack as long as the inspection process goes forward, but that it will be much less able to do so if Iraq’s cooperation is less than complete.</p>
<p>Finally, it is necessary to block US efforts to bribe or bully other countries back into line. The Bush Administration’s snub of German Prime Minister Schroeder in the aftermath of his reelection is only the publicly visible tip of the iceberg of Bush Administration bullying. There have been many journalistic references to other countries being offered a share of the spoils of war — Iraq’s oil, for example, or the contracts for post-war reconstruction–as a quid pro quo for joining the US in the kill.</p>
<p>Russia has indicated an interest in US acquiescence in a Russian attack on Georgia, justified as a means to root out Chechen rebels. Apparently this is a price the Bush Administration is not yet willing to pay. No doubt they would see it as giving the green light to restoration of the Russian empire–establishing Russia’s right to ignore the new national boundaries that divide its once-and-future empire. But there is no telling what bribes they will be willing to offer if they find their way to war successfully blocked.</p>
<p>The Bush people tend to think of the world as a football game, and their strategy is to knock off those who get in their way one at a time. In the long run, containing them will require not just opposition by individual nations, but rather some more conscious form of collective security. There needs to be a global understanding that containing US power is a collective responsibility. This might be expressed, for example, in providing financial and other support for countries like Jordan that are being threatened with US reprisals if they refuse to serve as bases for war against Iraq.</p>
<p>Another step could be to forcefully stigmatize any country selling out to the Bush Administration for such a “mess of pottage” as a share of the spoils of war, some supposed geopolitical concession, or (for poorer countries) cold cash. For a historical analogy, we might recall that the Western powers tried to keep Russia in World War I by means of scandalous secret treaties offering them other country’s territory when the war was won. The exposure of those secret treaties may have done more than any other single act to destroy the legitimacy of the Russian regime.</p>
<p>Most important of all is to continue the popular pressure on governments around the world. Movement pressure in Britain has already forced Tony Blair to publicly split with Bush over “regime change” and if it continues to grow will make British participation in a unilateral attack untenable; withdrawal of British support might well be the final nail in the coffin for US war plans. German popular opposition swung the election; it is leading American policy elites to fear that Bush policies are undermining European acquiescence in US global dominance. The fact that not one country in the world beside Britain has offered to help the US attack Iraq has a major impact on US opinion. Please, keep up the good work!</p>
<p>One of the central tasks for the tacit coalition of people and states opposing the US war on Iraq is to win the hearts and minds of the American people. Americans are still hurt and terrified by the 9/11 attacks and easily led to support absurd policies sold as “anti-terrorism.” Nonetheless their views are volatile and conflicted. In a September 24 CBS News poll, 57 percent wanted the US to give the UN more time to get inspectors back into Iraq and 52 percent thought the US should follow the recommendations of the UN when it comes to taking action against Iraq, instead of taking action on its own.</p>
<p>National leaders and ordinary people around the world need to reach out to Americans and help them bring their government to its senses. An example: A delegation of British anti-war religious leaders is coming to the US to share with American religious communities their concerns about US threats against Iraq. Containment of Bush Administration aggression is–and should present itself–as pro-, not anti-, American.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the issue here is far larger than the conflict between the US and Iraq. Bush’s new policy document, “The National Security Strategy of the United States,” which codifies previous pronouncements, indicates the megalomaniacal scope of the Administration’s ambitions. The document notes, “The United States possesses unprecedented–and unequaled–strength.” It proclaims that “we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting preemptively.” The US will use its power for “convincing or compelling states” to accept what it calls “their sovereign responsibilities.”</p>
<p>This strategy for global domination is not limited to military matters, but proposes to shape the whole of global society and political economy. Indeed, the document goes so far as to declare that there is only “a single sustainable model for national success.”</p>
<p>Blocking the US attack on Iraq is a crucial step but only the first step in the containment of these awesome aspirations for global domination. It represents the emergence of a tacit but nonetheless real policy of collective security to contain US aggressiveness. If such collective security can be maintained, it bodes well for the containment of “pre-emptive aggression” in the future. And perhaps it will lay a foundation for addressing such other threats to collective security as global warming, poverty, economic crisis, AIDS, and weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>Nothing could be more in the genuine interest of the American people.</p>
<p>JEREMY BRECHER is a historian and the author of twelve books including <a href="" type="internal">STRIKE!</a> and <a href="" type="internal">GLOBALIZATION FROM BELOW</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | american would like thank people countries around world helping pull country back brink war want assure efforts big impact united states unfortunately claim bush administration determined make preemptive attack iraq validated overmost recently colin powells assertion bbc washington might pursue regime change iraq even iraqi leader complies fully weapons inspections softening bombing classic first phase invasion already begun transport war personnel materiel persian gulf region war marketing campaign full gear paraphrase bertolt brecht leaders speak peace mobilization orders already given bush teams meticulous planning presumed un congressional votes authorizing us attacks iraq laying groundwork permission use saudi arabia turkey pakistan jordan countries bases attack president bushs address un us congress poised overwhelmingly pass bipartisan resolution giving president blank check war funny thing happened way battlefield months people around world expressing outrage overwhelming majorities almost every country except britain israel opposed us plans politicians national elites loathe court wrath patrons protectors washington even terrified forces likely unleashed bush administrations irrational obsession effects global opposition us greatly underestimated broad support international efforts deal iraqs alleged weapons mass destruction virtually sector american society supports unilateral preemptive attack iraq without international support except presidents immediate clique members congress parties air force top uniformed military except air force widely reported extremely skeptical effort summer aroused wrath prowar clique submitting estimates troop requirements casualties high make war seem costly pursue military brass havent spoken unilateral attack record retired colleagues done forcefully top republican military experts like brent scowcroft many cronies former president george bush formerly high officials administration spoke unilateral attack summer popular congressional support bush war plans seemed overwhelming members congress visited districts august met organized delegations opposing war profound worry among ordinary constituents democratic leaders announced hearings rush judgment war policy administration launched war marketing campaign september floods phone calls emails members congress led former democratic presidential candidate al gore leadership democratic party congress end silence reverse explicit support bushs policies popular elite opposition opposition attack iraq rather attack iraq without allies little opposition would arisen rest world caved bush administration demands support global united front us war transforming balance forces within country panicky democrats congress may pass watereddown resolution authorizing war us opinion clearly divided policy elite especially vietnamburned military strongly averse going war without broad popular support international front holds real chance us attack averted security council refuses authorize us military action un inspectors go iraq bush administration war promoters least two big problems neither public elite opinion us likely support unilateral unprovoked attack neighboring states likely firm resolve let countries used bases us attacks iraq bushs friend ariel sharon also making easier say us demands fullscale attack iraq becomes untenable bush administration probably follow three tactics first try best undermine discredit un inspection process faintest hint iraqi noncooperation met fresh attempts initiate war second expand bombing conducting already third look new openings bully bribe countries back line indicates probable next steps needed contain us aggression tacit coalition people states opposing us war iraq acting un demand us stop bombing iraq inspection process goes forward course us veto resolution demonstrated international opposition strengthen popular elite opposition us statesupported nonviolence example placement foreign volunteers baghdad iraqi cities support national governments might also provide deterrent us bombing also essential inspection process go forward successfully impossible know exactly led iraq readmit inspectors clearly least tacit quid pro quo countries would attempt stave american attack iraq must made feel safest inspection process proceeds successfully iraq reasonably feel allowing inspection real imagined weapons mass destruction giving significant deterrent us attack containment coalition needs indicate try protect iraq us attack long inspection process goes forward much less able iraqs cooperation less complete finally necessary block us efforts bribe bully countries back line bush administrations snub german prime minister schroeder aftermath reelection publicly visible tip iceberg bush administration bullying many journalistic references countries offered share spoils war iraqs oil example contracts postwar reconstructionas quid pro quo joining us kill russia indicated interest us acquiescence russian attack georgia justified means root chechen rebels apparently price bush administration yet willing pay doubt would see giving green light restoration russian empireestablishing russias right ignore new national boundaries divide onceandfuture empire telling bribes willing offer find way war successfully blocked bush people tend think world football game strategy knock get way one time long run containing require opposition individual nations rather conscious form collective security needs global understanding containing us power collective responsibility might expressed example providing financial support countries like jordan threatened us reprisals refuse serve bases war iraq another step could forcefully stigmatize country selling bush administration mess pottage share spoils war supposed geopolitical concession poorer countries cold cash historical analogy might recall western powers tried keep russia world war means scandalous secret treaties offering countrys territory war exposure secret treaties may done single act destroy legitimacy russian regime important continue popular pressure governments around world movement pressure britain already forced tony blair publicly split bush regime change continues grow make british participation unilateral attack untenable withdrawal british support might well final nail coffin us war plans german popular opposition swung election leading american policy elites fear bush policies undermining european acquiescence us global dominance fact one country world beside britain offered help us attack iraq major impact us opinion please keep good work one central tasks tacit coalition people states opposing us war iraq win hearts minds american people americans still hurt terrified 911 attacks easily led support absurd policies sold antiterrorism nonetheless views volatile conflicted september 24 cbs news poll 57 percent wanted us give un time get inspectors back iraq 52 percent thought us follow recommendations un comes taking action iraq instead taking action national leaders ordinary people around world need reach americans help bring government senses example delegation british antiwar religious leaders coming us share american religious communities concerns us threats iraq containment bush administration aggression isand present itselfas pro anti american ultimately issue far larger conflict us iraq bushs new policy document national security strategy united states codifies previous pronouncements indicates megalomaniacal scope administrations ambitions document notes united states possesses unprecedentedand unequaledstrength proclaims hesitate act alone necessary exercise right selfdefense acting preemptively us use power convincing compelling states accept calls sovereign responsibilities strategy global domination limited military matters proposes shape whole global society political economy indeed document goes far declare single sustainable model national success blocking us attack iraq crucial step first step containment awesome aspirations global domination represents emergence tacit nonetheless real policy collective security contain us aggressiveness collective security maintained bodes well containment preemptive aggression future perhaps lay foundation addressing threats collective security global warming poverty economic crisis aids weapons mass destruction nothing could genuine interest american people jeremy brecher historian author twelve books including strike globalization 160 | 1,114 |
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">character of our present moment</a> is undeniable, and the tangled web of causes and consequences is the same from London to Cairo to Santiago: budget cuts in the name of “austerity,” rising unemployment, increasing popular resistance, and an upsurge in racist violence and policing measures like “stop-and-frisk.” The failure of an economic system in the short and long term has generated an entire class of undesirables, living proof of that failure who must be contained, controlled, and silenced.</p>
<p>But even those who recognize the roots of distant rebellions are far more hesitant about upheavals closer to home. Philadelphia is currently in the grips of a bout of mob hysteria at least as virulent and far more racist than the backlash underway in London, to which the media, the police, the city government and the public have all contributed, and yet few have dared to call it what it is.</p>
<p>Steady Mobbin’</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">In Philadelphia as in London</a>, to use the term “mob” is to tar one’s opponents as dangerous, unruly, irrational, criminal, and apolitical. In most cases, it is also deeply racist. Like the term “gang,” “mob” has its roots in movement, in “mobility,” and it evokes a deep and abiding fear of the uncontrolled movement of the poor and dark-skinned. As we well know in this era of ostensible “globalization,” there are those who are authorized to move: tourists, executives, commodities, and financial flows. And then there are those who are not so authorized: the poor and largely racialized masses who find themselves ever more penned-in, confined by force and economics to the urban wastelands known as ‘slums’ that so many have, for good reason, compared to concentration camps.</p>
<p>Those daring or desperate enough to break through this 21st-century apartheid have been and will continue to be smeared as “gangs,” “the rabble,” and especially “mobs,” but with resistance comes the refashioning of the master’s weapons. In the U.S., this reappropriation has been carried forward most visibly in hip-hop where, from <a href="" type="internal">Mobb Deep</a> to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9saEpqhBP5M" type="external">Crime Mob</a>, from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8jO3KcMlWE" type="external">Ice Cube’s</a> to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVaZCLxgQGA" type="external">Lil Wayne’s</a> versions of “Steady Mobbin,” this elite slur has been taken up by its victims and resignified as an expression of popular solidarity, of resistance, and of the indomitable strength that comes in numbers (the one strength that tends to be the exclusive domain of the poor).</p>
<p>But if resistance breeds appropriation, it can eventually lead as well to reabsorption into the dominant culture, to which even slurs as potent as the ‘mob’ are not immune. Thus it was with the “flashmobs” that began to pop up eight years ago, whose choreographed spontaneity was quickly reduced to a purely ritualized aesthetic. Howie Mandel’s TV show Mobbed and <a href="" type="internal">AT&amp;T’s most recent ad campaign</a> are but the logical conclusion of an already empty form. But when this cleanly-picked carcass was taken up more recently by young Black people in Philadelphia and elsewhere, who injected the term “flashmob” with a spontaneity it had never enjoyed, all hell was bound to break loose.</p>
<p>You know things are bad when the police and the mayor stand as the voice of reason, but this was indeed the case last year in Philadelphia, when a series of “flashmobs” comprising hundreds of Black youth used text messaging to take over a Macy’s in Center City and raucously occupy the partying mecca of South Street. Referring to these gatherings only as <a href="" type="internal">“mobs,” and even as “ad hoc gangs,”</a> national and local media sought to stoke the hysteria by exaggerating the violence of the crowds. For the moment, however, the police weren’t taking the bait, and instead insisted that most of the incidents reported were “unrelated to flashmobs.” But while the police sought to downplay the socioeconomic (and racial) element of the flashmobs, the New York Times rightly observed that, “Most of the teenagers who have taken part in them are black and from poor neighborhoods. Most of the areas hit have been predominantly white business districts.”</p>
<p>Mayor Michael Nutter took the same line as the police, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2Smuf7kFU&amp;feature=player_embedded" type="external">suggesting</a> that the media was exaggerating the threat of flashmobs, and insisting that, “if the facts get reported, all of us would probably breathe a little easier.” But this wasn’t principled moderation, but rather an effort to protect Philadelphia’s public image and economic interests: business investors and the overprotective parents of hipster gentrifiers wouldn’t like the sound of “mobs” taking over the city. But the same logic that led Nutter to downplay flashmobs last year would lead him to publicly take a hard line against them a year later.</p>
<p>In this, Nutter was firmly pushed by the media, which closed ranks around a single message: something must be done. Suddenly everything became a flashmob, even categorically distinct events like random beatings by small groups, fights within large groups, and even coordinated shoplifting that has since been deemed “flash robs.” Armed with video footage of a violent beating on South Street which would soon be set on permanent loop in the local media, the Mayor was ready to make his move.</p>
<p>Nutter’s Sister Souljah Moment</p>
<p>In 1992, then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton sparked a controversy when he used a speech to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition as an opportunity to slander female hip-hop icon Sister Soulja by comparing her comments about the L.A. riots to notorious white supremacist David Duke. While this seemed like a spontaneous, off-the-cuff comment, “ <a href="" type="internal">there was nothing spontaneous about it</a>. The Clinton campaign had planned the confrontation” to send a message to white America, that he could be trusted, and “the strategy worked.”</p>
<p>So too when Michael Nutter climbed to the pulpit of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in West Philly on August 7th. Pushed by that faithful mouthpiece of anxious white Philadelphians, the media, but also by personal ambitions in an election year, <a href="" type="internal">Nutter immediately warned</a> that his speech would “not be PC,” and claimed to speak for what the silent Black majority “think[s] but may not say.” He then launched into a virulent attack on Black parents, who he called “human ATMs” and “sperm donors,” before putting on his best Bill Cosby impression (both, not coincidentally, from Philadelphia) to turn his ire toward the youth themselves:</p>
<p>Pull your pants up and buy a belt, because no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt… Comb your hair. And get some grooming skills… Running round here with your hair all over the place. Learn some manners. Keep your butt in school… And why don’t you work on extending your English vocabulary… beyond the few curse words that you know, some other grunts and grumbles and other things that none of us can understand what you’re saying. And if you go to look for a job, don’t go blame it on the white folks, or anybody else. If you walk in somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back and your shoes untied and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arm, on your face, on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you. They don’t hire you because you look like you’re crazy. That’s why they’re not hiring you.</p>
<p>This deplorable tirade shares far more with David Duke than anything Sister Souljah has ever said. In classic “culture of poverty” fashion, unemployment, economic inequality, educational disparities, and even overtly racist policies and practices dissolve miraculously into personal behavior and individual choices. If Black youth can’t get a job, they have no one to blame but themselves.</p>
<p>Never mind the fact that unemployment statistics (which some estimate around 75% for young Black men in North Philly) are rooted in the economic destruction of Black and poor communities and exacerbated by discrimination against both people of color and former felons. Just pull your pants up, speak the King’s English, and before you know it investors will be lining up and employers will be banging down your door to hire you!</p>
<p>Nutter’s message was not aimed at those Black churchgoers gathered before him. Like Clinton speaking to the Rainbow Coalition, Nutter’s real audience was white Philadelphians, and his message was to assure them that he’s not “too” Black or “too” radical. This is, after all, an election year, and Nutter won’t be losing <a href="" type="internal">what is left of a Black middle class</a>. And like Clinton’s 1992 performance, this too succeeded, judging by the giddiness of the press at Nutter’s “mob crackdown.” But it was not only white liberals and the press who would celebrate Nutter’s attack on the Black youth. <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/274393/read-speech-rich-lowry" type="external">Conservative pundit and National Review editor Rich Lowry</a> was positively glowing, urging his followers to “Read This Speech.” Even the hyper-conservative and openly <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6haU83ni5Y&amp;feature=related" type="external">racist Michael Savage</a> could scarcely contain his glee, even arguing “That’s the kind of man we need to run the country.” Nutter has certainly won the white supremacist vote.</p>
<p>Nutter’s response was almost as shocking as his rhetoric: he proposed to roll back the weekend curfew for those under 18 to 9pm, but only in the wealthier and whiter areas of Center City and University City. Such measures are not new for Nutter, who was touting harsh anti-crime measures eve before his 2007 mayoral campaign, and once elected he pinned his reputation on the arguably unconstitutional “stop-and-frisk” policy (much like that which lay behind the recent unrest in London). By 2009, police stops of pedestrians had increased an incredible 148% to 253,333. While clearly ineffective (only 8% of stops led to arrests), the policy led to an intensification of already racist policing (72% of victims of the stops were Black), and after a $115,000 payout for constitutional violations under stop-and-frisk, <a href="" type="internal">the mayor recently announced changes</a> to the program.</p>
<p>The only novelty in the Mayor’s anti-flashmob plan is his claim to support after-school activities and rec centers, support that was notably lacking when Nutter slashed jobs, closed libraries and swimming pools, and cut back hours at the very same rec centers he is now touting as a possible solution to the problem of unruly youth.</p>
<p>A Policy of Segregation</p>
<p>Philadelphia activist <a href="" type="internal">Che Gossett has noted</a> that the word “curfew” finds its roots in the French for smothering a fire, fire being something which, like the mob itself, threatens to move in unpredictable and dangerous ways. But the fire to be smothered in the history of United States was above all racial, and here curfews have historically served as a racist weapon for the containment of Black bodies. This too is the function of today’s curfew in Philadelphia, which led to the detention of 75 young and mostly Black people on the first weekend it took effect. Why is the curfew restricted to the wealthier city center area? Apologists for the policy would say that it is because this is where flashmobs have occurred, and this revealing truth already says a lot about how flashmobs are an attempt to reclaim territories forbidden by segregation.</p>
<p>Many young people rightly scoff at the talk of “violent flashmobs,” and with good reason. This isn’t to say that it’s acceptable to randomly attack bystanders, but simply that these minor incidents are few and far between, and more importantly that they pale in comparison to the violence these youth experience in their own neighborhoods every day: the economic violence of unemployment and hunger and the resulting horizontal social violence that inevitably occurs when the oppressed are squeezed together. Rapper Meek Mill <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5spMjy8uhc&amp;feature=fvst" type="external">recently described Philly as “the new Iraq,”</a> and the comparison is not as exaggerated as some might think.</p>
<p>Frantz Fanon sketched the contours of these various violences in the context of colonial Algeria. For Fanon, the colonial world is divided between white and Black, rich and poor, with the police standing in-between. Sounds a lot like Philly. Under such conditions, the colonized lashes out at those closest, but this “very real collective self-destruction” that we today call Black-on-Black violence does not worry those in power, quite the opposite: it operates as an escape valve for pressure, channeling violent anger away from its true causes. What is unacceptable for those in power is when the poor and oppressed cross the bounds of segregation.</p>
<p>And when they do, they will be deemed “violent” regardless of their intentions or methods. For unauthorized and racialized subjects, in the words of Fanonian philosopher and Temple University professor Lewis Gordon, “to appear is to be violent.” Thus the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was perceived as violent by whites at the time because it disrupted segregation, and thus the flashmob phenomenon is made out to be far more violent than it in fact is. The problem isn’t that flashmobs are violent, it’s that Black youth have broken the bounds of informal segregation, daring to gather in large numbers to reclaim a city center that has long been off-limits.</p>
<p>As <a href="" type="internal">one young Philadelphian put it</a>, “we come from a place where we feel like we don’t exist to the outside world,” and flashmobs are but one of many attempts by young Black people penned in by segregation to demonstrate that they do indeed exist. But it is almost inevitable that such demonstrations will be accused of violence regardless of their behavior. I witnessed one such flashmob, and what struck me more than the danger it posed was the profound racism it provoked from bystanders, bringing to the surface both in body language and dismissive comments uttered with an air of nervousness. “I’m glad my children don’t have to grow up around this,” one onlooker hissed venomously.</p>
<p>Flashmobs are a reclaiming of public space and a form of resistance to segregation, and the Mayor’s curfew attempts to respond with further segregation. Nutter even admitted as much in his sermon when he argued that, “if you want to act like an idiot, move out of this city. We don’t want you here anymore.” And that wasn’t all he admitted, adding proudly that “We got the biggest, baddest gang in town.” This view echoes the allegation of many community activists that it is the police themselves who, converging spontaneously via electronic communication to wreak havoc and commit violence, represent “the real flashmob” (see for example <a href="" type="internal">a recent video</a> designed to reveal Nutter’s hypocrisy by splicing together his attack on the flashmobs and footage of last year’s police beating of Askia Sabur).</p>
<p>When asked why the flashmobs occur, Desmond Anthony, a 20-year-old North Philadelphian, speaks in terms that directly echo many of those <a href="" type="internal">who took to the streets of London</a>:</p>
<p>Why? To alert people, to tell people this: there’s nothing to do out here, the streets is struggling, schools getting shut down, jobs not hiring, a lot of people are losing their lives over bullshit, cops killing people, people are bored, that’s a part of why we flashmob… In Philly, we got this mentality, that we’re not gonna let someone tell us what to do… We gonna keep on fighting. I think the flashmobs should be ongoing in a more meaningful direction, where younger folks can really be heard…</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Fighting the Flash?</p>
<p>Last weekend, a number of local organizations, justifiably outraged by this racist backlash and demonization of the youth, <a href="" type="internal">marched in public opposition to Nutter’s curfew</a>. Representatives from Philadelphia Coalition of the Heart and the Uhuru Organization put forth a 12-point platform calling for among other things a repeal of the “segregationist, Jim Crow” curfew and stop-and-frisk, an end to the demonization of flashmobs, and insisting that Mayor Nutter and others around him “represent white power in Black face.” A large and boisterous group marched in defiance of the curfew down South Street, chanting such slogans as “Fight for teen jobs, not the flashmob!” and “Who run South Street? Not the police!”</p>
<p>Most were against the curfew, but opinions on the flashmobs themselves seemed divided, as suggested by the slogan of the march: “Fighting the Flash.” For some, this meant fighting the media strategy of demonization of Philadelphia’s Black youth, whereas for others it meant actually standing in opposition to the flashmobs themselves (rather than to the occasional violence they cause). Independent mayoral candidate Diop Olugbala took the opportunity to rightly insist that flashmobs represent “a form of resistance” that need only be channeled down more positive avenues. On another occasion, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTcnLaeatnw&amp;feature=related" type="external">Olugbala emphasized the importance of London</a>: “The reality is that if the uprising that we saw in London occurs here in Philadelphia, it will be a direct response and result of Nutter’s repressive policies, and the ashes of the city of Philadelphia will be on Michael Nutter’s head.”</p>
<p>For Desmond Anthony, the events in London were “beautiful,” and he adds that, “I think we should’ve had had that here a long time ago.” He echoes Olugbala, giving his comparison the added weight of prophecy:</p>
<p>It can get to the point where it’s gonna get like London… Very soon, by 2012 it’s gonna be hell in Philadelphia, in America, and beyond, and I’m not talking about no 2012 apocalypse talk. This country is gonna be divided again, there’s gonna be a modern civil war. We’re tired of the bullshit, we need to make a real change.</p>
<p>George Ciccariello-Maher is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drexel University. He is completing a people’s history of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela and beginning a history of rabbles, mobs, and gangs. He can be reached at gjcm(at)drexel.edu.</p> | true | 4 | character present moment undeniable tangled web causes consequences london cairo santiago budget cuts name austerity rising unemployment increasing popular resistance upsurge racist violence policing measures like stopandfrisk failure economic system short long term generated entire class undesirables living proof failure must contained controlled silenced even recognize roots distant rebellions far hesitant upheavals closer home philadelphia currently grips bout mob hysteria least virulent far racist backlash underway london media police city government public contributed yet dared call steady mobbin philadelphia london use term mob tar ones opponents dangerous unruly irrational criminal apolitical cases also deeply racist like term gang mob roots movement mobility evokes deep abiding fear uncontrolled movement poor darkskinned well know era ostensible globalization authorized move tourists executives commodities financial flows authorized poor largely racialized masses find ever pennedin confined force economics urban wastelands known slums many good reason compared concentration camps daring desperate enough break 21stcentury apartheid continue smeared gangs rabble especially mobs resistance comes refashioning masters weapons us reappropriation carried forward visibly hiphop mobb deep crime mob ice cubes lil waynes versions steady mobbin elite slur taken victims resignified expression popular solidarity resistance indomitable strength comes numbers one strength tends exclusive domain poor resistance breeds appropriation eventually lead well reabsorption dominant culture even slurs potent mob immune thus flashmobs began pop eight years ago whose choreographed spontaneity quickly reduced purely ritualized aesthetic howie mandels tv show mobbed atampts recent ad campaign logical conclusion already empty form cleanlypicked carcass taken recently young black people philadelphia elsewhere injected term flashmob spontaneity never enjoyed hell bound break loose know things bad police mayor stand voice reason indeed case last year philadelphia series flashmobs comprising hundreds black youth used text messaging take macys center city raucously occupy partying mecca south street referring gatherings mobs even ad hoc gangs national local media sought stoke hysteria exaggerating violence crowds moment however police werent taking bait instead insisted incidents reported unrelated flashmobs police sought downplay socioeconomic racial element flashmobs new york times rightly observed teenagers taken part black poor neighborhoods areas hit predominantly white business districts mayor michael nutter took line police suggesting media exaggerating threat flashmobs insisting facts get reported us would probably breathe little easier wasnt principled moderation rather effort protect philadelphias public image economic interests business investors overprotective parents hipster gentrifiers wouldnt like sound mobs taking city logic led nutter downplay flashmobs last year would lead publicly take hard line year later nutter firmly pushed media closed ranks around single message something must done suddenly everything became flashmob even categorically distinct events like random beatings small groups fights within large groups even coordinated shoplifting since deemed flash robs armed video footage violent beating south street would soon set permanent loop local media mayor ready make move nutters sister souljah moment 1992 thenpresidential candidate bill clinton sparked controversy used speech jesse jacksons rainbow coalition opportunity slander female hiphop icon sister soulja comparing comments la riots notorious white supremacist david duke seemed like spontaneous offthecuff comment nothing spontaneous clinton campaign planned confrontation send message white america could trusted strategy worked michael nutter climbed pulpit mt carmel baptist church west philly august 7th pushed faithful mouthpiece anxious white philadelphians media also personal ambitions election year nutter immediately warned speech would pc claimed speak silent black majority thinks may say launched virulent attack black parents called human atms sperm donors putting best bill cosby impression coincidentally philadelphia turn ire toward youth pull pants buy belt one wants see underwear crack butt comb hair get grooming skills running round hair place learn manners keep butt school dont work extending english vocabulary beyond curse words know grunts grumbles things none us understand youre saying go look job dont go blame white folks anybody else walk somebodys office hair uncombed pick back shoes untied pants half tattoos arm face neck wonder somebody wont hire dont hire look like youre crazy thats theyre hiring deplorable tirade shares far david duke anything sister souljah ever said classic culture poverty fashion unemployment economic inequality educational disparities even overtly racist policies practices dissolve miraculously personal behavior individual choices black youth cant get job one blame never mind fact unemployment statistics estimate around 75 young black men north philly rooted economic destruction black poor communities exacerbated discrimination people color former felons pull pants speak kings english know investors lining employers banging door hire nutters message aimed black churchgoers gathered like clinton speaking rainbow coalition nutters real audience white philadelphians message assure hes black radical election year nutter wont losing left black middle class like clintons 1992 performance succeeded judging giddiness press nutters mob crackdown white liberals press would celebrate nutters attack black youth conservative pundit national review editor rich lowry positively glowing urging followers read speech even hyperconservative openly racist michael savage could scarcely contain glee even arguing thats kind man need run country nutter certainly white supremacist vote nutters response almost shocking rhetoric proposed roll back weekend curfew 18 9pm wealthier whiter areas center city university city measures new nutter touting harsh anticrime measures eve 2007 mayoral campaign elected pinned reputation arguably unconstitutional stopandfrisk policy much like lay behind recent unrest london 2009 police stops pedestrians increased incredible 148 253333 clearly ineffective 8 stops led arrests policy led intensification already racist policing 72 victims stops black 115000 payout constitutional violations stopandfrisk mayor recently announced changes program novelty mayors antiflashmob plan claim support afterschool activities rec centers support notably lacking nutter slashed jobs closed libraries swimming pools cut back hours rec centers touting possible solution problem unruly youth policy segregation philadelphia activist che gossett noted word curfew finds roots french smothering fire fire something like mob threatens move unpredictable dangerous ways fire smothered history united states racial curfews historically served racist weapon containment black bodies function todays curfew philadelphia led detention 75 young mostly black people first weekend took effect curfew restricted wealthier city center area apologists policy would say flashmobs occurred revealing truth already says lot flashmobs attempt reclaim territories forbidden segregation many young people rightly scoff talk violent flashmobs good reason isnt say acceptable randomly attack bystanders simply minor incidents far importantly pale comparison violence youth experience neighborhoods every day economic violence unemployment hunger resulting horizontal social violence inevitably occurs oppressed squeezed together rapper meek mill recently described philly new iraq comparison exaggerated might think frantz fanon sketched contours various violences context colonial algeria fanon colonial world divided white black rich poor police standing inbetween sounds lot like philly conditions colonized lashes closest real collective selfdestruction today call blackonblack violence worry power quite opposite operates escape valve pressure channeling violent anger away true causes unacceptable power poor oppressed cross bounds segregation deemed violent regardless intentions methods unauthorized racialized subjects words fanonian philosopher temple university professor lewis gordon appear violent thus nonviolent civil rights movement 1960s perceived violent whites time disrupted segregation thus flashmob phenomenon made far violent fact problem isnt flashmobs violent black youth broken bounds informal segregation daring gather large numbers reclaim city center long offlimits one young philadelphian put come place feel like dont exist outside world flashmobs one many attempts young black people penned segregation demonstrate indeed exist almost inevitable demonstrations accused violence regardless behavior witnessed one flashmob struck danger posed profound racism provoked bystanders bringing surface body language dismissive comments uttered air nervousness im glad children dont grow around one onlooker hissed venomously flashmobs reclaiming public space form resistance segregation mayors curfew attempts respond segregation nutter even admitted much sermon argued want act like idiot move city dont want anymore wasnt admitted adding proudly got biggest baddest gang town view echoes allegation many community activists police converging spontaneously via electronic communication wreak havoc commit violence represent real flashmob see example recent video designed reveal nutters hypocrisy splicing together attack flashmobs footage last years police beating askia sabur asked flashmobs occur desmond anthony 20yearold north philadelphian speaks terms directly echo many took streets london alert people tell people theres nothing streets struggling schools getting shut jobs hiring lot people losing lives bullshit cops killing people people bored thats part flashmob philly got mentality gon na let someone tell us gon na keep fighting think flashmobs ongoing meaningful direction younger folks really heard 160 fighting flash last weekend number local organizations justifiably outraged racist backlash demonization youth marched public opposition nutters curfew representatives philadelphia coalition heart uhuru organization put forth 12point platform calling among things repeal segregationist jim crow curfew stopandfrisk end demonization flashmobs insisting mayor nutter others around represent white power black face large boisterous group marched defiance curfew south street chanting slogans fight teen jobs flashmob run south street police curfew opinions flashmobs seemed divided suggested slogan march fighting flash meant fighting media strategy demonization philadelphias black youth whereas others meant actually standing opposition flashmobs rather occasional violence cause independent mayoral candidate diop olugbala took opportunity rightly insist flashmobs represent form resistance need channeled positive avenues another occasion olugbala emphasized importance london reality uprising saw london occurs philadelphia direct response result nutters repressive policies ashes city philadelphia michael nutters head desmond anthony events london beautiful adds think shouldve long time ago echoes olugbala giving comparison added weight prophecy get point gon na get like london soon 2012 gon na hell philadelphia america beyond im talking 2012 apocalypse talk country gon na divided theres gon na modern civil war tired bullshit need make real change george ciccariellomaher assistant professor political science drexel university completing peoples history bolivarian revolution venezuela beginning history rabbles mobs gangs reached gjcmatdrexeledu | 1,568 |
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<p>During my six-year sojourn in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, one of the things I came away with was a sense of how generally un-nationalistic and non-patriotic the Chinese people were.</p>
<p>Caught up in the struggle first to simply survive and then, in the mid-90s, to try and grab onto the moving train that was China’s new Great Leap into Capitalism, average mainland Chinese, whether out in the remote farmlands of western Anhui Province or in the rundown house lining the hutongs of Shanghai or Beijing, had no time for patriotic displays or nationalistic concerns.</p>
<p>When Chinese Communist Party leaders in Beijing would beat the drum of nationalism over Taiwanese independence efforts in the 1990s, it evoked mostly yawns among average Chinese people, and in fact, to Beijing’s embarrassment, a popular computer game featured a war-game in which Taiwan defeated the People’s Liberation Army.</p>
<p>That all started to change when the US, early in the first term of President George W. Bush, taunted the Chinese by flying a spy plane into Chinese airspace, damaging a Chinese fighter jet that flew up to intercept it, and getting forced down itself on Hainan Island. That incident aroused a lot of anger among ordinary Chinese who felt that the US was pushing their country around, and who felt pride at their country’s willingness and ability to stand tough and take the American plane hostage.</p>
<p>Now, the Tibet uprising, which has garnered global support, particularly in Europe and the US, has further inflamed Chinese nationalism, with most Chinese seeing Tibet as part of China’s historic imperial realm, and the global backing for Tibet nationalists as a throwback to 19th Century and early 20th Century imperialist attacks on China by the West.</p>
<p>In a way, the Tibetan riots have been a golden opportunity for China’s sclerotic Communist Party leadership, which has been feeling growing pressure to open up the political system, but which can now ride a wave of unthinking nationalism and push those democratic pressures aside, at least for a time (much as 9-11 allowed Bush and Cheney to do the same to democratic traditions and the rule of law in the US).</p>
<p>The 2008 Olympics set for Beijing, which many Chinese democrats had hoped would force China to open up space for them, thanks to the wave of western tourists and journalists and all the global media attention that they would bring to the country, will now be held under tight police guard on the largely trumped-up excuse of threats of Tibetan terrorism.</p>
<p>There is a lesson here for America, though I doubt that the policymakers in Washington are of a mind to take it. That lesson applies to Iran.</p>
<p>The neoconservatives who have dominated the Bush administration, and who appear to be gaining the ear of Republican presidential presumptive nominee John McCain, and whose neoliberal relatives in the Democratic Leadership Council also seem to have Hillary Clinton in their pocket, all talk of taking a hard line with Iran over its alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Bush and Vice President Cheney talk openly of attacking Iran, and indeed Cheney may have been preparing for just such a disastrous action with his so-called “peace trip” to the Middle East last month (a trip that was followed by a nationwide five-day mobilization in Israel, and by calls from the Saudi government for preparations for a possible wave of nuclear fallout to hit that country). McCain, meanwhile, has entertained supporters by bastardizing a Beach Boys hit and singing “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb! Bomb Iran!” Hillary Clinton, for her part, signed on to a war-mongering piece of legislation sponsored a few months ago by Senate warmonger-in-chief Joe Lieberman (D-CT), which gratuitously designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a “global terrorist” organization-an open invitation for Bush to order an attack on military bases in Iran.</p>
<p>The problem with this mad strategy of attacking Iran is that its effect would be to galvanize the Iranian people, who like the Chinese, currently have little love for their repressive theocratic government, and little interest in nationalist heroics, not to mention little innate hostility towards America, and to turn them into super-patriots ready to fight and die for their country.</p>
<p>Like China, Iran is an ancient and proud civilization, and one of the oldest continuous polities in the world today. Its culture, thousands of years old, helped to engender what we today call Western civilization. Its writers, poets, musicians, scientists and artists have produced ideas and creations to rival those of any other nation on the globe.</p>
<p>If the US were to attack Iran-even if that attack were carefully targeted at only government buildings, nuclear facilities and military bases-the country’s largely apolitical population would predictably stand together as one to rally in defense of their nation. Just as the Chinese people have rallied ’round the flag as China is attacked-in this case from within by Tibetan separatists and from without by supporters of a Free Tibet-Iranians would rally ’round the flag if their country came under attack-especially if that attack came from the same country which undermined and overthrew their popular democratically elected government half a century ago, installing the hated Shah.</p>
<p>Now talk about stupid policies!</p>
<p>I agree that China has no business owning Tibet-any more than the US should own Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, or the lands it stole from the indigenous peoples of America. And I agree that the mullahs who rule Iraq with an iron hand are a despicable bunch of bigots and misogynous sociopaths who should go back to their mosques and stay out of politics-just as bone-headed fundamentalist church leaders should stay out of politics here. But threatening these countries, as America did with its spy plane flights near China in 2001 and with its current rhetoric about “regime change” in and war against Iran, is not the way to achieve those ends.</p>
<p>If China ultimately lets Tibetans have self-determination or independence, it will be because the Tibetans demanded it and because the Chinese people agreed to let them have it-or it will be because central authority in China, and with it control over its boundaries-has collapsed, as it historically has done a number of times.</p>
<p>Similarly, the if Iran ultimately ousts its theocratic leadership and returns to the democratic path so abruptly derailed by the CIA two generations ago, it will be because its own long-suffering people made that change, not because of the American military and America’s blustery leaders. In fact, American politicians and generals can only delay that day by their threats and by any actual ill-conceived military action.</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF, a Philadelphia-based journalist, was a two-time Fulbright Scholar in China, and majored in Chinese language at Wesleyan University. He has lived in Shanghai, Xian, Hong Kong and in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback). His work is available at <a href="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/" type="external">www.thiscantbehappening.net</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 sixyear sojourn china hong kong taiwan one things came away sense generally unnationalistic nonpatriotic chinese people caught struggle first simply survive mid90s try grab onto moving train chinas new great leap capitalism average mainland chinese whether remote farmlands western anhui province rundown house lining hutongs shanghai beijing time patriotic displays nationalistic concerns chinese communist party leaders beijing would beat drum nationalism taiwanese independence efforts 1990s evoked mostly yawns among average chinese people fact beijings embarrassment popular computer game featured wargame taiwan defeated peoples liberation army started change us early first term president george w bush taunted chinese flying spy plane chinese airspace damaging chinese fighter jet flew intercept getting forced hainan island incident aroused lot anger among ordinary chinese felt us pushing country around felt pride countrys willingness ability stand tough take american plane hostage tibet uprising garnered global support particularly europe us inflamed chinese nationalism chinese seeing tibet part chinas historic imperial realm global backing tibet nationalists throwback 19th century early 20th century imperialist attacks china west way tibetan riots golden opportunity chinas sclerotic communist party leadership feeling growing pressure open political system ride wave unthinking nationalism push democratic pressures aside least time much 911 allowed bush cheney democratic traditions rule law us 2008 olympics set beijing many chinese democrats hoped would force china open space thanks wave western tourists journalists global media attention would bring country held tight police guard largely trumpedup excuse threats tibetan terrorism lesson america though doubt policymakers washington mind take lesson applies iran neoconservatives dominated bush administration appear gaining ear republican presidential presumptive nominee john mccain whose neoliberal relatives democratic leadership council also seem hillary clinton pocket talk taking hard line iran alleged efforts develop nuclear weapons bush vice president cheney talk openly attacking iran indeed cheney may preparing disastrous action socalled peace trip middle east last month trip followed nationwide fiveday mobilization israel calls saudi government preparations possible wave nuclear fallout hit country mccain meanwhile entertained supporters bastardizing beach boys hit singing bomb bomb bomb bomb iran hillary clinton part signed warmongering piece legislation sponsored months ago senate warmongerinchief joe lieberman dct gratuitously designated iranian revolutionary guard global terrorist organizationan open invitation bush order attack military bases iran problem mad strategy attacking iran effect would galvanize iranian people like chinese currently little love repressive theocratic government little interest nationalist heroics mention little innate hostility towards america turn superpatriots ready fight die country like china iran ancient proud civilization one oldest continuous polities world today culture thousands years old helped engender today call western civilization writers poets musicians scientists artists produced ideas creations rival nation globe us attack iraneven attack carefully targeted government buildings nuclear facilities military basesthe countrys largely apolitical population would predictably stand together one rally defense nation chinese people rallied round flag china attackedin case within tibetan separatists without supporters free tibetiranians would rally round flag country came attackespecially attack came country undermined overthrew popular democratically elected government half century ago installing hated shah talk stupid policies agree china business owning tibetany us puerto rico virgin islands lands stole indigenous peoples america agree mullahs rule iraq iron hand despicable bunch bigots misogynous sociopaths go back mosques stay politicsjust boneheaded fundamentalist church leaders stay politics threatening countries america spy plane flights near china 2001 current rhetoric regime change war iran way achieve ends china ultimately lets tibetans selfdetermination independence tibetans demanded chinese people agreed let itor central authority china control boundarieshas collapsed historically done number times similarly iran ultimately ousts theocratic leadership returns democratic path abruptly derailed cia two generations ago longsuffering people made change american military americas blustery leaders fact american politicians generals delay day threats actual illconceived military action dave lindorff philadelphiabased journalist twotime fulbright scholar china majored chinese language wesleyan university lived shanghai xian hong kong kaohsiung taiwan latest book case impeachment st martins press 2006 available paperback work available wwwthiscantbehappeningnet 160 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<p>Update (11/6/2013): David Barton announced Wednesday that he won’t run for Congress, despite prodding from tea part activists. “I am deeply honored and humbled by the heartfelt efforts of thousands of people encouraging me to run for the U.S. Senate,” he wrote in a statement. “But as important as one seat in the U. S. Senate is, we also have generations of citizens that need to know our constitutional principles and rich heritage. Such education will result in the election of many more constitutionally-minded common-sense patriots in coming years….I will continue to work side-by-side with you in the trenches to educate the nation, while also recruiting, training, and electing a new generation of conservative leaders.”</p>
<p>In one of the starkest signs yet of the tea party’s take-no-prisoners war on the Republican establishment, conservative activists are pressing controversial historian David Barton to challenge the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John&#160;Cornyn&#160;(R-Texas). Glenn Beck touted Barton’s would-be candidacy and taunted Cornryn on his show <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/10/31/senator-david-barton-glenn-certainly-thinks-it-has-a-nice-ring-to-it/" type="external">last Thursday</a>, saying, “You should quiver in your boots and hide, John.”</p>
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<p>One of Barton’s closest advisors, Rick Green, recently <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362659/tea-party-activists-push-david-barton-primary-cornyn-betsy-woodruff" type="external">told the National Review Online</a> that more than 1,000 Republican and tea party leaders had asked the historian to enter&#160;the race. Green added that Barton would seriously consider running “if the people of Texas speak loud enough,” and urged backers to show their support by liking the new “ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DavidBartonforAmerica" type="external">Draft David Barton for Senate</a>” Facebook page.&#160;JoAnn Fleming, the executive director of Grassroots America We The People, a Texas tea party group, also weighed in, telling NRO that tea party activists were planning a conference call with Barton in the next week to discuss his possible candidacy. “We need a Constitutional conservative in that seat,”&#160;she said. “We believe that Senator Cornyn has become part of the establishment and we don’t believe that his priorities reflect the priorities of the people of Texas any longer.”</p>
<p>Cornyn, a third-term Congressman, has solid conservative credentials; in 2012, the National Journal <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-voting-ratings/the-senate-s-most-conservative-member-ever-heard-of-him-20130220" type="external">named him the second</a> most conservative US Senator. But he has rankled tea party activists by refusing to back some of the economic brinksmanship advocated by Texas’&#160;junior senator Ted Cruz during the federal shutdown and debt-ceiling&#160;negotiations.</p>
<p>Many tea partiers believe Cornyn is ripe for a primary challenge. And Barton, the former vice chair of the Texas Republican Party, has some advantages over other insurgent candidates, including name recognition and deep political ties. As Michelle Goldberg <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/christian-right-historian-david-barton-in-freefall-over-jefferson-lies.html" type="external">explained on the Daily Beast last year</a>:</p>
<p>It’s hard to overstate how important Barton has been in shaping the worldview of the Christian right, and of populist conservatives more generally. A self-taught historian with a degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University, he runs a Texas-based organization called WallBuilders, which specializes in books and videos meant to show that the founding fathers were overwhelmingly “orthodox, evangelical” believers who intended for the United States to be a Christian nation. Newt Gingrich has called his work “wonderful” and “most useful.” George W. Bush’s campaign hired him to do clergy outreach in 2004. In 2010, Glenn Beck called him called him “the most important man in America right now.”</p>
<p>Barton, who believes America should be governed by Biblical law, also helped <a href="" type="internal">write the 2008 Republican Party platform</a>. And he has advised numerous political candidates, including former Arkansas governor and presidential contender Mike Huckabee, who has said that all Americans should be “forced at gunpoint” to “listen to every David Barton message.”</p>
<p>But Barton’s ideas wouldn’t necessarily fare&#160;well on the campaign trail. This, after all, is a man who argues that Jesus would oppose the minimum wage and that the affair between&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Thomas Jefferson and&#160;Sally Hemings was a liberal plot.</a> Secular critics have long argued that Barton’s scholarship is sloppy and littered with errors. The reaction to <a href="" type="internal">his 2012 book,</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Jefferson Lies</a>, which portrays Jefferson as a devout Christian who opposed church-state separation, was particularly scathing. The History News Network (a project of George Mason University) <a href="http://hnn.us/article/147149" type="external">voted it the “Least Credible History Book in Print.”</a> Following its release, Barton also came <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/2012/08/the_david_barton_controversy" type="external">&#160;under withering attack from Christian scholars</a>; professors Michael Coulter and Warren Throckmorton of Pennsylvania’s Grove City College, a mostly conservative Christian school, wrote an entire book debunking Barton’s claims. Barton’s Christian publisher eventually dropped The Jefferson Lies entirely, saying it had <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/2012/08/lost_confidence" type="external">“lost confidence in the book’s details.”</a></p>
<p>In light of these facts, some conservatives are skittish about the prospect of a Barton Senate run. “I heartily agree that Texas Sen. John Cornyn needs to be primaried,” conservative radio host Janet Mefferd <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JanetMefferdShow/posts/10151787028446225" type="external">wrote on Facebook</a>. “But not by David Barton. He has way too much baggage on his ‘historian’ credentials.” Barton’s critics, meanwhile, see his possible candidacy as an opportunity to expose his ideas to even greater scrutiny. “If he runs, I hope the press will shine a bright light on his claims about history and government,” Throckmorton told Mother Jones.</p>
<p>Still, Barton’s standing among supporters is as strong as ever. Today, he’s coaching state lawmakers across the county on fighting the Common Core, a set of uniform academic standards, which are being rolled out in public schools nationwide. Over the summer, he headlined a conference for conservative pastors with Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul (R-Ky). “I’m not in a position to opine on academic disputes between historians, but I can tell you that David Barton is a good man, a courageous leader and a friend,”&#160;Cruz <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/david-barton-historian-right-christian-96443.html" type="external">told Politico</a> in September. “David’s historical research has helped millions rediscover the founding principles of our nation and the incredible sacrifices that men and women of faith made to bequeath to us the freest and most prosperous nation in the world.”</p>
<p>Never mind that many of those principles aren’t rooted in fact.</p> | true | 4 | update 1162013 david barton announced wednesday wont run congress despite prodding tea part activists deeply honored humbled heartfelt efforts thousands people encouraging run us senate wrote statement important one seat u senate also generations citizens need know constitutional principles rich heritage education result election many constitutionallyminded commonsense patriots coming yearsi continue work sidebyside trenches educate nation also recruiting training electing new generation conservative leaders one starkest signs yet tea partys takenoprisoners war republican establishment conservative activists pressing controversial historian david barton challenge senates 2 republican john160cornyn160rtexas glenn beck touted bartons wouldbe candidacy taunted cornryn show last thursday saying quiver boots hide john 160 160 one bartons closest advisors rick green recently told national review online 1000 republican tea party leaders asked historian enter160the race green added barton would seriously consider running people texas speak loud enough urged backers show support liking new draft david barton senate facebook page160joann fleming executive director grassroots america people texas tea party group also weighed telling nro tea party activists planning conference call barton next week discuss possible candidacy need constitutional conservative seat160she said believe senator cornyn become part establishment dont believe priorities reflect priorities people texas longer cornyn thirdterm congressman solid conservative credentials 2012 national journal named second conservative us senator rankled tea party activists refusing back economic brinksmanship advocated texas160junior senator ted cruz federal shutdown debtceiling160negotiations many tea partiers believe cornyn ripe primary challenge barton former vice chair texas republican party advantages insurgent candidates including name recognition deep political ties michelle goldberg explained daily beast last year hard overstate important barton shaping worldview christian right populist conservatives generally selftaught historian degree religious education oral roberts university runs texasbased organization called wallbuilders specializes books videos meant show founding fathers overwhelmingly orthodox evangelical believers intended united states christian nation newt gingrich called work wonderful useful george w bushs campaign hired clergy outreach 2004 2010 glenn beck called called important man america right barton believes america governed biblical law also helped write 2008 republican party platform advised numerous political candidates including former arkansas governor presidential contender mike huckabee said americans forced gunpoint listen every david barton message bartons ideas wouldnt necessarily fare160well campaign trail man argues jesus would oppose minimum wage affair between160 thomas jefferson and160sally hemings liberal plot secular critics long argued bartons scholarship sloppy littered errors reaction 2012 book jefferson lies portrays jefferson devout christian opposed churchstate separation particularly scathing history news network project george mason university voted least credible history book print following release barton also came 160under withering attack christian scholars professors michael coulter warren throckmorton pennsylvanias grove city college mostly conservative christian school wrote entire book debunking bartons claims bartons christian publisher eventually dropped jefferson lies entirely saying lost confidence books details light facts conservatives skittish prospect barton senate run heartily agree texas sen john cornyn needs primaried conservative radio host janet mefferd wrote facebook david barton way much baggage historian credentials bartons critics meanwhile see possible candidacy opportunity expose ideas even greater scrutiny runs hope press shine bright light claims history government throckmorton told mother jones still bartons standing among supporters strong ever today hes coaching state lawmakers across county fighting common core set uniform academic standards rolled public schools nationwide summer headlined conference conservative pastors sens ted cruz rand paul rky im position opine academic disputes historians tell david barton good man courageous leader friend160cruz told politico september davids historical research helped millions rediscover founding principles nation incredible sacrifices men women faith made bequeath us freest prosperous nation world never mind many principles arent rooted fact | 587 |
<p>Editor’s note: Chris Hedges is off this week while he works on his latest book. This Hedges column from June about the imprisonment of environmental activist Tim DeChristopher is worth rereading in light of the civil disobedience sweeping the country. DeChristopher is serving a two-year sentence, which he plans to appeal.</p>
<p>Tim DeChristopher is scheduled to be sentenced in a Salt Lake City courtroom by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on July 26. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $750,000 fine for fraudulently bidding in December 2008 on parcels of land, including areas around eastern Utah’s national parks, which were being sold off by the Bush administration to the oil and natural gas industry. As Bidder No. 70, he drove up the prices of some of the bids and won more than a dozen other parcels for $1.8 million. The government is asking Judge Benson to send DeChristopher to prison for four and a half years.</p>
<p>His prosecution is evidence that our moral order has been turned upside down. The bankers and swindlers who trashed the global economy and wiped out some $40 trillion in wealth amass obscene amounts of money, much of it provided by taxpayers. They do not go to jail. Regulatory agencies, compliant to the demands of corporations, refuse to impede the destruction unleashed by the coal, oil and natural gas companies as they turn the planet into a hothouse of pollutants, poisoned water, fouled air and contaminated soil in the frenzied quest for greater and greater profits. Those who manage and make fortunes from pre-emptive wars, embrace torture, carry out extrajudicial assassinations, deny habeas corpus and run up the largest deficits in human history are feted as patriots. But when a courageous citizen such as DeChristopher peacefully derails the corporate and governmental destruction of the ecosystem, he is sent to jail.</p>
<p>“The rules are written by those who profit from the status quo,” DeChristopher said when I reached him by phone this weekend in Minneapolis. “If we want to change that status quo we have to step outside of those rules. We have to put pressure on those within the political system to choose one side or another.”</p>
<p />
<p>DeChristopher, whose defense is being assisted by the website <a href="http://www.peacefuluprising.org/" type="external">Peaceful Uprising</a>, knew the government would be auctioning off public land in a sale in Salt Lake City, where he had gone to college. He knew it was wrong. He knew he had to do something. But he did not know what. So he did what all of us should begin to do. He showed up.</p>
<p>“I went there with the intention of standing in the way of the auction,” he told me. “I had no idea what that would look like. I thought I might give a speech or yell something. It was right after the guy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWt3-kPBQ4A%20" type="external">threw a shoe at Bush</a>. That was on my mind. I went there and at the front desk they said, ‘Would you like to be a bidder?’ I said, ‘Yes, I would.’ I was still thinking when I signed up, ‘OK, I’ll sign up to be a bidder so I can get inside and make a speech.’ It wasn’t until I got inside the auction room that I saw I had a huge opportunity to stand in the way of the auction. I had been preparing myself over the course of 2008 in a general way to take that level of action. I had been building up that commitment. I was looking for the opportunity at that point. I was ready to capitalize on it. I had prepared myself for it.”</p>
<p>But what he had not prepared himself for was the way the justice system would be stacked against him. It became clear during the selection of the jury that he did not stand a chance. As the prospective jurors entered the court, activists handed them a pamphlet printed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Informed_Jury_Association" type="external">Fully Informed Jury Association</a>. It said that jurors had a right to come to any decision based on the evidence and their consciences.</p>
<p>“When the judge and the prosecutor found that out, the prosecutor, especially, flipped his shit,” DeChristopher said. “He insisted that the judge tell the jurors that this information was not true. The judge pulled most of the jurors in[to] the chambers and questioned them one at a time. He talked about what was in the pamphlet. He said that regardless of what the pamphlet said it was not their job to decide if this is right or wrong, but to listen to what he said was the law and follow that even if they thought it was morally unjust. They were not allowed to use [their] conscience. They were told they would be violating their oath if they decided this on conscience rather than the evidence that he told them to listen to. I was sitting in that chamber and could see one person after another accept this notion. I could see it in their faces, that they had to do what they were told even if they thought it was morally unjust. That is a scary thing to witness in another human being. I saw it in one person after another brought in the courtroom, sitting at the end of a long table in front of the paternalistic figure of [the] judge with all the majesty around him. They accepted it. They did not question it. It gave me a really good understanding of how some of the great human atrocities happened with the consent of the population, that people can accept what is happening, that it is not their job to question whether any of this is right or wrong.”</p>
<p>As the trial began, the judge refused to let DeChristopher’s defense team inform the jury that the auction was later overturned and declared illegal. The judge also refused to let the defense team inform the jury that DeChristopher had raised the money for the initial payment and offered it to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which then refused to accept it.“We weren’t able to tell the jury either of those things,” he said. “They never knew that the auction was overturned. They never knew I offered the BLM the money. They were told over and over by the judge they were not allowed to use their conscience. When the verdict came it was not a surprise.”</p>
<p>“When our Founding Fathers created the jury system they called it the best defense against legislative tyranny,” he said. “They expected that if the government was passing laws that were out of line with the values of the community, then people would break those laws and take their case before a jury of their peers who would decide whether or not that person’s actions were justified. That was the system our country was founded upon. That shifted radically as the role of the jury has been minimized in our criminal justice system. Juries are no longer given the opportunity to weigh all the factors of a case and are specifically told they are not allowed to use their conscience. It is not their job to decide if things are right or wrong. This is a drastic departure from the system that was originally created in this country.”</p>
<p>When I asked DeChristopher why he did not work within the system, perhaps by backing a progressive Democrat, he answered that “if there was such a thing I might consider it.”</p>
<p>“I don’t see anyone in our political system advocating for significant change,” he said. “I haven’t ignored the political system. I paid attention when the <a href="http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-03-waxman-markey-bill-breakdown" type="external">Waxman-Markey</a> [cap and trade] bill was being debated. I saw that there was a Republican amendment that if energy prices in any region of the country ever go up by more than 10 percent the whole bill is null and void. In other words, if the survival of our children ever costs more than about $300 a year per household, we are going to stop and give up. Both sides debated for over an hour whether it would or not ever cost $300. But there was no one who ever stood up and said maybe the cost was worth it, maybe that was too low a price to put on the heads of your children, maybe it was immoral to put any price on the heads of our children. There was no one standing up and addressing the severity of climate change.”</p>
<p>DeChristopher helped organize a grass-roots campaign in an unsuccessful effort to unseat five-term U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah.</p>
<p>“I saw after the experience with the Waxman-Markey bill that our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition%20" type="external">Blue Dog Democrats</a> in Utah had to go,” he said. He worked for candidate Claudia Wright in a campaign that split the delegate vote and forced a runoff primary.</p>
<p>“There is value in working within the democratic system, but first we need to create a democratic system,” he said. “When we ran Claudia Wright it started with a Craig’s List ‘help wanted’ ad for a ‘Courageous Congressperson.’ We pulled together a panel of longtime activists who were well respected in Utah representing various issues, from environmental issues to peace and justice to LGBT rights, labor, immigration rights and health care. That panel held public interviews at the Salt Lake City Library with all the people who had applied to the Craig’s List ad. Everybody from the district was invited and got to vote in instant runoff voting. That is how we came up with that candidate. We started from scratch.”</p>
<p>“If we were going to have a democracy, what would it look like? That was one experiment,” he said. “Craig’s List is probably not the ultimate answer. But we started from the acknowledgement that if we want to work within the democratic process we had to build it first.”</p>
<p>DeChristopher, who is 29, admits he was “cautiously optimistic” during the 2008 presidential campaign.</p>
<p>“I saw that nothing Obama was saying was actually good enough in terms of the climate crisis,” he said. “There was a faint hope in me that perhaps he was saying what he needed to say to get elected and then he would turn out to actually be a progressive.”</p>
<p>He heard Naomi Klein give a talk shortly before the election. She told her listeners that if Barack Obama was a centrist and the center was not good enough to defend our survival then our job was to move the center.</p>
<p>“That resonated with me,” DeChristopher said. “That was where my thinking at the time was. We as a movement had to move the center. That is another reason I turned to civil disobedience. I was looking to do something beyond what was considered acceptable to shift those boundaries, to create more space where people could be more aggressive without being on the radical edge.”</p>
<p>“The chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said what we do in the next two or three years will determine our future, and he said that in 2007 and we didn’t do anything,” he said. “A lot of folks like <a href="http://www.giss.nasa.gov/staff/jhansen.html%20" type="external">Jim Hansen</a> admit it off the record, but won’t say it publicly, that it is actually too late for any amount of emission reductions to prevent some sort of collapse of our industrial civilization. That certainly doesn’t mean all is lost. It means we are in a position where we are definitely going to be navigating the most intense period of change humanity has ever seen. What that means for us is that it really matters who is in charge during that intense period of change. It means that things are going to be desperate.”“Generally in desperate times those in power do desperate things to hold on to their power in the name of order and security,” he went on. “That is when things have gotten really ugly in the localized examples of collapse that we have in history, whether they were economically induced as in Germany in the 1930s or environmentally induced as in Darfur. Rather than an opportunity for mass reflection, which it could be, where we could say we had this coming because of fundamental flaws in the way we structured our society, that maybe greed and competition were not the best values to base everything off of, rather than doing that, it is much more common in those historical examples to say, ‘Oh, it was because of those people.’ A class of people was scapegoated. The powerful said, ‘Those are the people who are causing our problems and if we take it out on them we can maintain order and security for the rest of us.’ That is when things get really ugly and dehumanizing.”</p>
<p>“We are starting to see hints of that already with the rather minor ripples that we have been having in the past few years with the economic situation,” he said. “Rather than admit the fundamental flaws, many of those in power have said, ‘Oh, it is because of those immigrants that are taking people’s jobs, or those Arabs, or those unions, whoever the scapegoat is, to try and vilify someone. What we are on track for are much larger ripples than we have had in the past couple years with the economic problems. If we go into that collapse with our current power structure and a world run by corporations, where we have ignorant and apathetic people who are afraid of their own government and think their job is to do what they are told, even if they think it is immoral, that is when things can get really ugly. If we go into that collapse with an awakened and educated population that views it as their role to create the society they want and hold their government accountable then we have the opportunity, whatever hardships we might face, to actually build a better world on the ashes of this one.”</p>
<p>“Our strategies must be to not only change our energy system and food system, but to change our power structures,” he said. “We shouldn’t be looking for the big corporations running the show to become a little greener and cleaner. We should be overthrowing those corporations running our government. Our job as a movement is not just to reduce emissions; while we still need to do that, we also have this other challenge of maintaining our humanity through whatever challenges lie ahead. This is much more abstract and foreign to this movement.”</p>
<p>“Civil disobedience puts us in a vulnerable position,” DeChristopher said. “It puts us in a position where we are refusing to be obedient to injustice. Civil disobedience puts us in a position where we are making a risk and possibly making a sacrifice to stand up against that injustice. It also puts us in a position where with that vulnerability we see how much we need other people. This is something I have experienced over the past few years as people have come out of nowhere to support me, to make actions more powerful and to help me personally get through this experience and grow from it. Appreciating these connections is one of the most important parts of resiliency. A lot of the unwillingness to take bold action is coming from a disempowerment that comes from a lack of connection. When we view ourselves as isolated individuals it does not make sense to stand up to a big powerful institution like a big corporation or big government. It is not until we gain the understanding that we are part of something much bigger that we feel empowered to take those necessary actions. This is a self-reinforcing cycle. The more we stick our neck out the more connected we become and the more empowered we become to do it again.”</p>
<p>DeChristopher, who attends a Unitarian church in Salt Lake City, comes out of the religious left. This left, defined by Christian anarchists such as Dorothy Day, Philip Berrigan and his brother Father Daniel Berrigan, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, takes a moral stance not because it is always effective but because it is right, because to live the moral life means that there is no alternative. This life demands a commitment to justice no matter how bleak the future appears. And what sustains DeChristopher is what sustained the religious radicals who went before him — faith.</p>
<p>“The connection to a religious community for me is a big part of the empowerment,” he said. “From talking with a lot of the old Freedom Riders and other folks in the civil rights movement, it was in the church community that people found the strength and the faith that, no matter what happened to them when they sat at that lunch counter or got on that bus, there would be another wave of people coming behind them to take their place and another wave behind that and behind that. And that is part of what is missing from the progressive community today. Part of my belief system is an appreciation of our connectedness to the natural world, the interconnected web of life of which I am a part. I am not an isolated individual, and this understanding is what empowers me, but also in a more direct way in that I am connected to the church community who I knew would support me. Sitting in that auction when I was deciding to do this I was thinking about whether anyone would support me. The people I knew would have my back were in the church. That helped drive me to action.” And because of that he understands that any resistance can never succumb to the temptation of violence.</p>
<p>“Violence is the realm our current power structure is really good at,” he said. “They are eager to play that game. Any opportunity we give them [to use violence], they will win. That is the game they win at. The history of social movements in this country shows that we are far more powerful with nonviolent civil disobedience than we are with what our audience considers to be violence.”</p>
<p>“Once our actions are deemed to be violent then that justifies repressive tactics on the part of the government,” he said. “With a nonviolent movement we are still inviting a strong reaction from the government or ruling authorities. We are inviting a powerful reaction against ourselves. But it undermines the moral legitimacy of our current government. That is the path we need to pursue. Rather than reinforcing their legitimacy we need to undermine their legitimacy.”</p>
<p>Chris Hedges is a weekly Truthdig columnist and a fellow at The Nation Institute. His most recently published book is <a href="" type="internal">“The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.”</a></p>
<p /> | true | 4 | editors note chris hedges week works latest book hedges column june imprisonment environmental activist tim dechristopher worth rereading light civil disobedience sweeping country dechristopher serving twoyear sentence plans appeal tim dechristopher scheduled sentenced salt lake city courtroom us district judge dee benson july 26 faces 10 years prison 750000 fine fraudulently bidding december 2008 parcels land including areas around eastern utahs national parks sold bush administration oil natural gas industry bidder 70 drove prices bids dozen parcels 18 million government asking judge benson send dechristopher prison four half years prosecution evidence moral order turned upside bankers swindlers trashed global economy wiped 40 trillion wealth amass obscene amounts money much provided taxpayers go jail regulatory agencies compliant demands corporations refuse impede destruction unleashed coal oil natural gas companies turn planet hothouse pollutants poisoned water fouled air contaminated soil frenzied quest greater greater profits manage make fortunes preemptive wars embrace torture carry extrajudicial assassinations deny habeas corpus run largest deficits human history feted patriots courageous citizen dechristopher peacefully derails corporate governmental destruction ecosystem sent jail rules written profit status quo dechristopher said reached phone weekend minneapolis want change status quo step outside rules put pressure within political system choose one side another dechristopher whose defense assisted website peaceful uprising knew government would auctioning public land sale salt lake city gone college knew wrong knew something know us begin showed went intention standing way auction told idea would look like thought might give speech yell something right guy threw shoe bush mind went front desk said would like bidder said yes would still thinking signed ok ill sign bidder get inside make speech wasnt got inside auction room saw huge opportunity stand way auction preparing course 2008 general way take level action building commitment looking opportunity point ready capitalize prepared prepared way justice system would stacked became clear selection jury stand chance prospective jurors entered court activists handed pamphlet printed fully informed jury association said jurors right come decision based evidence consciences judge prosecutor found prosecutor especially flipped shit dechristopher said insisted judge tell jurors information true judge pulled jurors chambers questioned one time talked pamphlet said regardless pamphlet said job decide right wrong listen said law follow even thought morally unjust allowed use conscience told would violating oath decided conscience rather evidence told listen sitting chamber could see one person another accept notion could see faces told even thought morally unjust scary thing witness another human saw one person another brought courtroom sitting end long table front paternalistic figure judge majesty around accepted question gave really good understanding great human atrocities happened consent population people accept happening job question whether right wrong trial began judge refused let dechristophers defense team inform jury auction later overturned declared illegal judge also refused let defense team inform jury dechristopher raised money initial payment offered bureau land management blm refused accept itwe werent able tell jury either things said never knew auction overturned never knew offered blm money told judge allowed use conscience verdict came surprise founding fathers created jury system called best defense legislative tyranny said expected government passing laws line values community people would break laws take case jury peers would decide whether persons actions justified system country founded upon shifted radically role jury minimized criminal justice system juries longer given opportunity weigh factors case specifically told allowed use conscience job decide things right wrong drastic departure system originally created country asked dechristopher work within system perhaps backing progressive democrat answered thing might consider dont see anyone political system advocating significant change said havent ignored political system paid attention waxmanmarkey cap trade bill debated saw republican amendment energy prices region country ever go 10 percent whole bill null void words survival children ever costs 300 year per household going stop give sides debated hour whether would ever cost 300 one ever stood said maybe cost worth maybe low price put heads children maybe immoral put price heads children one standing addressing severity climate change dechristopher helped organize grassroots campaign unsuccessful effort unseat fiveterm us rep jim matheson utah saw experience waxmanmarkey bill blue dog democrats utah go said worked candidate claudia wright campaign split delegate vote forced runoff primary value working within democratic system first need create democratic system said ran claudia wright started craigs list help wanted ad courageous congressperson pulled together panel longtime activists well respected utah representing various issues environmental issues peace justice lgbt rights labor immigration rights health care panel held public interviews salt lake city library people applied craigs list ad everybody district invited got vote instant runoff voting came candidate started scratch going democracy would look like one experiment said craigs list probably ultimate answer started acknowledgement want work within democratic process build first dechristopher 29 admits cautiously optimistic 2008 presidential campaign saw nothing obama saying actually good enough terms climate crisis said faint hope perhaps saying needed say get elected would turn actually progressive heard naomi klein give talk shortly election told listeners barack obama centrist center good enough defend survival job move center resonated dechristopher said thinking time movement move center another reason turned civil disobedience looking something beyond considered acceptable shift boundaries create space people could aggressive without radical edge chair intergovernmental panel climate change said next two three years determine future said 2007 didnt anything said lot folks like jim hansen admit record wont say publicly actually late amount emission reductions prevent sort collapse industrial civilization certainly doesnt mean lost means position definitely going navigating intense period change humanity ever seen means us really matters charge intense period change means things going desperategenerally desperate times power desperate things hold power name order security went things gotten really ugly localized examples collapse history whether economically induced germany 1930s environmentally induced darfur rather opportunity mass reflection could could say coming fundamental flaws way structured society maybe greed competition best values base everything rather much common historical examples say oh people class people scapegoated powerful said people causing problems take maintain order security rest us things get really ugly dehumanizing starting see hints already rather minor ripples past years economic situation said rather admit fundamental flaws many power said oh immigrants taking peoples jobs arabs unions whoever scapegoat try vilify someone track much larger ripples past couple years economic problems go collapse current power structure world run corporations ignorant apathetic people afraid government think job told even think immoral things get really ugly go collapse awakened educated population views role create society want hold government accountable opportunity whatever hardships might face actually build better world ashes one strategies must change energy system food system change power structures said shouldnt looking big corporations running show become little greener cleaner overthrowing corporations running government job movement reduce emissions still need also challenge maintaining humanity whatever challenges lie ahead much abstract foreign movement civil disobedience puts us vulnerable position dechristopher said puts us position refusing obedient injustice civil disobedience puts us position making risk possibly making sacrifice stand injustice also puts us position vulnerability see much need people something experienced past years people come nowhere support make actions powerful help personally get experience grow appreciating connections one important parts resiliency lot unwillingness take bold action coming disempowerment comes lack connection view isolated individuals make sense stand big powerful institution like big corporation big government gain understanding part something much bigger feel empowered take necessary actions selfreinforcing cycle stick neck connected become empowered become dechristopher attends unitarian church salt lake city comes religious left left defined christian anarchists dorothy day philip berrigan brother father daniel berrigan well dr martin luther king takes moral stance always effective right live moral life means alternative life demands commitment justice matter bleak future appears sustains dechristopher sustained religious radicals went faith connection religious community big part empowerment said talking lot old freedom riders folks civil rights movement church community people found strength faith matter happened sat lunch counter got bus would another wave people coming behind take place another wave behind behind part missing progressive community today part belief system appreciation connectedness natural world interconnected web life part isolated individual understanding empowers also direct way connected church community knew would support sitting auction deciding thinking whether anyone would support people knew would back church helped drive action understands resistance never succumb temptation violence violence realm current power structure really good said eager play game opportunity give use violence win game win history social movements country shows far powerful nonviolent civil disobedience audience considers violence actions deemed violent justifies repressive tactics part government said nonviolent movement still inviting strong reaction government ruling authorities inviting powerful reaction undermines moral legitimacy current government path need pursue rather reinforcing legitimacy need undermine legitimacy chris hedges weekly truthdig columnist fellow nation institute recently published book world dispatches myth human progress | 1,460 |
<p>Mexico City.</p>
<p>A stolen election by an entrenched regime? Opposition charges that more votes were cast than ballots distributed to the polling places? That independent electoral observers were barred from witnessing the vote count? Demands for a recount to which election officials respond by offering to recount just 10% of the vote? A regime-controlled media that exalts the incumbent’s victory and demonizes the loser? The use of alternative media by the opposition to get their side of the story out? Massive street protests by millions of peaceful demonstrators waving homemade signs and wearing bracelets displaying the color of their movement? At least 20 protestors gunned down by authorities and paramilitaries? Worldwide moral indignation stirred up by the international media?</p>
<p>Iran 2009? Yes!</p>
<p>Mexico 2006? Yes and no.</p>
<p>All aspects of the above scenario describe the Great Mexican Electoral Flimflam three years ago this July 2nd – save for the conundrum of worldwide moral indignation. Virtually ignored by the international media, the stealing of the Mexican presidential election by the right-wing oligarchy stirred little indignation anywhere outside of Mexico.</p>
<p>A comparison of coverage extended to both instances of electoral fraud by the New York Times, the “paper of record”, is instructive.</p>
<p>NYT coverage of the upheaval in Iran has been overwhelming. During the first nine days of the electoral crisis, the Times ran at least one front-page story daily – from Election Day Friday, June 12th through Saturday, June 20th, the Iranian electoral sham occupied the right-hand column (the lead story) in the international edition on eight out of nine days. The Times also ran a second Iran story on the front page in six out of the nine editions reviewed – on four of those days, the stories were accompanied by a four and sometimes five column color photo, mostly of multitudes supporting the challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who made his mark in history back in the 1980s by receiving a Christian bible and a key-shaped cake from the emissaries of Ronald Reagan in exchange for funding the Nicaraguan Contras.</p>
<p>As the week wore on, many stories focused on street protests and violence inflicted by paramilitaries that reportedly left a score of demonstrators dead. In addition to the front-page stories, jumps ran inside over one or more pages daily, accompanied by additional photos.</p>
<p>The Times sent four by-lined reporters into Teheran for the festivities – Robert Worth, Michael Slackman, Neil MacFarquhar, and the Iranian Nazna Pathi, plus Eric Schmidt reporting from Washington. Bill Keller, the New York Times executive editor, flew to the Iranian capital to pen a daily journal. All of the Times’ reporters in Teheran were housed in five-star hotels in the upscale north of the city where Mousavi has a substantial upper middle class base.</p>
<p>Meanwhile back in New York, the Times editorial board ran a pair of editorials during the first week of the upheaval decrying repression of peaceful protest and the purported vote fraud. At least seven op-ed screeds vilified incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whose condemnations of Israel the Times assiduously combats, and celebrated the presumed victor Mousavi, albeit with varying degrees of caution.</p>
<p>In the wake of the tainted vote taking, the Times’ conclusion that the election had been stolen was shared by many, including the veteran Middle East hand Robert Fisk, also reporting from Teheran. But writing in the London Independent on July 19th, Fisky began to have doubts. Popular support for Ahmadinejad in provincial cities and amongst the rural poor in the countryside, he speculated, could well have led to a landslide victory for the incumbent – although not perhaps by the 11,000,000 votes by which he claims to have thrashed the challenger.</p>
<p>The Mexican presidential election of July 2nd 2006 was perhaps the most starkly polarized in that neighbor nation’s history pitting left against right, poor against rich, and brown against white-skin privilege, and the campaign was brutal, filled with invective and dirty tricks. The subtext of the election was Mexico’s geopolitical standing – would it continue to be a slavish ally of Washington or join the anti-neo-liberal tsunami that was then sweeping Latin America?</p>
<p>In the run-up to the vote, the New York Times seemed to favor the candidacy of right-winger Felipe Calderon of the incumbent PAN party and turn up its nose at the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the wildly popular mayor of Mexico City. Much like Iran, Mexico has a long tradition of electoral fraud. Unlike Iran, Mexico has a 1954-mile border with the United States of North America.</p>
<p>Covering the Mexican election for “the paper of record” were Ginger Thompson for whom the story would be her swansong after eight years in country (the Times plucked her from the Baltimore Sun) and rookie James McKinley, who came to Mexico from the NYT’s Albany bureau. Bill Keller did not fly in for the party.</p>
<p>The Times ran a front-page curtain raiser on election eve but not in the right-hand column. A second front-pager July 3rd just above the fold reported that Calderon had a narrow lead and a July 5th dispatch also on the front page confirmed the right-winger’s victory – although Mexican electoral authorities had not yet declared so. Little mention was made of Lopez Obrador’s claim of fraud until a huge July 8th rally that packed a half million supporters into the great Mexico City Zocalo plaza. Unlike the New York Times coverage from Teheran, news of the enormous gathering ran inside – as would all subsequent Mexican election news even when Lopez Obrador’s mobilizations were expanding exponentially to 2,000,000 participants (police reports) by July 30th, the largest outpourings of political protest in Mexican history. Thompson consistently cut the numbers in half.</p>
<p>Several months of parallel protests by teachers and indigenous militants in the state of Oaxaca during which 26 were killed by police and paramilitaries were not even reported by the Times. By August, as the disputed election went into the courts, coverage was reduced to international briefs – by then Thompson had left the country.</p>
<p>To its credit, the NYT editorial board in New York wrote one editorial obliquely questioning Calderon’s minuscule .057% lead over the leftist, and ran two op-ed pieces that exposed the fraud in no uncertain terms. In this respect, Times coverage of the 2006 Mexican electoral fraud was considerably more balanced than back in 1988 when the then-long ruling PRI party stole the presidency from left-winger Cuauhtemoc Cardenas in a naked display of electoral thievery. Even emeritus correspondent Alan Riding’s eyewitness accounts of vote-stealing could not convince the Times editorial board of PRI chicanery. The winner, the now-reviled Carlos Salinas, was labeled “a champion of the free market” and the election was characterized as “the cleanest in Mexican history.”</p>
<p>For both this writer who covered the 1988 and 2006 electoral debacles in Mexico, and Dr. Alfredo Jalife, a National Autonomous University professor and geopolitical columnist for the left daily La Jornada who lived through them, the determining factor in the Times’ highly-charged coverage of Iran 2009 and its ho-hum reportage on Mexico 2006 was easily discernable. “Mexico doesn’t threaten Israel,” Jalife observed in a recent phone interview.</p>
<p>The unabashed and uncritical defense of Israel is the underlying reason d’etre of the Sulzberger clan, publishers of the New York Times.</p>
<p>The Times’ moral authority for determining the level of the egregiousness of electoral fraud in Iran and Mexico must certainly be questioned in light of the stealing of Florida 2000 by the Bushites and the scant attention the “paper of record” paid to voting machine tampering in Ohio in 2004. “What gives the gringos the right to pass judgment on other peoples’ elections?” asks Berta Robledo, a pro-Lopez Obrador activist, over café con leche in downtown Mexico City.</p>
<p>The comparison of coverage of electoral fraud in Iran and Mexico comes at a curious juncture for the New York Ayatollahs now that the Times Corporation’s biggest creditor and quite possibly its top shareholder outside of the royal Sulzberger-Ochs dynasty is a Mexican – the tycoon Carlos Slim, once the richest billionaire on the Forbes list but now relegated to third place behind Bill Gates and possibly Warren Buffet after suffering debilitating stock losses in the current suicide market.</p>
<p>These are dicey times at the Times: the paper is over a billion bucks in debt, first quarter losses in 2009 were a record $74.5 million, and the stock price is now worth less than the price of the paper’s Sunday edition – stockholders’ dividends have been suspended indefinitely. Meanwhile, major labor trouble is brewing as the NYT seeks to close down the Boston Globe for which it once paid more than $1,000,000,000 USD – the defiance of Guild members up in Beantown threatens to spread into the New York newsroom.</p>
<p>With the roof caving in on Wall Street and the newspaper industry gasping its last – advertising and readership have suffered the most precipitous drops since the Great Depression – the Times management sought out Slim in late 2008 to save the paper from itself. The Mexican’s $250,000,000 loan gave the NYT a little breathing space but was achieved at an astounding 14% yearly interest rate which, if not paid off in six years, will entitle the Mexico City-based billionaire to between 16 and 18% of the Sulzbergers’ precious preferred stock.</p>
<p>Carlos Slim, the son of a Lebanese immigrant who married into the Gemayel Maronite Christian clan (now aligned with Hezbollah, an Iranian Shiite proxy, back in the old country), has a Midas-like knack for picking up failing businesses for a song and parleying them into new fortunes. Slim’s companies now comprise 40% of those trading on the Mexican stock market.</p>
<p>Both Slim and the Times management loudly proclaim that the Mexican magnate will have no editorial clout and indeed the only measurable change at least here in Mexico since its richest citizen made his move on the NYT is that the newsstand price of the international edition has shot up to $4 (53 pesos a day), twice the two bucks Americano the Times is charging in El Norte where the paper has decreed three price hikes in the past 18 months (from $1 to $1.25 to $1.50 and now $2.)</p>
<p>The story gets curiouser and curiouser. A February 9th in-house overview that appeared on the front page of the business section anticipated a rosy future for the ex-Old Gray Lady of 43rd Street (The Sulzbergers recently sold its new and costly all-glass Eighth Avenue high rise and now rents back office space on the premises.) In fact, the story suggested, the Times really didn’t need Slim’s bail-out but took it anyway because money is going to cost a lot more for the next few years. Scuttlebutt afoot in the newsroom reveals an alternative rationale: by pursuing the Slim loan, the Sulzbergers sought to dampen the aspirations of ex-movie and music mogul David Geffen to take over the paper and turn it into an NGO!</p>
<p>Such rumors often bloom in the hothouse ambience that stumbling giants exude. Slim’s motives for snatching up a paper on the brink of bankruptcy similarly baffles industry insiders and in the spring of 2009 the New Yorker Magazine sent Lawrence Wright to Mexico to poke around inside Slim’s skull – with uncertain results.</p>
<p>The Sphinx-like tycoon was not very communicative on long drives with the reporter through Mexico City (Slim drives himself but is closely followed by an SUV packed with armed-to-the-teeth bodyguards.) The richest man at least in Latin America told Wright that he really likes the New York Times. He first began reading it when he came to New York in his early 20s and, although he doesn’t browse it every day – his Sanborn’s department store and restaurant chain does not carry the NYT and Slim claims not to know how to use a computer to read the Times On-line – he admires the paper’s reporting. Carlos Slim is a baseball nut, he confessed to Wright, and like the Times, a die-hard Yankee fan. He particularly enjoys studying the agate type: batting averages, earned runs, RBIs, home runs etc. Carlos Slim likes numbers.</p>
<p>The multi-billionaire also likes brands. Wright tells a story about how Slim went shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue and wound up buying 17% of the company, attracted mostly by Saks’ choice Manhattan real estate. Similarly, Slim now holds 17% of Sears. He thinks the New York Times is a good brand.</p>
<p>Carlos Slim is also enamored of monopolies. Telmex, the Mexican phone company that Salinas gifted him with in 1990, has a virtual monopoly on Mexican telephone and Internet traffic and his American Movil is the most powerful cell phone carrier in Latin America with more than 200,000,000 subscribers and 70% of the market, another virtual monopoly.</p>
<p>Reading between the lines of Wright’s interview, it seems crystal-clear that Slim – and the Sulzbergers – are banking on the decimation of the newspaper industry to turn the Times around. When and if the current tailspin bottoms out, the field will be winnowed down to a precious few survivors and the New York Times is going to be the tallest tree left standing. Slim and his new partners calculate that their market share will constitute a virtual monopoly. The resuscitation of a stronger-than-ever New York Times will of course greatly buoy Slim’s prospects for recapturing the Numero Uno spot on the World’s Richest Billionaire list. As Slim told the New Yorker, he likes numbers.</p>
<p>But what’s good for Carlos Slim and the New York Times is not good for newspapering and even less so for those who seek to get to the bottom of such flimflam as electoral fraud in Iran and Mexico – those indeed who want real news and not the world-view of the Sulzbergers and their cronies which pretty much boils down to the defense of Israel at any cost. The brand of corporate journalism that the New York Times practices distorts such stories as Iranian resistance to electoral fraud and leaves Mexico 2006 in which millions took to the streets to defy the fraudulent election of a U.S. proxy, in the dust of history.</p>
<p>JOHN ROSS continues to do battle with the medical industry on the homefront. Ross’s “El Monstruo – True Tales of Dread &amp; Redemption In Mexico City” will be published by Nation Books in late 2009.&#160; If you have further information, write <a href="mailto:johnross@igc.org" type="external">johnross@igc.org</a> or visit <a href="http://www.www.johnross-rebeljournalist.com" type="external">www.johnross-rebeljournalist.com</a></p> | true | 4 | mexico city stolen election entrenched regime opposition charges votes cast ballots distributed polling places independent electoral observers barred witnessing vote count demands recount election officials respond offering recount 10 vote regimecontrolled media exalts incumbents victory demonizes loser use alternative media opposition get side story massive street protests millions peaceful demonstrators waving homemade signs wearing bracelets displaying color movement least 20 protestors gunned authorities paramilitaries worldwide moral indignation stirred international media iran 2009 yes mexico 2006 yes aspects scenario describe great mexican electoral flimflam three years ago july 2nd save conundrum worldwide moral indignation virtually ignored international media stealing mexican presidential election rightwing oligarchy stirred little indignation anywhere outside mexico comparison coverage extended instances electoral fraud new york times paper record instructive nyt coverage upheaval iran overwhelming first nine days electoral crisis times ran least one frontpage story daily election day friday june 12th saturday june 20th iranian electoral sham occupied righthand column lead story international edition eight nine days times also ran second iran story front page six nine editions reviewed four days stories accompanied four sometimes five column color photo mostly multitudes supporting challenger mirhossein mousavi former prime minister made mark history back 1980s receiving christian bible keyshaped cake emissaries ronald reagan exchange funding nicaraguan contras week wore many stories focused street protests violence inflicted paramilitaries reportedly left score demonstrators dead addition frontpage stories jumps ran inside one pages daily accompanied additional photos times sent four bylined reporters teheran festivities robert worth michael slackman neil macfarquhar iranian nazna pathi plus eric schmidt reporting washington bill keller new york times executive editor flew iranian capital pen daily journal times reporters teheran housed fivestar hotels upscale north city mousavi substantial upper middle class base meanwhile back new york times editorial board ran pair editorials first week upheaval decrying repression peaceful protest purported vote fraud least seven oped screeds vilified incumbent president mahmoud ahmadinejad whose condemnations israel times assiduously combats celebrated presumed victor mousavi albeit varying degrees caution wake tainted vote taking times conclusion election stolen shared many including veteran middle east hand robert fisk also reporting teheran writing london independent july 19th fisky began doubts popular support ahmadinejad provincial cities amongst rural poor countryside speculated could well led landslide victory incumbent although perhaps 11000000 votes claims thrashed challenger mexican presidential election july 2nd 2006 perhaps starkly polarized neighbor nations history pitting left right poor rich brown whiteskin privilege campaign brutal filled invective dirty tricks subtext election mexicos geopolitical standing would continue slavish ally washington join antineoliberal tsunami sweeping latin america runup vote new york times seemed favor candidacy rightwinger felipe calderon incumbent pan party turn nose leftist andres manuel lopez obrador wildly popular mayor mexico city much like iran mexico long tradition electoral fraud unlike iran mexico 1954mile border united states north america covering mexican election paper record ginger thompson story would swansong eight years country times plucked baltimore sun rookie james mckinley came mexico nyts albany bureau bill keller fly party times ran frontpage curtain raiser election eve righthand column second frontpager july 3rd fold reported calderon narrow lead july 5th dispatch also front page confirmed rightwingers victory although mexican electoral authorities yet declared little mention made lopez obradors claim fraud huge july 8th rally packed half million supporters great mexico city zocalo plaza unlike new york times coverage teheran news enormous gathering ran inside would subsequent mexican election news even lopez obradors mobilizations expanding exponentially 2000000 participants police reports july 30th largest outpourings political protest mexican history thompson consistently cut numbers half several months parallel protests teachers indigenous militants state oaxaca 26 killed police paramilitaries even reported times august disputed election went courts coverage reduced international briefs thompson left country credit nyt editorial board new york wrote one editorial obliquely questioning calderons minuscule 057 lead leftist ran two oped pieces exposed fraud uncertain terms respect times coverage 2006 mexican electoral fraud considerably balanced back 1988 thenlong ruling pri party stole presidency leftwinger cuauhtemoc cardenas naked display electoral thievery even emeritus correspondent alan ridings eyewitness accounts votestealing could convince times editorial board pri chicanery winner nowreviled carlos salinas labeled champion free market election characterized cleanest mexican history writer covered 1988 2006 electoral debacles mexico dr alfredo jalife national autonomous university professor geopolitical columnist left daily la jornada lived determining factor times highlycharged coverage iran 2009 hohum reportage mexico 2006 easily discernable mexico doesnt threaten israel jalife observed recent phone interview unabashed uncritical defense israel underlying reason detre sulzberger clan publishers new york times times moral authority determining level egregiousness electoral fraud iran mexico must certainly questioned light stealing florida 2000 bushites scant attention paper record paid voting machine tampering ohio 2004 gives gringos right pass judgment peoples elections asks berta robledo prolopez obrador activist café con leche downtown mexico city comparison coverage electoral fraud iran mexico comes curious juncture new york ayatollahs times corporations biggest creditor quite possibly top shareholder outside royal sulzbergerochs dynasty mexican tycoon carlos slim richest billionaire forbes list relegated third place behind bill gates possibly warren buffet suffering debilitating stock losses current suicide market dicey times times paper billion bucks debt first quarter losses 2009 record 745 million stock price worth less price papers sunday edition stockholders dividends suspended indefinitely meanwhile major labor trouble brewing nyt seeks close boston globe paid 1000000000 usd defiance guild members beantown threatens spread new york newsroom roof caving wall street newspaper industry gasping last advertising readership suffered precipitous drops since great depression times management sought slim late 2008 save paper mexicans 250000000 loan gave nyt little breathing space achieved astounding 14 yearly interest rate paid six years entitle mexico citybased billionaire 16 18 sulzbergers precious preferred stock carlos slim son lebanese immigrant married gemayel maronite christian clan aligned hezbollah iranian shiite proxy back old country midaslike knack picking failing businesses song parleying new fortunes slims companies comprise 40 trading mexican stock market slim times management loudly proclaim mexican magnate editorial clout indeed measurable change least mexico since richest citizen made move nyt newsstand price international edition shot 4 53 pesos day twice two bucks americano times charging el norte paper decreed three price hikes past 18 months 1 125 150 2 story gets curiouser curiouser february 9th inhouse overview appeared front page business section anticipated rosy future exold gray lady 43rd street sulzbergers recently sold new costly allglass eighth avenue high rise rents back office space premises fact story suggested times really didnt need slims bailout took anyway money going cost lot next years scuttlebutt afoot newsroom reveals alternative rationale pursuing slim loan sulzbergers sought dampen aspirations exmovie music mogul david geffen take paper turn ngo rumors often bloom hothouse ambience stumbling giants exude slims motives snatching paper brink bankruptcy similarly baffles industry insiders spring 2009 new yorker magazine sent lawrence wright mexico poke around inside slims skull uncertain results sphinxlike tycoon communicative long drives reporter mexico city slim drives closely followed suv packed armedtotheteeth bodyguards richest man least latin america told wright really likes new york times first began reading came new york early 20s although doesnt browse every day sanborns department store restaurant chain carry nyt slim claims know use computer read times online admires papers reporting carlos slim baseball nut confessed wright like times diehard yankee fan particularly enjoys studying agate type batting averages earned runs rbis home runs etc carlos slim likes numbers multibillionaire also likes brands wright tells story slim went shopping saks fifth avenue wound buying 17 company attracted mostly saks choice manhattan real estate similarly slim holds 17 sears thinks new york times good brand carlos slim also enamored monopolies telmex mexican phone company salinas gifted 1990 virtual monopoly mexican telephone internet traffic american movil powerful cell phone carrier latin america 200000000 subscribers 70 market another virtual monopoly reading lines wrights interview seems crystalclear slim sulzbergers banking decimation newspaper industry turn times around current tailspin bottoms field winnowed precious survivors new york times going tallest tree left standing slim new partners calculate market share constitute virtual monopoly resuscitation strongerthanever new york times course greatly buoy slims prospects recapturing numero uno spot worlds richest billionaire list slim told new yorker likes numbers whats good carlos slim new york times good newspapering even less seek get bottom flimflam electoral fraud iran mexico indeed want real news worldview sulzbergers cronies pretty much boils defense israel cost brand corporate journalism new york times practices distorts stories iranian resistance electoral fraud leaves mexico 2006 millions took streets defy fraudulent election us proxy dust history john ross continues battle medical industry homefront rosss el monstruo true tales dread amp redemption mexico city published nation books late 2009160 information write johnrossigcorg visit wwwjohnrossrebeljournalistcom | 1,433 |
<p>James MercerFrank Ockenfels</p>
<p>The Shins’ 2007 album Wincing the Night Away got rave reviews and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, spawning a yearlong tour and snagging a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. It was a wild ride for a band that had spent nearly a decade working its way up from obscurity in Albuquerque, and front man James Mercer came away from it&#160;exhausted and&#160;ready to quit. The last thing on his mind was the next Shins project. “It was a bit of a crisis in a way,” he says. “What do you do if you decide the band you’ve been with for the last 10 years, you just suddenly don’t want to do?” So Mercer took a breather in the form of Broken Bells,&#160;an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWBG1j_flrg" type="external">excellent collaboration</a> with Brian Burton (a.k.a. Danger Mouse), as a way to “open up my horizons.” A few years later, with a new label and rejiggered lineup, Mercer has decided to take a fresh crack at the Shins. The band’s new album, Port of Morrow, out next week, takes a smoothed-out, matured approach to the Shins’ characteristic electro-folk-rock. I spoke with Mercer about his favorite rock and roll singers, being raised a military brat, and why you can’t get a decent American-made microphone anymore—dammit!</p>
<p>Mother Jones:&#160;So after the Wincing tour, you were hitting some roadblocks with the Shins?</p>
<p>James Mercer:&#160;Mainly I was tired of being right in the middle and everything sort of revolving around me, including the friendship dynamics-slash-bandmate dynamics and the creative aspect. It was a bit much. It had never been so big, and I had never been someone who was ever in the center of any kind of social circle. And in the midst of that, Brian Burton kind of came up with the idea of us working on a new band where he was writing in a more traditional sense. It was kind of perfect timing. I was a bit intimidated by it, but I had also recently decided to start saying “Yes” to things.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Musically, or in your life in general?</p>
<p>JM:&#160;Life in general.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the Shins don’t really have a permanent lineup anymore. Is that right?</p>
<p>JM: Yeah. I’ve always sort of felt like what the Shins is, I guess, is a vehicle for my writing. And that’s really about recording a lot, so I really try to concentrate on that. I mean, these new guys I have in the band are so cool, and they’re so good, that it’s possible I’ll be working with them until I die. I just want to keep it open. Now that I’ve sort of broken everything apart, I’m not really excited about the idea of committing to anything permanently.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Some bands get their groove on more when they form these deep bonds from being together so long. When you have a shifting lineup, how does that change the way you make music?</p>
<p>JM:&#160;I understand what you’re saying. You know, I’ve read the Keith Richards thing, and he really talks a lot about that, the sort of like subliminal communication that goes on between bandmates, and there certainly is that. I definitely have that with these new guys, you know, but there’s a lot of other things that go on that can complicate that sort of unconscious dynamic. While working with Broken Bells, I really enjoyed working with new people and just sort of the freshness of it, and I wanted to continue that feeling. I wanted to have those new conversations, musically and otherwise.</p>
<p>MJ: Sure, nobody wants to be stagnant.</p>
<p>JM: Yeah, I guess “stagnant” would definitely be a word for it, after the Wincing tour.</p>
<p>MJ: I want to go back to what you said about the band being a vehicle for your writing. That’s true, but at the same time, it’s not just the James Mercer Band with backing musicians. It’s collaborative. So where’s the balance?</p>
<p>JM: I think I’ve been pretty lucky, honestly, because I’ve never gone through an audition process or anything. In most of my decisions like that, I just kind of feel it out: You know, do I feel comfortable with this person? And do I like what they do? What I’ve kinda realized recently is that I come up with the big ideas, you know, on the records, like the songs, and maybe the overall aesthetic of a song, and the context behind the lyrics and stuff. Then I rely on my friends to make it cool. I do my best, and if I could do it alone, it would be a totally different thing. But I can’t. It is therefore a band—still.</p>
<p>MJ: There’s a line in “Simple Song” that seems to capture that: “I know that things can really get rough/when you go it alone.” Does that apply to you as a musician?</p>
<p>JM: It probably has something to do with that, yeah—the fact that I did have a fair amount of solo effort in this. But in the context of the song, I’m talking about people who are avoiding intimacy in relationships and stuff like that. I mean, honestly, humans are social creatures that really crave intimacy, and I think that the friends I have who are trying to somehow go it alone are suffering for it.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;You spent part of your childhood in New Mexico. I’m also from the Southwest, so I’m wondering how living there influenced you as a person, and as a musician?</p>
<p>JM: My dad was a Navy munitions officer, and by the end of his career he was a specialist in nuclear weapons. We were living in England, and we moved to Albuquerque so he could be the head of the Interservice Nuclear Weapons School, which was a big Navy facility to teach people how to deal with nuclear weapons safety and, you know, accidents. Crazy stuff. But one of the things that’s great about a place like Albuquerque is that there wasn’t this huge music scene with all these established bands and an established aesthetic. And so I think it was easier for someone like me to kinda ease my way into performing and not have to compete with all these talented kids, you know?</p>
<p>MJ: How did growing up with a parent in the military inform your music and/or your politics?</p>
<p>JM: Right, well, I guess I had an understanding of the mentality behind conservatism. I at least have this sort of reference point; I know these people. Which is one thing that I think a lot of people, in a way, are ignorant of.</p>
<p>MJ: You mean liberals are ignorant of?</p>
<p>JM: Yes, and proudly so. I see it often behaviorally. But my dad and I get into it all the time. He loves to discuss politics much more than I do and we have pretty heated conversations often. But we both kind of agree that it hasn’t really been a good conversation unless you leave a little bit offended. So that’s the sort of relationship I have with my dad, and we love each other. But even as a teenager I was forced to contemplate the whole thing of what my dad did, you know, the mechanics behind what he did, and the reasoning for it. And now I have kids, and it’s made it even more bizarre, because it’s this scary, bad thing that you have to sort of hide from your children, the world of war and violence and all that stuff.</p>
<p>MJ: There’s a lot of German imagery in this album: a song called “40 Mark Strasse” and a line in “Port of Morrow,” for example, that references Cologne. What’s up with that?</p>
<p>JM:&#160;I had come up with the idea of using that&#160;as a theme for “40 Mark Strasse”&#160;before I started meeting with [producer] Greg [Kurstin]. But one of the reasons is Greg. He loves the German avant-garde pop of the ’70s. And so in our conversations about aesthetics and the theme for the record, we definitely talked about Faust and the produced things from the ’70s from Berlin. I guess there’s a bit of nostalgia. I love Germany; probably my fondest memories of childhood were in Germany. So I guess that’s the source.</p>
<p>MJ: Where did you live in Germany?</p>
<p>JM:&#160;We were in a town called Neidenbach, and then we moved to Ramstein Air Force Base.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;What is 40 Mark Strasse? An address?</p>
<p>JM: No, actually 40 Mark Strasse was a phrase that the GIs used to refer to a stretch of highway that ran from Kaiserslautern to Ramstein, and it was where there were young prostitutes at night. So it was 40 marks to hook up with one of these young ladies. My dad was a nightclub singer at a country-and-western bar in Kaiserslautern, and we’d drive on this road and we’d go past these bus stations where there’d be these girls who looked like the age of a high school girl, some of them. And I didn’t understand what prostitution was. I mean, I knew it was some sort of vice thing, an adult thing, and I was obviously very curious about it as a 9- or 10-year-old. So it was kind of, I had this R&amp;B song, you know, and that to me just seemed like a perfect theme for it.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;How did you develop your singing style? And who are your vocal heroes?</p>
<p>JM: I really love Ian McCulloch from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX1PwkgwsG0" type="external">Echo and the Bunnymen</a>. He was always a favorite of mine. And I still think he was probably one of the best rock and roll singers there’s ever been. It’s kinda the stuff I grew up listening to in high school in England. I kinda learned to sing singing to Echo and the Bunnymen songs and Smiths songs: Morrissey would be a big favorite. I can’t remember the guy, but there was a band called House of Love that was on Creation, and the guy who sang for them was a favorite as well.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;You seem very comfortable singing in falsetto.</p>
<p>JM: More recently, yeah.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Was that a conscious decision? Because some male singers will do that all the time, and others never will.</p>
<p>JM: You know, it’s funny, I say I do it more recently, but one of the early things that really got popular for us was an entirely falsetto performance, a song called “Sphagnum Esplanade.” Working with Brian for Broken Bells was when I really sort of embraced it. It was effective, you know, it really worked. So much of working with Brian just made me more adventurous.</p>
<p>MJ: Yeah, because you have to get a little outside your comfort zone to sing like that.</p>
<p>JM: Definitely. You’re really kinda going for it. It’s real singy.</p>
<p>MJ: So another thing about the Shins is that I feel like your instrumental arrangements are highly layered. There are lots of themes happening on top of each other all the time. How does that come about?</p>
<p>JM: There is certainly a conscious effort to make the songs as interesting and engaging as possible. And on this record, Greg was a huge part of that. He often thinks about doing something contrary to what you’ve already established in the production. So something that counters the rhythm of the melody, he’ll put in some sort of percussion. Which is a great technique, I think that’s something I’ll really steal.</p>
<p>MJ: I wanted to ask you about the song “No Way Down,” which was one of my favorites. It seems like there’s a metaphor for consumerism, or money, or something.</p>
<p>JM:&#160;That song, I wrote the lyrics really quickly, which doesn’t usually happen. I was on the plane, and I read an article about the huge shift in America, how we’ve lost so many good, honest, working-class jobs. It was describing this history of the relationship between unions and the big businesses and how the free trade concept came into being and just totally altered our economy and hurt the people who made all the incredible American products that we used to have—all these damned microphones I buy on eBay, the vintage equipment I buy, all of this was made by these people. It’s incredible, you pretty much have to buy it from like 50 or 60 years ago, because you can’t get anything these days that’s as high-quality. And so not only did it undercut their livelihood, but it sort of changed what America was, sort of that pride in things that were American made. It really changed the way we and the world think about America.</p>
<p>MJ: Right. We don’t produce all that much anymore.</p>
<p>JM:&#160;There’s definitely an interest in the idea of things being made here in Oregon, and maybe even here in Portland, and people wanting to support that. Portland is in love with the idea of manufacturing jobs existing in the city and the state. If that concept were to spread, which I think it is, that could change things. It’d be great.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;The line: “A tiny few catch all of the rays” got me thinking about Occupy and the income-inequality issue. Were you thinking about that at all?</p>
<p>JM: Well, I wrote this song before the Occupy thing happened, but it was certainly part of that. I was living in the same culture that the Occupy thing came out of. It’s the same concept.</p>
<p>MJ: Did you go to Occupy Portland at all?</p>
<p>JM: I didn’t. My extended family is very political and very polar with each other, and it’s put a bad taste in my mouth. All the rhetoric going back and forth and sort of hating on each other. So I’m not an extremely politically active person at this stage of my life.</p>
<p>MJ: Well, I can understand that if it’s had a negative impact on your family.</p>
<p>JM: Right, and certain personalities just work differently. One thing that I’ve struggled with has been a certain amount of animosity toward the whole human race. You know, if you’re starting there, politics kind of is beside the point.</p>
<p>MJ: Do you still feel that way now?</p>
<p>JM: I definitely feel less that way, but I have my bouts. It’s hard to give a shit when you feel disgusted by the whole experiment.</p>
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<p>&#160;Click&#160; <a href="" type="internal">here</a>&#160;for more music coverage from&#160;Mother Jones.&#160;</p> | true | 4 | james mercerfrank ockenfels shins 2007 album wincing night away got rave reviews debuted number 2 billboard 200 spawning yearlong tour snagging grammy nomination best alternative music album wild ride band spent nearly decade working way obscurity albuquerque front man james mercer came away it160exhausted and160ready quit last thing mind next shins project bit crisis way says decide band youve last 10 years suddenly dont want mercer took breather form broken bells160an excellent collaboration brian burton aka danger mouse way open horizons years later new label rejiggered lineup mercer decided take fresh crack shins bands new album port morrow next week takes smoothedout matured approach shins characteristic electrofolkrock spoke mercer favorite rock roll singers raised military brat cant get decent americanmade microphone anymoredammit mother jones160so wincing tour hitting roadblocks shins james mercer160mainly tired right middle everything sort revolving around including friendship dynamicsslashbandmate dynamics creative aspect bit much never big never someone ever center kind social circle midst brian burton kind came idea us working new band writing traditional sense kind perfect timing bit intimidated also recently decided start saying yes things mj160musically life general jm160life general mj160correct im wrong seems like shins dont really permanent lineup anymore right jm yeah ive always sort felt like shins guess vehicle writing thats really recording lot really try concentrate mean new guys band cool theyre good possible ill working die want keep open ive sort broken everything apart im really excited idea committing anything permanently mj160some bands get groove form deep bonds together long shifting lineup change way make music jm160i understand youre saying know ive read keith richards thing really talks lot sort like subliminal communication goes bandmates certainly definitely new guys know theres lot things go complicate sort unconscious dynamic working broken bells really enjoyed working new people sort freshness wanted continue feeling wanted new conversations musically otherwise mj sure nobody wants stagnant jm yeah guess stagnant would definitely word wincing tour mj want go back said band vehicle writing thats true time james mercer band backing musicians collaborative wheres balance jm think ive pretty lucky honestly ive never gone audition process anything decisions like kind feel know feel comfortable person like ive kinda realized recently come big ideas know records like songs maybe overall aesthetic song context behind lyrics stuff rely friends make cool best could alone would totally different thing cant therefore bandstill mj theres line simple song seems capture know things really get roughwhen go alone apply musician jm probably something yeahthe fact fair amount solo effort context song im talking people avoiding intimacy relationships stuff like mean honestly humans social creatures really crave intimacy think friends trying somehow go alone suffering mj160you spent part childhood new mexico im also southwest im wondering living influenced person musician jm dad navy munitions officer end career specialist nuclear weapons living england moved albuquerque could head interservice nuclear weapons school big navy facility teach people deal nuclear weapons safety know accidents crazy stuff one things thats great place like albuquerque wasnt huge music scene established bands established aesthetic think easier someone like kinda ease way performing compete talented kids know mj growing parent military inform music andor politics jm right well guess understanding mentality behind conservatism least sort reference point know people one thing think lot people way ignorant mj mean liberals ignorant jm yes proudly see often behaviorally dad get time loves discuss politics much pretty heated conversations often kind agree hasnt really good conversation unless leave little bit offended thats sort relationship dad love even teenager forced contemplate whole thing dad know mechanics behind reasoning kids made even bizarre scary bad thing sort hide children world war violence stuff mj theres lot german imagery album song called 40 mark strasse line port morrow example references cologne whats jm160i come idea using that160as theme 40 mark strasse160before started meeting producer greg kurstin one reasons greg loves german avantgarde pop 70s conversations aesthetics theme record definitely talked faust produced things 70s berlin guess theres bit nostalgia love germany probably fondest memories childhood germany guess thats source mj live germany jm160we town called neidenbach moved ramstein air force base mj160what 40 mark strasse address jm actually 40 mark strasse phrase gis used refer stretch highway ran kaiserslautern ramstein young prostitutes night 40 marks hook one young ladies dad nightclub singer countryandwestern bar kaiserslautern wed drive road wed go past bus stations thered girls looked like age high school girl didnt understand prostitution mean knew sort vice thing adult thing obviously curious 9 10yearold kind rampb song know seemed like perfect theme mj160how develop singing style vocal heroes jm really love ian mcculloch echo bunnymen always favorite mine still think probably one best rock roll singers theres ever kinda stuff grew listening high school england kinda learned sing singing echo bunnymen songs smiths songs morrissey would big favorite cant remember guy band called house love creation guy sang favorite well mj160you seem comfortable singing falsetto jm recently yeah mj160was conscious decision male singers time others never jm know funny say recently one early things really got popular us entirely falsetto performance song called sphagnum esplanade working brian broken bells really sort embraced effective know really worked much working brian made adventurous mj yeah get little outside comfort zone sing like jm definitely youre really kinda going real singy mj another thing shins feel like instrumental arrangements highly layered lots themes happening top time come jm certainly conscious effort make songs interesting engaging possible record greg huge part often thinks something contrary youve already established production something counters rhythm melody hell put sort percussion great technique think thats something ill really steal mj wanted ask song way one favorites seems like theres metaphor consumerism money something jm160that song wrote lyrics really quickly doesnt usually happen plane read article huge shift america weve lost many good honest workingclass jobs describing history relationship unions big businesses free trade concept came totally altered economy hurt people made incredible american products used haveall damned microphones buy ebay vintage equipment buy made people incredible pretty much buy like 50 60 years ago cant get anything days thats highquality undercut livelihood sort changed america sort pride things american made really changed way world think america mj right dont produce much anymore jm160theres definitely interest idea things made oregon maybe even portland people wanting support portland love idea manufacturing jobs existing city state concept spread think could change things itd great mj160the line tiny catch rays got thinking occupy incomeinequality issue thinking jm well wrote song occupy thing happened certainly part living culture occupy thing came concept mj go occupy portland jm didnt extended family political polar put bad taste mouth rhetoric going back forth sort hating im extremely politically active person stage life mj well understand negative impact family jm right certain personalities work differently one thing ive struggled certain amount animosity toward whole human race know youre starting politics kind beside point mj still feel way jm definitely feel less way bouts hard give shit feel disgusted whole experiment 160click160 here160for music coverage from160mother jones160 | 1,175 |
<p>The United States government is preparing a new war on Iraq. A section of the Bush administration, reflecting a section of the US ruling class, has long been pursuing an assault on Iraq to overthrow the regime of Sadaam Hussein. It will come as no surprise to anyone that this group is intimately associated with the oil and, to a lesser extent, the military industries. Vice President and former Defense Secretary and chief of Halliburton Corporation Dick Cheney is the main representative of these interests in the administration.</p>
<p>Halliburton, at a nominal market value of over 18 billion dollars, is the largest oil supply company in the world. It has also become a leading construction contractor for the US military since the Bush administration took office. If Chevron-Texaco (which named a ship after Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice) needs parts in Nigeria or new oil wells in the arctic wilderness, Halliburton is there. The runways that launch American bombing sorties on Afghan wedding parties and the prisoner camp in occupied Cuba are built by Halliburton.</p>
<p>This is not a conspiracy, nor is it a coincidence — it is how American capitalism works. The government sees its primary role to defend and extend American corporate interests. There is a constant revolving door between government and business in the US. This, of course, is not a uniquely American reality but one shared with all the capitalist governments of the world.</p>
<p>Utilizing the bellicose mood of the post-September 11th political atmosphere, the US right wing has made a concerted effort to win the government to launching a new Gulf War. The hawks have been in the ascendancy since the early spring, though not without contradictions and real opposition from parts of the ruling class, government, and military who fear some of the consequences of a new war. These consequences include the prospect of a jump in oil prices and the inflationary pressure that would put on the already troubled economy; the further destabilization of a region already seething from the “War on Terrorism”, continued sanctions on Iraq, and US patronage of Israel; and strains on an increasingly active “volunteer” army’s resources, to name a few.</p>
<p>The forces advocating a new war also have divisions among them. Some of them want revenge for their own failure to dislodge Sadaam Hussein in the last war and his continued existence in power after all the attempts made over the last decade to isolate and replace him. This looks and sounds a bit like the red-faced rage of the schoolyard bully whose attempts at intimidation go unheeded. He cannot remain the bully if others refuse to be bullied.</p>
<p>Another motivation is that the US has awfully little to show in its “War on Terrorism”. Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden have, so far, been unwilling to offer up their corpses for a trophy photo. Though the imperialists have clearly won many gains in Afghanistan, the all-looking-and-no-finding war seems to have powered down without many of the big issues being resolved in their favor. A war on Iraq would deflect charges of being “soft” on Al Qaeda and the Axis of Evil from the far right of American politics and, coincidently, some Democrats. When other enemies prove too elusive, Sadaam’s nefarious star tends to rise in the US government’s psyche. They seem to wilt without an enemy to compare to Hitler.</p>
<p>Another motivation is oil, and not just the oil within the borders of Iraq. While strictly economic aims are sometimes simplistically laid out as the primary reasons behind US war policy, and all the proponents of war have a combination of reasons for their advocacy, it would be foolish to underestimate the power of oil interests in shaping American policy. Competition among the imperialist powers over access to and control of oil has increased since the collapse of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>One reason for this is that the previously off-limits resources of the former Soviet Union have opened up, leading to a new “Great Game” for the riches of the Central Asian states (now conveniently hosting US military bases for the war in neighboring Afghanistan) and the Caspian Sea. Why leave all that oil to the Russians and the Central Asians? The privatization of the old state energy companies is a potential windfall of many billions of dollars for American oil interests, provided that the new companies partner with US ones and upgrade their facilities with the parts and know-how of the Halliburton Corporation.</p>
<p>Another reason is that the old equilibrium between the imperialist powers facing a common Soviet threat has broken down, meaning that each is more likely to pursue its own energy goals, including direct access to oil. This is what is at the heart of France’s opposition to the sanctions on Iraq. While many countries buy oil from the Iraq Petrochemical Company (IPC, nationalized in 1972), France is the only Western power which has partial ownership in the IPC. The sanctions prevent them from fully exploiting that relationship.</p>
<p>The US and Britain, with four of the top five oil companies in the world between them, were frozen out of investment in the IPC and therefore out of control over 10 percent of the world’s oil, which is produced by Iraq. Is it really any surprise then that these two countries are the most adamant about continuing the sanctions and now about going to war, whatever the consequences for the Iraqi people?</p>
<p>Japan and Germany have almost no indigenous oil resources, so the second and third largest economies in the world have to buy their way into the oil market. While their wealth provides them access, they are still confined militarily to their own countries as a consequence of World War II. Thus they remain beholding to the US to protect their oil access. For the US, control of oil means power over its friends, who are also its rivals. In the largest gas bill in history the US made Germany and Japan cough up tens of billions of dollars for their Kuwaiti oil in the last Gulf War. Recession and political problems at home make Germany and Japan much less willing to do this again.</p>
<p>The more mercenary warmongers in the US government see control over oil as the starting point of their policy, rather than the regime of Sadaam Hussein. When they look at maps of the world they see resources and zones of influence, rather than countries and people. With all that has happened in the last decade they see an urgent need to reshape parts of the world in their own interests and, by virtue of being the only superpower, almost the ordained obligation to do so.</p>
<p>This attitude is not new with the Bush administration. The “humanitarian” interventions of the Clinton administration were rooted in the same arrogant view, which holds that the Middle East is too important to be left to its people. The goal of this patrician group is to impose a Pax Americana on the region. The costs and consequences of such brutal folly can only be guessed at, but the destruction Israel is inflicting on the Palestinians is a good place to start.</p>
<p>Iraqi oil is part of the motivation. Oil in general is a greater motivation. But the root of the cowboy attitude of the current US government is the nature of capitalism and imperialism in general, whoever practices it. That is, the violent imposition of the interests of the few, the rulers of the capitalist “great powers”, on the vast majority of the world’s people. The ruined lives of the many underlie the profit and the power of the few.</p>
<p>We, the working people of the world, are not simply “exploited masses” to be pitied. We are a power who, by fighting for our own interests, fights for the liberation of all humanity. Crisis are currently shaking continents from the consequences of the last twenty years of Neo-Liberal’s crusade.</p>
<p>From Jakarta and Buenos Aires, from Johannesburg and Jenin, from Seattle and Genoa people have marched under the banner “Another World is Possible”. It is time to give that world a name; socialism, and in the face of still another American war set about, urgently, to change this world. For the common, rational, and shared utilization of what nature, finitely, has endowed the planet, that is, for socialism.</p>
<p>Working people, the “exploited masses” also exist in the US, though usually more silently than in the rest of the world. US workers need to enter this struggle with their own voices rather than those voices who would speak for them. That the US has decided on war does not make it inevitable, and the louder we are now the greater chance we have to prevent it. Should they succeed in launching their war we will oppose them. If they triumph in their plans we will demonstrate the perfidy of their victory and use the lessons learned to resist the next war, which we are sure will come. Wars are in the nature of imperialism and we must press home this reality- to defeat war it is necessary to defeat capitalism.</p>
<p>Matt Siegfried writes for the Irish magazine Forthwrite. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:almata@hotmail.com" type="external">almata@hotmail.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | united states government preparing new war iraq section bush administration reflecting section us ruling class long pursuing assault iraq overthrow regime sadaam hussein come surprise anyone group intimately associated oil lesser extent military industries vice president former defense secretary chief halliburton corporation dick cheney main representative interests administration halliburton nominal market value 18 billion dollars largest oil supply company world also become leading construction contractor us military since bush administration took office chevrontexaco named ship bushs national security adviser condoleezza rice needs parts nigeria new oil wells arctic wilderness halliburton runways launch american bombing sorties afghan wedding parties prisoner camp occupied cuba built halliburton conspiracy coincidence american capitalism works government sees primary role defend extend american corporate interests constant revolving door government business us course uniquely american reality one shared capitalist governments world utilizing bellicose mood postseptember 11th political atmosphere us right wing made concerted effort win government launching new gulf war hawks ascendancy since early spring though without contradictions real opposition parts ruling class government military fear consequences new war consequences include prospect jump oil prices inflationary pressure would put already troubled economy destabilization region already seething war terrorism continued sanctions iraq us patronage israel strains increasingly active volunteer armys resources name forces advocating new war also divisions among want revenge failure dislodge sadaam hussein last war continued existence power attempts made last decade isolate replace looks sounds bit like redfaced rage schoolyard bully whose attempts intimidation go unheeded remain bully others refuse bullied another motivation us awfully little show war terrorism mullah omar osama bin laden far unwilling offer corpses trophy photo though imperialists clearly many gains afghanistan alllookingandnofinding war seems powered without many big issues resolved favor war iraq would deflect charges soft al qaeda axis evil far right american politics coincidently democrats enemies prove elusive sadaams nefarious star tends rise us governments psyche seem wilt without enemy compare hitler another motivation oil oil within borders iraq strictly economic aims sometimes simplistically laid primary reasons behind us war policy proponents war combination reasons advocacy would foolish underestimate power oil interests shaping american policy competition among imperialist powers access control oil increased since collapse soviet union one reason previously offlimits resources former soviet union opened leading new great game riches central asian states conveniently hosting us military bases war neighboring afghanistan caspian sea leave oil russians central asians privatization old state energy companies potential windfall many billions dollars american oil interests provided new companies partner us ones upgrade facilities parts knowhow halliburton corporation another reason old equilibrium imperialist powers facing common soviet threat broken meaning likely pursue energy goals including direct access oil heart frances opposition sanctions iraq many countries buy oil iraq petrochemical company ipc nationalized 1972 france western power partial ownership ipc sanctions prevent fully exploiting relationship us britain four top five oil companies world frozen investment ipc therefore control 10 percent worlds oil produced iraq really surprise two countries adamant continuing sanctions going war whatever consequences iraqi people japan germany almost indigenous oil resources second third largest economies world buy way oil market wealth provides access still confined militarily countries consequence world war ii thus remain beholding us protect oil access us control oil means power friends also rivals largest gas bill history us made germany japan cough tens billions dollars kuwaiti oil last gulf war recession political problems home make germany japan much less willing mercenary warmongers us government see control oil starting point policy rather regime sadaam hussein look maps world see resources zones influence rather countries people happened last decade see urgent need reshape parts world interests virtue superpower almost ordained obligation attitude new bush administration humanitarian interventions clinton administration rooted arrogant view holds middle east important left people goal patrician group impose pax americana region costs consequences brutal folly guessed destruction israel inflicting palestinians good place start iraqi oil part motivation oil general greater motivation root cowboy attitude current us government nature capitalism imperialism general whoever practices violent imposition interests rulers capitalist great powers vast majority worlds people ruined lives many underlie profit power working people world simply exploited masses pitied power fighting interests fights liberation humanity crisis currently shaking continents consequences last twenty years neoliberals crusade jakarta buenos aires johannesburg jenin seattle genoa people marched banner another world possible time give world name socialism face still another american war set urgently change world common rational shared utilization nature finitely endowed planet socialism working people exploited masses also exist us though usually silently rest world us workers need enter struggle voices rather voices would speak us decided war make inevitable louder greater chance prevent succeed launching war oppose triumph plans demonstrate perfidy victory use lessons learned resist next war sure come wars nature imperialism must press home reality defeat war necessary defeat capitalism matt siegfried writes irish magazine forthwrite reached almatahotmailcom 160 | 801 |
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<p>When power becomes blatantly criminal, it’s time to make people shut up. That time seems to have come throughout the Empire. Freedom of speech is increasingly threatened, both in the United States and in “old Europe”, although the attacks come from quite different angles.</p>
<p>In the United States, the assault is clearly led by far right fanatics such as David Horowitz, who is inciting students to denounce professors who dare try to teach them something they didn’t think they already knew. The purpose is clearly to ban criticism of United States war policy.</p>
<p>In old Europe, the assault is more subtle and probably less lucid in its aims. It is led in part by people who consider themselves on the left and who seem blissfully unaware of the danger of limiting freedom of speech.</p>
<p>In Germany, it has long been illegal to deny that the Holocaust took place: the offense called “the Auschwitz lie” can be punished by up to three years in prison. German television insists relentlessly on Hitler and his crimes, as if he were still lurking in the wings. This has done nothing to prevent the rise of neo-Nazi groups. It may even have helped them grow, in accordance with the phenomenon, demonstrated in the Soviet zone, that establishing “official truth”-even if true-can be the best way to make many people believe the contrary. But more than that, the far right in Germany seems to be gaining ground as a result of widespread disillusion, especially in Eastern Germany, with the neoliberal economic policies that were supposed to bring prosperity but instead have brought growing unemployment and poverty.</p>
<p>In any case, the center left government of Social Democrats and Greens has undertaken to react to rightist demonstrations by broadening the law against “Volksverhetzung”-a concept that can be translated as “incitement of the masses” or “poisoning of the minds of the people”. In the future, it should not be enough to prosecute persons who “approve, justify, deny or play down genocide of Jews and gypsies” in a way apt to “disturb public peace” (a vague notion). The new law would make it equally criminal to speak in any of those ways about any case of “genocide” condemned by any international court whose jurisdiction has been recognized by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany.</p>
<p>Now, judicial history is marked by famously unjust verdicts reversed after long struggles to right the wrong. But the German law could make it a crime to challenge the International Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia, set up by NATO powers to control and manipulate political conflict in the Balkans, when it officially convicts Serbs for “genocide”. Anyone who points out that the Tribunal’s definition of “genocide” has been contrived for political purposes, and that its procedures are blatantly prejudiced, might risk being arrested.</p>
<p>If there are to be limits on freedom of speech, they should be directly related to action. Thus, if a political leader exhorts a hall full of followers to go out and commit a pogrom, this can legitimately be considered a criminal act. But the trend is to expand criminalization of speech far beyond such incitements to embrace expression of opinions, including opinions about the past-about facts which by their very nature may be debated but cannot be changed.</p>
<p>In France, the restriction on freedom of speech also began with criminalization of “the Auschwitz lie”. And as in Germany, it is unlikely to stop there. Incitement to racial hatred or discrimination has been outlawed in France since 1972. In July 1990, the French National Assembly adopted an amendment extending the 1972 law to persons who dispute the existence of crimes against humanity, as defined by the Nuremburg tribunal, and “which have been committed either by the members of an organization declared criminal […] or by a person found guilty of such crimes by a French or international jurisdiction”. The intent of this law was clearly to punish statements denying the reality of the Nazi genocide against the Jews. However, the unspecified reference to “international jurisdiction” may have unwittingly opened the door to prosecution of persons challenging the verdicts of quite different international tribunals, such as the NATO-linked tribunal in The Hague.</p>
<p>The 1990 amendment, known as the “Gayssot law”, was introduced by a Communist member of the Assembly. It seems that the French left, especially the Communist Party, in its understandable desire to preserve the legacy of the French Resistance during World War II, has seen no danger in setting a precedent for punishing speech as well as acts.</p>
<p>In recent years, the context has changed considerably. In the face of worldwide protests over treatment of Palestinians, increasing efforts have been made to extend the definition of “anti-Semitism” to cover criticism of Israel. By insisting that there can be no distinction between Jews and “the Jewish state” (a proposition vigorously denied by many if not most French Jews), and thereby identifying criticism of Israel with “anti-Semitism”, the ultra-Zionists seem to be provoking the anti-Semitism they denounce. Whether or not this is deliberate is debatable. France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, a skilled and assimilated population that Ariel Sharon is openly trying to lure to Israel by claiming that Jews are not safe anywhere else, and notably not in France because of alleged anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>Once criticism of Israel is identified with anti-Semitism, it becomes implicitly taboo because of the association of anti-Semitism with holocaust denial. A main practitioner of this moral intimidation is Roger Cukierman, a far right Zionist who presides over the “Representative Council of Jewish organizations of France” (CRIF). In April 2002, Cukierman actually hailed the surprisingly strong showing of Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential elections as a “good lesson for the Arabs”. Cukierman surely does not represent the countless French citizens of Jewish origin who are not members of Jewish organizations. Nevertheless, CRIF’s annual dinner has become a “must” for France’s political leaders, who listen docilely each year while Cukierman castigates them for not doing enough to stop anti-Semitism. (The exception, two years ago, was a Green who walked out after Cukierman identified “Greens and Reds” with fascist “browns” on account of their support to Palestinians.) This year, sixteen cabinet ministers bowed their heads while Cukierman attacked President Chirac’s foreign policy. By this is meant Chirac’s opposition to the U.S. war against Iraq and attempt to pursue a balanced policy toward the Middle East.</p>
<p>This illustrates the fact that the “fight against anti-Semitism” is increasingly being injected into geopolitical discussion, as a pretext for stigmatizing growing opposition to policies of both Israel and the United States.</p>
<p>This stigmatization has reached a new pitch with the current campaign to silence, legally or illegally, the French comedian Dieudonné. The campaign began back in December 2003 following a short TV sketch in which Dieudonné, dressed as a uniformed Israeli settler in the Palestinian occupied territories, called on young people to “join the American-Zionist axis of good”. This was punctuated by “Isra-heil!” An uproar ensued. Jewish organizations were largely successful in forcing theaters around France to cancel Dieudonné’s appearances, sometimes by threatening violent disruption. Nevertheless, courts dismissed all the numerous lawsuits brought against him. When he succeeded in finding a theater that would let him perform, he won standing ovations from a full house.</p>
<p>Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala is the French son of a mother from Brittany and a father from Cameroon. As rather frequently happens, his education in Catholic schools turned “God-given” (the literal translation of his Christian name) into a freethinker sharply critical of all religions. In his one-man shows, he habitually parodies all religions without exception including the animism of his African ancestors. Irreverence is a staple of French humor, which constantly ridicules Catholicism and Islam in the most outrageous terms.</p>
<p>Insisting on his commitment to equality and universal human values, Dieudonné has refused to censure himself as his critics demand. They have been lying in wait. In a press conference in Algiers last month, he cited the expression “memorial pornography”, coined by an Israeli historian, Idith Zerkal, to refer to aspects of certain commemorations of the Holocaust. Apparently, none of the Algerian journalists saw fit to report this particular remark, which reduced it to a private expression. However, it was picked up by a Zionist website, www.proche.orient.com, which spread the word that Dieudonné had described the Shoah as “memorial pornography”.</p>
<p>A new and more violent “Dieudonné affair” was launched. The stock in trade of comedians is excess and bad taste. On both those counts, Dieudonné is relatively mild. His manner is good natured; with none of the venom caracterizing certain U.S. talk show hosts. Back in Paris, Dieudonné told the press that his words had been distorted. He had never mentioned the Shoah itself, and stressed his respect for the victims of that great tragedy-a tragedy for all humanity.</p>
<p>But it was not enough to correct misquotes.. Whatever his words, hostile reporters demanded to know: “but what did you mean?” In other words, what did you think? The criminalization of spoken words leads almost inevitably to the attempt to criminalize unspoken thoughts. Explaining his political outlook, Dieudonné said that his fight against racism led him to oppose “exacerbated communitarism” which sets one</p>
<p>religious community against another. But why was there no memorial for victims of the slave trade? Why was it that subsidies were available for some 150 films on the Holocaust, while he was unable to get backing for a film on the “code noir”, the legal basis for the French slave trade? This did absolutely nothing to assuage Dieudonne’s critics, and the chorus of media attacks in the following days became more virulent. Bernard-Henri Levy flamboyantly described the comedian as the “son of Le Pen”- regardless of the well-known fact that in his home town of Dreux, Dieudonné has been politically active in opposing Le Pen’s National Front. For Dieudonné, the cancellations and death threats are pouring in.</p>
<p>Even if he wins in court, as he has in the past, the media are clearly out to destroy him. The significance of this campaign goes far beyond its effects on the career of a talented young performer with children to support. Two more general effects can be signaled.</p>
<p>First of all, the campaign against Dieudonné amounts to an attempt to silence a leading voice of secular universalism with a strong following among young people of all communities in France, notably-but by no means exclusively-among children of immigrants from African and Arab countries. Many, unlike him, are religious. But if veiled Muslim girls can laugh at the comedians’ satire of Islamic extremists, why is similar satire of Orthodox Zionist settlers not allowed? Why does the CRIF have more influence than any organization representing the far more numerous Muslim community? Isn’t the secular universalism of Dieudonné a healthy response to the threat of conflict between religious communities? Secondly, and perhaps of even greater significance, the campaign against the French comic is a small part of a broad tendency to use the charge of “anti-Semitism” to silence criticism of United States policy in the Middle East, including the conquest of Iraq. This is sometimes blatant and sometimes subtle. The expression “memorial pornography” is no doubt lacking in both precision and good taste. But it expresses a certain fatigue, not least among a number of Jewish high school students, with the constant commemoration of a terrible past tragedy, to the exclusion of others (the bombing of Hiroshima, for example). There is a growing suspicion that this repetition is not really helping to ensure that “it can’t happen again”. Rather, it is being exploited to silence opposition to the war policies of the United States and its main partner in the Middle East. Such opposition, after all, was the meaning of Dieudonné’s parody of “the axis of evil”-essentially concerned with the present and the immediate future, and by no means a denial of the past.</p>
<p>On the ideological level, the constant reference to the Holocaust, with the suggestion that a new persecution of Europe’s Jews may begin tomorrow, creates a subtle but profound cleavage between the United States and “old Europe”. For Germany, obviously, but also-with infinitely less justification, but equal insistance from American critics-for France, reference to the Holocaust arouses an endless sense of guilt, disqualifying those European powers from any future geopolitical role.</p>
<p>For the United States, on the contrary, the Holocaust has become the key feature of an ideology justifying U.S. military intervention to “save victims” around the world. This is based on the mythical notion (which ignores, among other things, the decisive role of the Red Army in defeating the Third Reich) that it was the United States that finally came to the rescue of the victims of the Holocaust. The implication of this myth, which underlies the enormous exaggeration of “the return of anti-Semitism” in France, is that Europeans, if left to their own devices, will probably start to persecute the Jews once again. And only the United States can stop them.</p>
<p>Thus the myth of benevolent U.S. military intervention is empowered by the ideological exploitation of the Holocaust, just as “old Europe” is disempowered by it. This is one reason why politicians and media in Europe by no means all of them Jewish-who want their countries to follow Washington find it politically useful to keep harping on the Holocaust.</p>
<p>This is not respect for the victims but exploitation of them. By a constant implicit blackmail, the pro-NATO politicians and media help keep Europe morally crippled, disqualified from opposing the U.S.-led wars to remodel the Middle East.</p>
<p>There seems to have been more indignation in French media over some garbled reports of remarks by Dieudonné than over the total destruction of the Iraqi city of Fallujah. In such a world, is there much place left for humorists?</p>
<p>DIANA JOHNSTONE is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato, and Western Delusions</a> published by Monthly Review Press.</p> | true | 4 | 160 power becomes blatantly criminal time make people shut time seems come throughout empire freedom speech increasingly threatened united states old europe although attacks come quite different angles united states assault clearly led far right fanatics david horowitz inciting students denounce professors dare try teach something didnt think already knew purpose clearly ban criticism united states war policy old europe assault subtle probably less lucid aims led part people consider left seem blissfully unaware danger limiting freedom speech germany long illegal deny holocaust took place offense called auschwitz lie punished three years prison german television insists relentlessly hitler crimes still lurking wings done nothing prevent rise neonazi groups may even helped grow accordance phenomenon demonstrated soviet zone establishing official trutheven truecan best way make many people believe contrary far right germany seems gaining ground result widespread disillusion especially eastern germany neoliberal economic policies supposed bring prosperity instead brought growing unemployment poverty case center left government social democrats greens undertaken react rightist demonstrations broadening law volksverhetzunga concept translated incitement masses poisoning minds people future enough prosecute persons approve justify deny play genocide jews gypsies way apt disturb public peace vague notion new law would make equally criminal speak ways case genocide condemned international court whose jurisdiction recognized government federal republic germany judicial history marked famously unjust verdicts reversed long struggles right wrong german law could make crime challenge international tribunal former yugoslavia set nato powers control manipulate political conflict balkans officially convicts serbs genocide anyone points tribunals definition genocide contrived political purposes procedures blatantly prejudiced might risk arrested limits freedom speech directly related action thus political leader exhorts hall full followers go commit pogrom legitimately considered criminal act trend expand criminalization speech far beyond incitements embrace expression opinions including opinions pastabout facts nature may debated changed france restriction freedom speech also began criminalization auschwitz lie germany unlikely stop incitement racial hatred discrimination outlawed france since 1972 july 1990 french national assembly adopted amendment extending 1972 law persons dispute existence crimes humanity defined nuremburg tribunal committed either members organization declared criminal person found guilty crimes french international jurisdiction intent law clearly punish statements denying reality nazi genocide jews however unspecified reference international jurisdiction may unwittingly opened door prosecution persons challenging verdicts quite different international tribunals natolinked tribunal hague 1990 amendment known gayssot law introduced communist member assembly seems french left especially communist party understandable desire preserve legacy french resistance world war ii seen danger setting precedent punishing speech well acts recent years context changed considerably face worldwide protests treatment palestinians increasing efforts made extend definition antisemitism cover criticism israel insisting distinction jews jewish state proposition vigorously denied many french jews thereby identifying criticism israel antisemitism ultrazionists seem provoking antisemitism denounce whether deliberate debatable france largest jewish population europe skilled assimilated population ariel sharon openly trying lure israel claiming jews safe anywhere else notably france alleged antisemitism criticism israel identified antisemitism becomes implicitly taboo association antisemitism holocaust denial main practitioner moral intimidation roger cukierman far right zionist presides representative council jewish organizations france crif april 2002 cukierman actually hailed surprisingly strong showing le pen first round french presidential elections good lesson arabs cukierman surely represent countless french citizens jewish origin members jewish organizations nevertheless crifs annual dinner become must frances political leaders listen docilely year cukierman castigates enough stop antisemitism exception two years ago green walked cukierman identified greens reds fascist browns account support palestinians year sixteen cabinet ministers bowed heads cukierman attacked president chiracs foreign policy meant chiracs opposition us war iraq attempt pursue balanced policy toward middle east illustrates fact fight antisemitism increasingly injected geopolitical discussion pretext stigmatizing growing opposition policies israel united states stigmatization reached new pitch current campaign silence legally illegally french comedian dieudonné campaign began back december 2003 following short tv sketch dieudonné dressed uniformed israeli settler palestinian occupied territories called young people join americanzionist axis good punctuated israheil uproar ensued jewish organizations largely successful forcing theaters around france cancel dieudonnés appearances sometimes threatening violent disruption nevertheless courts dismissed numerous lawsuits brought succeeded finding theater would let perform standing ovations full house dieudonné mbala mbala french son mother brittany father cameroon rather frequently happens education catholic schools turned godgiven literal translation christian name freethinker sharply critical religions oneman shows habitually parodies religions without exception including animism african ancestors irreverence staple french humor constantly ridicules catholicism islam outrageous terms insisting commitment equality universal human values dieudonné refused censure critics demand lying wait press conference algiers last month cited expression memorial pornography coined israeli historian idith zerkal refer aspects certain commemorations holocaust apparently none algerian journalists saw fit report particular remark reduced private expression however picked zionist website wwwprocheorientcom spread word dieudonné described shoah memorial pornography new violent dieudonné affair launched stock trade comedians excess bad taste counts dieudonné relatively mild manner good natured none venom caracterizing certain us talk show hosts back paris dieudonné told press words distorted never mentioned shoah stressed respect victims great tragedya tragedy humanity enough correct misquotes whatever words hostile reporters demanded know mean words think criminalization spoken words leads almost inevitably attempt criminalize unspoken thoughts explaining political outlook dieudonné said fight racism led oppose exacerbated communitarism sets one religious community another memorial victims slave trade subsidies available 150 films holocaust unable get backing film code noir legal basis french slave trade absolutely nothing assuage dieudonnes critics chorus media attacks following days became virulent bernardhenri levy flamboyantly described comedian son le pen regardless wellknown fact home town dreux dieudonné politically active opposing le pens national front dieudonné cancellations death threats pouring even wins court past media clearly destroy significance campaign goes far beyond effects career talented young performer children support two general effects signaled first campaign dieudonné amounts attempt silence leading voice secular universalism strong following among young people communities france notablybut means exclusivelyamong children immigrants african arab countries many unlike religious veiled muslim girls laugh comedians satire islamic extremists similar satire orthodox zionist settlers allowed crif influence organization representing far numerous muslim community isnt secular universalism dieudonné healthy response threat conflict religious communities secondly perhaps even greater significance campaign french comic small part broad tendency use charge antisemitism silence criticism united states policy middle east including conquest iraq sometimes blatant sometimes subtle expression memorial pornography doubt lacking precision good taste expresses certain fatigue least among number jewish high school students constant commemoration terrible past tragedy exclusion others bombing hiroshima example growing suspicion repetition really helping ensure cant happen rather exploited silence opposition war policies united states main partner middle east opposition meaning dieudonnés parody axis evilessentially concerned present immediate future means denial past ideological level constant reference holocaust suggestion new persecution europes jews may begin tomorrow creates subtle profound cleavage united states old europe germany obviously alsowith infinitely less justification equal insistance american criticsfor france reference holocaust arouses endless sense guilt disqualifying european powers future geopolitical role united states contrary holocaust become key feature ideology justifying us military intervention save victims around world based mythical notion ignores among things decisive role red army defeating third reich united states finally came rescue victims holocaust implication myth underlies enormous exaggeration return antisemitism france europeans left devices probably start persecute jews united states stop thus myth benevolent us military intervention empowered ideological exploitation holocaust old europe disempowered one reason politicians media europe means jewishwho want countries follow washington find politically useful keep harping holocaust respect victims exploitation constant implicit blackmail pronato politicians media help keep europe morally crippled disqualified opposing usled wars remodel middle east seems indignation french media garbled reports remarks dieudonné total destruction iraqi city fallujah world much place left humorists diana johnstone author fools crusade yugoslavia nato western delusions published monthly review press | 1,269 |
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-m3F" type="external">21st Century Wire</a>&#160;says…</p>
<p>Lets be clear, this isn’t an attack on the tragic death of young Alan Kurdi or 80 year old Vanessa Redgrave, member of the Redgrave acting dynasty and British acting aristocracy; this is another reminder of the ‘selective moral outrage’ we see time and time again surrounding the refugee crisis influx into Europe and above all, the war on Syria.</p>
<p>Redgrave’s ‘activist’ life is commendable, which began as early as 1961. She and her brother were founders of the ‘Peace and Progress’ Party which campaigned against the Iraq War. A discreet philanthropist, supporter of the PLO, and outspoken critic of ‘the war on terrorism’, Redgrave has made a distinct mark in political activism alongside her established performance career spanning almost 50 years or more.</p>
<p>Next months special screening of her debut entitled ‘Sea Sorrow’ will take place at the internationally renowned Cannes Film Festival.&#160; However, will guests attending be presented with the burning questions of ‘why’ people from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan become refugees. Are we going to see the typical symptoms, instead of causes. Sadly the answer here is yes, considering on how well their researchers have done their work.</p>
<p>Whilst quaffing cool prosecco or champagne and munching on some artisan canapes, will the Cannes guests and other attendees, including Ms Redgrave, be aware of the recent attack at Rashidin on the outskirts of Aleppo? What’s the more compelling story here to present to international audiences. There’s many of them in Syria, which has experienced it’s own ‘hell on earth’ since 2011.</p>
<p>Abd Alkader Habek ( <a href="https://twitter.com/AbdHabak" type="external">@AbdHabak</a>) is a Syrian videographer and was at the scene of the recent attack. Although his pictures went viral after the atrocity, depicting him desperately trying to rescue children during the aftermath, his authenticity at this point is questionable due to new connections that have come to light regarding his involvement at the scene and other ‘coincidences’.</p>
<p>How many “Alan Kurdi’s” were there at Rashidin? Answer; most of the victims were young children. Is Vanessa Redgrave aware of this? One could only hope so.</p>
<p>Are the arts truly engaging, able to disseminate the right information, and ask the big questions behind what’s really going on in Syria, so they can draw upon this truth to use alongside her chosen modality and present it to the world? Or are they afraid to raise the stakes in case they won’t be supported and criticism will affect their ego.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t following Murad Gadziev and Lizzie Phelan of <a href="http://www.rt.com" type="external">RT</a>, or Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett and Patrick Henningsen of <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire</a> who’ve all been on the ground in Syria, and some of whom continue to be, offer the greater truth perspective for film-makers, as compared to fakenews mainstream propaganda we’re suffocated with on a daily basis about Syria.</p>
<p>In the words of Vanessa Redgrave and as to why I wrote this opening analysis as such, “I just felt I must…”</p>
<p>More on this report from The Guardian…</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />(Image – Muhammad Alrageb)</p>
<p>Dalya Alberge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/17/vanessa-redgrave-makes-directorial-debut-with-film-about-refugee-crisis" type="external">The Guardian</a></p>
<p>The sight of a Syrian toddler’s lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach was among the horrors that drove <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/vanessa-redgrave" type="external">Vanessa Redgrave</a> to make her directorial debut with a feature documentary about the refugee crisis, she said.</p>
<p>The 80-year-old Oscar-winning actor and political activist, has long campaigned for refugees, but the shocking images of three-year-old <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/alan-kurdi" type="external">Alan Kurdi</a> made her realise she needed to do more.</p>
<p>Determined to raise awareness of the plight of people fleeing persecution and poverty, death and destruction, she directed a documentary, titled Sea Sorrow, funding it herself.</p>
<p>“I just felt I must,” she told the Guardian.</p>
<p>Recalling tragic stories told by refugees and the squalid conditions in which they live, she asked: “Who else would have directed what I was seeing?”</p>
<p>Last week, she received the accolade of having the documentary selected for a “special screening” at next month’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/13/cannes-film-festival-2017-full-list-of-films" type="external">Cannes film festival</a>.</p>
<p>The international exposure of a screening on the French Riviera is crucial as the refugee crisis intensifies, Redgrave believes. She hopes that it will make us “welcome refugees”, warning that we stand to lose our humanity otherwise.</p>
<p>Sea Sorrow focuses on ordinary people like an Afghan former head-mistress whom Redgrave met in Greece. “She’d had to flee… The agony was knowing that, more than likely, she would be sent back to Afghanistan. That’s what’s happening to refugees,” she said.</p>
<p>Describing her documentary as “an elegy,” she focused her camera on a tent daubed with the words “help us” and on a discarded plimsoll lying in the mud and debris.</p>
<p>While she did not mention atrocities carried out against westerners by extremists given a safe haven as refugees, she criticised the picture painted by some parts of the media: “Clearly, there is an agenda to pounce on any negative by a refugee as proof that they’re all potentially like that and they shouldn’t be allowed in.”</p>
<p>Redgrave is a former member of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/rsc" type="external">Royal Shakespeare Company</a>, whose Oscar-nominated performances include the lead role for Mary, Queen of Scots. She won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the 1977 wartime drama Julia.</p>
<p>In making sense of the world, she has turned to Shakespeare and The Tempest, in which Prospero, the exiled rightful Duke of Milan and a magician, tells his daughter Miranda, how they escaped drowning by being put in a “rotten carcass” of a boat when she was three.</p>
<p>Redgrave draws parallels with three-year-old <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees" type="external">Kurdi, who drowned in 2015</a>: “[His] family had fled from their village of Kobani, twice besieged by Isis, hoping that a small rubber dinghy could take them across two miles of water to the Greek island of Kos where they could claim asylum. I was horrified that this baby and his mother and sister had died because they could not find a safe and legal passage…”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/17/vanessa-redgrave-makes-directorial-debut-with-film-about-refugee-crisis" type="external">Continue this report at The Guardian</a></p>
<p>READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire SYRIA Files</a></p>
<p>SUPPORT OUR&#160;WORK BY SUBSCRIBING &amp; BECOMING A MEMBER&#160; <a href="https://21wire.tv/membership/plans/" type="external">@21WIRE.TV</a></p> | true | 4 | 21st century wire160says lets clear isnt attack tragic death young alan kurdi 80 year old vanessa redgrave member redgrave acting dynasty british acting aristocracy another reminder selective moral outrage see time time surrounding refugee crisis influx europe war syria redgraves activist life commendable began early 1961 brother founders peace progress party campaigned iraq war discreet philanthropist supporter plo outspoken critic war terrorism redgrave made distinct mark political activism alongside established performance career spanning almost 50 years next months special screening debut entitled sea sorrow take place internationally renowned cannes film festival160 however guests attending presented burning questions people syria iraq afghanistan become refugees going see typical symptoms instead causes sadly answer yes considering well researchers done work whilst quaffing cool prosecco champagne munching artisan canapes cannes guests attendees including ms redgrave aware recent attack rashidin outskirts aleppo whats compelling story present international audiences theres many syria experienced hell earth since 2011 abd alkader habek abdhabak syrian videographer scene recent attack although pictures went viral atrocity depicting desperately trying rescue children aftermath authenticity point questionable due new connections come light regarding involvement scene coincidences many alan kurdis rashidin answer victims young children vanessa redgrave aware one could hope arts truly engaging able disseminate right information ask big questions behind whats really going syria draw upon truth use alongside chosen modality present world afraid raise stakes case wont supported criticism affect ego wouldnt following murad gadziev lizzie phelan rt vanessa beeley eva bartlett patrick henningsen 21st century wire whove ground syria continue offer greater truth perspective filmmakers compared fakenews mainstream propaganda suffocated daily basis syria words vanessa redgrave wrote opening analysis felt must report guardian image muhammad alrageb dalya alberge guardian sight syrian toddlers lifeless body washed turkish beach among horrors drove vanessa redgrave make directorial debut feature documentary refugee crisis said 80yearold oscarwinning actor political activist long campaigned refugees shocking images threeyearold alan kurdi made realise needed determined raise awareness plight people fleeing persecution poverty death destruction directed documentary titled sea sorrow funding felt must told guardian recalling tragic stories told refugees squalid conditions live asked else would directed seeing last week received accolade documentary selected special screening next months cannes film festival international exposure screening french riviera crucial refugee crisis intensifies redgrave believes hopes make us welcome refugees warning stand lose humanity otherwise sea sorrow focuses ordinary people like afghan former headmistress redgrave met greece shed flee agony knowing likely would sent back afghanistan thats whats happening refugees said describing documentary elegy focused camera tent daubed words help us discarded plimsoll lying mud debris mention atrocities carried westerners extremists given safe refugees criticised picture painted parts media clearly agenda pounce negative refugee proof theyre potentially like shouldnt allowed redgrave former member royal shakespeare company whose oscarnominated performances include lead role mary queen scots oscar best supporting actress role 1977 wartime drama julia making sense world turned shakespeare tempest prospero exiled rightful duke milan magician tells daughter miranda escaped drowning put rotten carcass boat three redgrave draws parallels threeyearold kurdi drowned 2015 family fled village kobani twice besieged isis hoping small rubber dinghy could take across two miles water greek island kos could claim asylum horrified baby mother sister died could find safe legal passage continue report guardian read syria news at160 21st century wire syria files support our160work subscribing amp becoming member160 21wiretv | 553 |
<p>In April 1848, the French held a national election based upon universal adult male suffrage. This seems unremarkable today, but at the time, it was a bold innovation. Neither Britain nor the United States had ever held such an election; in even the most enlightened western countries, <a href="http://www.askara.com/suffrage.html" type="external">property requirements limited the franchise</a>. In France, a country of 30 million people, only 170,000 had been eligible to vote under the constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe. In this election, nine million voted.</p>
<p>The petite bourgeoisie and wage-workers of Paris had rebelled in February, toppling Louis, and brought to power a provisional government, influenced by socialist thought. It took a series of measures quite radical for the time. It abolished the death penalty, banned slavery in the French colonies, limited the workday to 10 hours, lifted restrictions on the press, promulgated the “right to work” and established “national workshops” to support the unemployed. Tens of thousands of Frenchmen trekked to Paris to find work in these establishments. Universal male suffrage was only one component of an ambitious program of social change, which resonated in radical circles throughout Europe and helped trigger uprisings in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. These were heady times; a month before the rebellion in France, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had authored the Communist Manifesto.</p>
<p>The April election was unprecedented in its democratic legitimacy. Unfortunately the wrong side won. The victors rejected rather than embraced social reform. The French peasantry voted on Easter Sunday, after attending mass. Given the Church’s role in primary education and village life in general, it played a crucial role in creating public opinion—and the Church was profoundly reactionary. Influenced by sermons hostile to the reforms, the masses of peasants brought to power political parties that were determined to check the emerging power of the Parisian proletariat. These parties wanted to retain the democratic gains of the French Revolution of 1789, and prevent the return of absolute monarchy, but they feared the consequences of empowering the working class. The new regime thus excluded significant worker participation, and eliminated the national workshops, ordering workers who had applied for jobs in these to instead enlist in the army. This prompted a worker uprising that <a href="http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/Tocqueville.html" type="external">Alexis de Tocqueville</a> called “the most extensive and most singular insurrection that has occurred in our history…”</p>
<p>In the “June Days” tens of thousands of workers rose up to reject the results of the “democratic” election. The conservative National Assembly in response awarded dictatorial powers to General Eugène Cavaignac, commissioned to suppress them. (His forces killed about 3,000 of the insurgents, and deported 4,000 to the French colony of Algeria.) The Assembly revoked the universal suffrage which had brought itself to power, and paved the way for the nephew of Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, to win the presidency in December. Three years later, the president seized dictatorial powers, and as Napoleon III restored the Empire. But after his capture in battle in 1870, and the announcement that the Prussians would march on Paris to accept the French defeat, the workers of Paris again rose up, repudiating empire and monarchy and calling for a republic rooted in the toiling classes. This time they actually held power for two months before their Commune was drowned in blood.</p>
<p>“Parliamentary Cretinism”</p>
<p>The moral of the story is this: elections (even the freest) do not necessarily have anything to do with freedom. The freely cast vote of an individual whose opinions themselves are shaped by an oppressive social structure may easily become a vote for more oppression. The Weimar Republic in Germany (1919-1933) was from a constitutional standpoint among the most democratic the world had known, but it morphed into the Third Reich through the legal electoral process. Good decent people, not knowing what they do, can vote in the worst sort of leaders, including fascists. In November 1932, Adolph Hitler’s Nazis won 30% of the vote in Germany, more than any other party. Hitler was soon appointed Chancellor.</p>
<p>The promotion of “democratic elections” as an end in itself can mask support for highly repressive social systems. The U.S. State Department routinely validates as “democratic” polls held throughout Latin America, while always singling out Cuba as an antiquated tyranny. So long as a nation conducts polls involving more than one party, resulting in a leadership acceptable to Washington, it’s either a democracy or making strides to become such. It doesn’t matter how undemocratically wealth is divided. It doesn’t matter if some parties are banned, or targeted for legal or extra-legal attack, or if a handful of media moguls and corporate sponsors shape the vote. Perhaps people are required by law to vote, even if they find the balloting a farce; this allows one to boast of “record turnouts” validating whatever outcome.</p>
<p>Marx, among the most astute commentators on the French election of 1848, dismissed faith in “democratic elections” in class-divided societies as “parliamentary cretinism, which holds its victims spellbound in an imaginary world and robs them of all sense, all memory, and all understanding of the rough external world.” He called it “a disorder which penetrates its unfortunate victims with the solemn conviction that the whole world, its history and future, are governed and determined by a majority of votes in that particular representative body that has the honor to count them among its members” He certainly supported workers’ demand for universal suffrage, suggesting (somewhat too optimistically) that in England, since the proletariat (as of 1852) formed “the large majority of the population,” the “inevitable result” of suffrage would be “the political supremacy of the working class.” But he emphasized that the voter’s views are themselves produced by a surrounding power structure that constrains the “freedom” of any ballot.</p>
<p>Herbert Marcuse, the doyen of New Left scholars in the 1960s, examined the U.S. as a “one-dimensional” society, in which citizens seduced by a consumer culture possible only in an advanced capitalist society could rest content with the delusion that they were truly free, and that their political choices (pro-capitalist Democrat versus pro-capitalist Republican) were adequately diverse. “Under the rule of a repressive whole,” he wrote, “liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination. Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of toil and fear—that is, if they sustain alienation.”</p>
<p>The dominant paradigm in Marcuse’s heyday was “the Free World vs. Communism.” “Freedom” was shorthand for free markets and capitalism, and so the Free World could comfortably include Suharto’s Indonesia, Mobutu’s Zaire, Franco’s Spain and a host of brutal dictatorships. But political democracy (freedom in the exchange of ideas) was considered the optimal corollary for capitalism (freedom in the exchange of commodities, including labor-power). It is the same today. The often-repeated U.S. policy goal is to promote political democracy and free markets, although not necessarily in that order. Since capitalism (in China, for example) is held to inevitably lead towards American- style political institutions, the flourishing of markets receptive to foreign capital is itself reason for cordial diplomacy, businesslike relations, and the discreet handling of “human rights” issues. The freedom of U.S. capital almost always trumps the freedom of the Third World proletarian.</p>
<p>In this country, your location and economic status consign you to school systems where your thoughts and attitudes are largely formed. The needs of capital determine your job options and hours. Such factors shape how much attention you can pay to the news —the whole world outside your immediate circumstances—and how critically you digest what you consume. A handful of corporations feed you the news, accompanied by assurances that this transmission is “fair and balanced.” Meanwhile popular culture generally suggests you should be “proud to be an American, ’cause at least” you “know” you’re “free”—even if you’d be very hard-pressed to argue that you’re freer than a Swede, New Zealander or Japanese. Influential religious voices (in today’s America and the France of 1848) preach that God Himself opposes significant social change, and wants you to vote for His chosen candidate.</p>
<p>Over 40% of the American people describe themselves as fundamentalist or “born-again” Christians. Over 40% believe George W. Bush deserves a second term. Over 40% believe, because they have been misled or simply want to believe, that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9-11. There is probably much overlap among these categories of believers, who receive much encouragement from sectors of the “free” press and powerful well-funded bodies who exercise their freedom to influence voters. So too, of course, do a comparable percentage of anyone-but-Bush voters. However deeply they differ about the issues, including the war, they have been persuaded by the system that the system is valid, and deserves the support that they provide it by voting. Any vote, after all, is a vote for the system.</p>
<p>The Hypocrisy of the System</p>
<p>But some of those best served by elections, and publicly staunch advocates of voting, have in fact worked to skew electoral results. The 2000 presidential fiasco is just one conspicuous instance. Bush’s political advisor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove" type="external">Karl Rove</a> began his career with dirty tricks designed to affect the democratic process in favor of his candidate for state treasurer in Illinois. The very Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, <a href="http://www.aaskolnick.com/commentary/rehnquist.htm" type="external">William Rehnquist</a>, strove to keep African-Americans from voting (Democratic) in Arizona in the 1960s. The loyalty of such people is not to Jeffersonian ideals of political participation, but to getting the right men serving their kind of people into power.</p>
<p>This surely applies overseas. Henry Kissinger, as Richard Nixon’s national security advisor and friend of Latin American juntas, treated the choice of the electorate in Chile, one of this hemisphere’s most longstanding bourgeois democracies, with contempt. As the Marxist politician Salvadore Allende rose to power in 1970, he snapped, “ <a href="" type="internal">I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its people</a>.”</p>
<p>Why indeed? A CIA-backed coup toppled the moderate socialist and produced a fascist alternative warmly embraced by the freedom-loving American leadership (as would an alternative to the democratically elected Hugo Chavez in Venezuela). U.S. pressure has sidelined the democratically elected Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In U.S.-occupied Iraq, last year, proconsul Paul Bremer III observed that, “Elections held too early can be destructive,” adding that while there was “no blanket rule” against democracy in Iraq, and he wasn’t “personally opposed to it,” it had to take place “in a way that takes care of our concerns” and is “done very carefully.” It’s obvious that the U.S.-prescribed path to democracy to date, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has nothing to do with empowering the masses but merely covering neocolonialism with a fig leaf of “free elections.”</p>
<p>One final example of this disparate phenomenon, “democracy.” Our word itself comes from Greek (democratia, rule by the people), and from the political system in ancient Athens, where any adult male citizen could vote in the agora. No fallible equipment cast doubt on the accuracy of the poll. Voting was direct and open. But this admirable form of “popular” rule excluded women and slaves. Two and a half millennia later, in most places, full adult suffrage is the norm; men and women of all classes perform the ritual of casting ballots for those who claim to represent them. Whether or not the vote is “fair” from a Carter Foundation or Human Rights Watch perspective, it is conditioned by a class structure limiting its legitimacy every bit as much as slavery limited Athenian democracy.</p>
<p>Who is party to the discussion, allowed to publicly debate? Who pays to ensure that a candidate’s voice is heard? Who markets the “facts” under discussion, decides what questions get asked? CNN routinely polls its viewers (democratically, you might say), posing questions like “Who do YOU think should be the next target in the War on Terrorism?” plainly indicating to the masses that the war by general consent is really a war on “terrorism” and really should continue and the informed viewer really ought to prefer one or the other war expansion choices. Such polls never give one the option of saying, “Your question is loaded; I reject all the options you give me.” Similarly the U.S. political system, harnessed to corporate power, provides options between which those questioning corporate power itself have little reason to choose. One might of course prefer slow poison to hanging, but why should one have to select between such alternatives? Humanity can do better.</p>
<p>GARY LEUPP is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan</a>; <a href="" type="internal">Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan</a>; and <a href="" type="internal">Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900</a>. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch’s merciless chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Imperial Crusades</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:gleupp@granite.tufts.edu" type="external">gleupp@granite.tufts.edu</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | april 1848 french held national election based upon universal adult male suffrage seems unremarkable today time bold innovation neither britain united states ever held election even enlightened western countries property requirements limited franchise france country 30 million people 170000 eligible vote constitutional monarchy louis philippe election nine million voted petite bourgeoisie wageworkers paris rebelled february toppling louis brought power provisional government influenced socialist thought took series measures quite radical time abolished death penalty banned slavery french colonies limited workday 10 hours lifted restrictions press promulgated right work established national workshops support unemployed tens thousands frenchmen trekked paris find work establishments universal male suffrage one component ambitious program social change resonated radical circles throughout europe helped trigger uprisings germany austriahungary italy heady times month rebellion france karl marx friedrich engels authored communist manifesto april election unprecedented democratic legitimacy unfortunately wrong side victors rejected rather embraced social reform french peasantry voted easter sunday attending mass given churchs role primary education village life general played crucial role creating public opinionand church profoundly reactionary influenced sermons hostile reforms masses peasants brought power political parties determined check emerging power parisian proletariat parties wanted retain democratic gains french revolution 1789 prevent return absolute monarchy feared consequences empowering working class new regime thus excluded significant worker participation eliminated national workshops ordering workers applied jobs instead enlist army prompted worker uprising alexis de tocqueville called extensive singular insurrection occurred history june days tens thousands workers rose reject results democratic election conservative national assembly response awarded dictatorial powers general eugène cavaignac commissioned suppress forces killed 3000 insurgents deported 4000 french colony algeria assembly revoked universal suffrage brought power paved way nephew louis napoleon nephew napoleon bonaparte win presidency december three years later president seized dictatorial powers napoleon iii restored empire capture battle 1870 announcement prussians would march paris accept french defeat workers paris rose repudiating empire monarchy calling republic rooted toiling classes time actually held power two months commune drowned blood parliamentary cretinism moral story elections even freest necessarily anything freedom freely cast vote individual whose opinions shaped oppressive social structure may easily become vote oppression weimar republic germany 19191933 constitutional standpoint among democratic world known morphed third reich legal electoral process good decent people knowing vote worst sort leaders including fascists november 1932 adolph hitlers nazis 30 vote germany party hitler soon appointed chancellor promotion democratic elections end mask support highly repressive social systems us state department routinely validates democratic polls held throughout latin america always singling cuba antiquated tyranny long nation conducts polls involving one party resulting leadership acceptable washington either democracy making strides become doesnt matter undemocratically wealth divided doesnt matter parties banned targeted legal extralegal attack handful media moguls corporate sponsors shape vote perhaps people required law vote even find balloting farce allows one boast record turnouts validating whatever outcome marx among astute commentators french election 1848 dismissed faith democratic elections classdivided societies parliamentary cretinism holds victims spellbound imaginary world robs sense memory understanding rough external world called disorder penetrates unfortunate victims solemn conviction whole world history future governed determined majority votes particular representative body honor count among members certainly supported workers demand universal suffrage suggesting somewhat optimistically england since proletariat 1852 formed large majority population inevitable result suffrage would political supremacy working class emphasized voters views produced surrounding power structure constrains freedom ballot herbert marcuse doyen new left scholars 1960s examined us onedimensional society citizens seduced consumer culture possible advanced capitalist society could rest content delusion truly free political choices procapitalist democrat versus procapitalist republican adequately diverse rule repressive whole wrote liberty made powerful instrument domination free election masters abolish masters slaves free choice among wide variety goods services signify freedom goods services sustain social controls life toil fearthat sustain alienation dominant paradigm marcuses heyday free world vs communism freedom shorthand free markets capitalism free world could comfortably include suhartos indonesia mobutus zaire francos spain host brutal dictatorships political democracy freedom exchange ideas considered optimal corollary capitalism freedom exchange commodities including laborpower today oftenrepeated us policy goal promote political democracy free markets although necessarily order since capitalism china example held inevitably lead towards american style political institutions flourishing markets receptive foreign capital reason cordial diplomacy businesslike relations discreet handling human rights issues freedom us capital almost always trumps freedom third world proletarian country location economic status consign school systems thoughts attitudes largely formed needs capital determine job options hours factors shape much attention pay news whole world outside immediate circumstancesand critically digest consume handful corporations feed news accompanied assurances transmission fair balanced meanwhile popular culture generally suggests proud american cause least know youre freeeven youd hardpressed argue youre freer swede new zealander japanese influential religious voices todays america france 1848 preach god opposes significant social change wants vote chosen candidate 40 american people describe fundamentalist bornagain christians 40 believe george w bush deserves second term 40 believe misled simply want believe saddam hussein involved 911 probably much overlap among categories believers receive much encouragement sectors free press powerful wellfunded bodies exercise freedom influence voters course comparable percentage anyonebutbush voters however deeply differ issues including war persuaded system system valid deserves support provide voting vote vote system hypocrisy system best served elections publicly staunch advocates voting fact worked skew electoral results 2000 presidential fiasco one conspicuous instance bushs political advisor karl rove began career dirty tricks designed affect democratic process favor candidate state treasurer illinois chief justice supreme court william rehnquist strove keep africanamericans voting democratic arizona 1960s loyalty people jeffersonian ideals political participation getting right men serving kind people power surely applies overseas henry kissinger richard nixons national security advisor friend latin american juntas treated choice electorate chile one hemispheres longstanding bourgeois democracies contempt marxist politician salvadore allende rose power 1970 snapped dont see need stand watch country go communist due irresponsibility people indeed ciabacked coup toppled moderate socialist produced fascist alternative warmly embraced freedomloving american leadership would alternative democratically elected hugo chavez venezuela us pressure sidelined democratically elected palestinian leader yasser arafat usoccupied iraq last year proconsul paul bremer iii observed elections held early destructive adding blanket rule democracy iraq wasnt personally opposed take place way takes care concerns done carefully obvious usprescribed path democracy date iraq afghanistan nothing empowering masses merely covering neocolonialism fig leaf free elections one final example disparate phenomenon democracy word comes greek democratia rule people political system ancient athens adult male citizen could vote agora fallible equipment cast doubt accuracy poll voting direct open admirable form popular rule excluded women slaves two half millennia later places full adult suffrage norm men women classes perform ritual casting ballots claim represent whether vote fair carter foundation human rights watch perspective conditioned class structure limiting legitimacy every bit much slavery limited athenian democracy party discussion allowed publicly debate pays ensure candidates voice heard markets facts discussion decides questions get asked cnn routinely polls viewers democratically might say posing questions like think next target war terrorism plainly indicating masses war general consent really war terrorism really continue informed viewer really ought prefer one war expansion choices polls never give one option saying question loaded reject options give similarly us political system harnessed corporate power provides options questioning corporate power little reason choose one might course prefer slow poison hanging one select alternatives humanity better gary leupp professor history tufts university adjunct professor comparative religion author servants shophands laborers cities tokugawa japan male colors construction homosexuality tokugawa japan interracial intimacy japan western men japanese women 15431900 also contributor counterpunchs merciless chronicle wars iraq afghanistan yugoslavia imperial crusades reached gleuppgranitetuftsedu 160 160 | 1,248 |
<p>Helicopters circling the city, combat planes roaring overhead; the streets, airports and public buildings patrolled by 13,000 police, soldiers, secret servicemen and spies, U.S. as well as Colombian.</p>
<p>The arrival of Donald Rumsfeld in Bogotá on August 19 did not portend anything but the further ratcheting up of imperial terror in South America. The day before, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe faced machine-gun fire from the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) when his helicopter approached Granada, Antioquia, a town that was destroyed by the FARC’s gas cylinder bombs on December 6-7, 2000. Since the FARC have sophisticated, up-to-date grenade launchers as well as machine guns and crude cylinder bombs, one wonders if, like nearly everything else in Álvaro Uribe’s presidency, the attack was not stage-managed to drive home the need for more resources to fight “drugs and terror,” so as to wipe out the FARC guerrillas, now held to be responsible for the country’s accumulated problems.</p>
<p>For the past several years, South America’s non-violent social movements-the Argentine piqueteros, the Brazilian landless, the Ecuadorian indigenous people, the Bolivian coca growers, Colombian and Peruvian trade unionists and community organizations-have offered a beacon of hope to the world, since they have blocked a series of neoliberal privatization efforts in the cities and held counterinsurgency in check in the countryside. As recently as nine months ago, there were reasons for relative optimism, since the movements had translated mass mobilization into electoral power: Lula and the PT had won in Brazil, Evo Morales and MAS had lost the Bolivian presidency by less than 1.5% but promised to form a formidable opposition, Lucio Gutierrez was going to have indigenous leaders in his government in Ecuador, Chávez was close to defeating the opposition in Venezuela.</p>
<p>Beginning with Plan Colombia, in the name of the war on drugs-which, after September 11, 2001, became the war on drugs and terror-the U.S. government responded to the growing challenge to the Washington Consensus: a military base in Manta, Ecuador, ‘Plan Dignity’ to eradicate coca in the Bolivian Chapare, a coup in Venezuela, offhand comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill that rocked Brazilian financial markets as elections neared. But the cornerstone of the U.S. approach to the hemisphere was to be found in Colombia, the world’s third most-important client-state after Israel and Egypt ($3 billion paid out since 2000). In late July 2003, the U.S. House of Representatives approved $731 million in FY 2004 for the Andean Regional Initiative (explicitly acknowledged as the continuation of Plan Colombia, under new auspices), two thirds of which will go to the Colombian government; more specifically, to its military and police.</p>
<p>Though the conjuncture remains fluid, hence subject to dramatic reversal, it seems that for the time being, the imperially aligned right has regained the upper hand everywhere in Latin America except Venezuela and Cuba. At the inauguration ceremony of President Nicanor Duarte in Paraguay on August 15, on the initiative of Álvaro Uribe, presidents of the South American republics-excepting Hugo Chávez-signed the “Declaration of Asunción,” a pledge of loyalty in “the war on drugs and terror.”</p>
<p>In effect, Lula has complied with his campaign pledge to meet IMF terms of fiscal austerity and renounced an independent foreign policy of the sort that Chávez has tried to forge (so far without success). Lula’s diplomatic profile was conspicuously low during Gulf War: The Sequel, and the signing of the “Declaration of Asunción” is nothing short of outright capitulation to U.S. foreign policy aims. Without Brazilian leadership in foreign and economic policy, smaller, less independent countries of the continent have scant room for maneuver. Like Lula, Lucio Gutierrez has recently risen to the top of the U.S. rankings of South American presidents, and he, too, signed Uribe’s pledge of allegiance. But he faces imminent confrontation at home with the very indigenous and urban popular forces that brought him to power, and may not last long. If he is overthrown, he would become the third Ecuadorian ruler to be deposed since 1999.</p>
<p>Lula, whose administration appears to be more stable than all others save Uribe’s, recently promised the MST he would use state power and resources to confront and overcome landlord resistance to agrarian reform. He would do well to keep his promise, since the landlords are politically isolated and, lacking close ties to financial and multinational enterprise, economically marginal relative to other fractions of the Brazilian ruling class. Their armed wing, responsible for the deaths of forty-three peasants in the past year, would be no match for the Brazilian army, as it lacks political legitimacy in the cities, where sympathy runs high for the MST’s legalist strategy and tactics of direct action. By implementing agrarian reform, Lula could avoid confrontation with the continent’s most powerful social movement without having to deliver anything but IMF recipes to his urban, working-class constituents.</p>
<p>Of course Colombia contrasts sharply with Brazil. Uribe represents a politically ascendant, landed fraction of the ruling class invested in extensive cattle ranching and narco-financed, paramilitary counterinsurgency. Though the AUC paramilitaries have been on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist groups since September 10, 2001, Uribe officially began a “peace” process with them last month; U.S. Embassy Political Officer Alexander Lee, and Stewart Tuttle, head of the Human Rights Section, met in secret with AUC representatives in early May. The U.S. government has since proposed to spend $3 million to “disarm and demobilize” the 13,000 AUC fighters under the control of Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso. Mancuso-who, along with Castaño, has been convicted in absentia for war crimes and is wanted for extradition on charges of smuggling 17 tons of cocaine into the U.S.-has said that since it is politically willing to try to eliminate the guerrillas, Uribe’s government has made the paramilitaries irrelevant.</p>
<p>A proposed bill-supplementary to a proposed referendum that would amnesty the paramilitaries-would allow paramilitaries to avoid prison by paying indemnities to families of people they massacred or murdered; or, in some cases, through public service. If sworn into law, the proposal would reinforce impunity in a country where 95 per cent of homicides go unpunished. And people like Castaño and Mancuso would become Senators or deputies in Congress, while their foot soldiers become government spies or “peasant militiamen and women.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, teachers and other trade unionists, community leaders, human rights workers, independent journalists and academics; petty drug dealers and consumers, the homeless, transvestites, homosexuals, addicts and street kids; all are being murdered, though in much smaller numbers than peasants. The six Afro-Colombians murdered outside Buenaventura by the AUC in early July, for example.</p>
<p>Or the four young Guajibo women, one of whom had her fetus hacked out of her stomach and thrown into the nearby river, raped and killed in the Betoyes reserve in Arauca in May. The perpetrators, according to Guajibo survivors, were soldiers from the 18th Brigade’s Navos Pardos Battalion, wearing AUC armbands and coordinating with the ACC, a “dissident” paramilitary block that has opted out of “peace negotiations” with Uribe.</p>
<p>As for making peace with the FARC, “if they break the will of these rebel groups, that’s when negotiations will work,” a Colombian military official told Jim Garamone of the American Forces Press Service.</p>
<p>Uribe’s imperial backing is nearly unlimited, as demonstrated by Rumsfeld’s visit, as well as visits from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, on August 11, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on August 8. Myers declared that Uribe had achieved significant victories (shades of Vietnam?), compared Venezuela to Syria, and called Colombia a “staunch ally” in the war on drugs and terror, indicating very clearly the Pentagon’s vision of foreign policy for the region. For his part, Zoellick promised Uribe that Colombia was next in line for a bi-lateral trade agreement similar to the one the Bush administration recently reached with Chile. The message to the rest of Latin American rulers was simple: follow Uribe and you will be rewarded.</p>
<p>In Bolivia, it is evident that Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, perhaps the shakiest of South American presidents, has adopted a rigid posture on Uribe’s end of the political spectrum, reciting neoliberal mantras, claiming that the armed forces represent “the pillar of democracy,” and re-appointing Carlos Sánchez Berzaín-whose face, more than any other, is associated with the counterinsurgent violence of February 12-13-as Minister of Defense. Though Uribe has not gone along with the frame-up of Colombian peasant leader Francisco “Pacho” Cortés in Bolivia, Pacho’s case is nevertheless in keeping with the Uribista strategy, which creates bogus links between social protest, terrorism and drug trafficking; links that conveniently obscure systematic, high-level connections between drug trafficking and the political right in order to curry favor with the U.S. government.</p>
<p>Though the right may have re-taken the political initiative in South America for now, it remains to be seen whether its narrow and unimaginative vision can be imposed on Bolivia, much less the rest of a continent whose peoples have proven most resistant to the long night of the neoliberal reich.</p>
<p>FORREST HYLTON is conducting doctoral research in history in Bolivia. A Spanish version of this story originally appeared in Pulso, a Bolivian newsweekly. The September issue of <a href="http://www.newleftreview.net/" type="external">New Left Review</a> features a story by Hylton on Colombia: ‘An Evil Hour’: Uribe’s Colombia in Historical Context.” He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:forresthylton@hotmail.com" type="external">forresthylton@hotmail.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | helicopters circling city combat planes roaring overhead streets airports public buildings patrolled 13000 police soldiers secret servicemen spies us well colombian arrival donald rumsfeld bogotá august 19 portend anything ratcheting imperial terror south america day colombian president Álvaro uribe faced machinegun fire farc colombian revolutionary armed forces helicopter approached granada antioquia town destroyed farcs gas cylinder bombs december 67 2000 since farc sophisticated uptodate grenade launchers well machine guns crude cylinder bombs one wonders like nearly everything else Álvaro uribes presidency attack stagemanaged drive home need resources fight drugs terror wipe farc guerrillas held responsible countrys accumulated problems past several years south americas nonviolent social movementsthe argentine piqueteros brazilian landless ecuadorian indigenous people bolivian coca growers colombian peruvian trade unionists community organizationshave offered beacon hope world since blocked series neoliberal privatization efforts cities held counterinsurgency check countryside recently nine months ago reasons relative optimism since movements translated mass mobilization electoral power lula pt brazil evo morales mas lost bolivian presidency less 15 promised form formidable opposition lucio gutierrez going indigenous leaders government ecuador chávez close defeating opposition venezuela beginning plan colombia name war drugswhich september 11 2001 became war drugs terrorthe us government responded growing challenge washington consensus military base manta ecuador plan dignity eradicate coca bolivian chapare coup venezuela offhand comments us treasury secretary paul oneill rocked brazilian financial markets elections neared cornerstone us approach hemisphere found colombia worlds third mostimportant clientstate israel egypt 3 billion paid since 2000 late july 2003 us house representatives approved 731 million fy 2004 andean regional initiative explicitly acknowledged continuation plan colombia new auspices two thirds go colombian government specifically military police though conjuncture remains fluid hence subject dramatic reversal seems time imperially aligned right regained upper hand everywhere latin america except venezuela cuba inauguration ceremony president nicanor duarte paraguay august 15 initiative Álvaro uribe presidents south american republicsexcepting hugo chávezsigned declaration asunción pledge loyalty war drugs terror effect lula complied campaign pledge meet imf terms fiscal austerity renounced independent foreign policy sort chávez tried forge far without success lulas diplomatic profile conspicuously low gulf war sequel signing declaration asunción nothing short outright capitulation us foreign policy aims without brazilian leadership foreign economic policy smaller less independent countries continent scant room maneuver like lula lucio gutierrez recently risen top us rankings south american presidents signed uribes pledge allegiance faces imminent confrontation home indigenous urban popular forces brought power may last long overthrown would become third ecuadorian ruler deposed since 1999 lula whose administration appears stable others save uribes recently promised mst would use state power resources confront overcome landlord resistance agrarian reform would well keep promise since landlords politically isolated lacking close ties financial multinational enterprise economically marginal relative fractions brazilian ruling class armed wing responsible deaths fortythree peasants past year would match brazilian army lacks political legitimacy cities sympathy runs high msts legalist strategy tactics direct action implementing agrarian reform lula could avoid confrontation continents powerful social movement without deliver anything imf recipes urban workingclass constituents course colombia contrasts sharply brazil uribe represents politically ascendant landed fraction ruling class invested extensive cattle ranching narcofinanced paramilitary counterinsurgency though auc paramilitaries us state departments list terrorist groups since september 10 2001 uribe officially began peace process last month us embassy political officer alexander lee stewart tuttle head human rights section met secret auc representatives early may us government since proposed spend 3 million disarm demobilize 13000 auc fighters control carlos castaño salvatore mancuso mancusowho along castaño convicted absentia war crimes wanted extradition charges smuggling 17 tons cocaine ushas said since politically willing try eliminate guerrillas uribes government made paramilitaries irrelevant proposed billsupplementary proposed referendum would amnesty paramilitarieswould allow paramilitaries avoid prison paying indemnities families people massacred murdered cases public service sworn law proposal would reinforce impunity country 95 per cent homicides go unpunished people like castaño mancuso would become senators deputies congress foot soldiers become government spies peasant militiamen women meanwhile teachers trade unionists community leaders human rights workers independent journalists academics petty drug dealers consumers homeless transvestites homosexuals addicts street kids murdered though much smaller numbers peasants six afrocolombians murdered outside buenaventura auc early july example four young guajibo women one fetus hacked stomach thrown nearby river raped killed betoyes reserve arauca may perpetrators according guajibo survivors soldiers 18th brigades navos pardos battalion wearing auc armbands coordinating acc dissident paramilitary block opted peace negotiations uribe making peace farc break rebel groups thats negotiations work colombian military official told jim garamone american forces press service uribes imperial backing nearly unlimited demonstrated rumsfelds visit well visits chairman joint chiefs staff gen richard myers august 11 us trade representative robert zoellick august 8 myers declared uribe achieved significant victories shades vietnam compared venezuela syria called colombia staunch ally war drugs terror indicating clearly pentagons vision foreign policy region part zoellick promised uribe colombia next line bilateral trade agreement similar one bush administration recently reached chile message rest latin american rulers simple follow uribe rewarded bolivia evident gonzalo sánchez de lozada perhaps shakiest south american presidents adopted rigid posture uribes end political spectrum reciting neoliberal mantras claiming armed forces represent pillar democracy reappointing carlos sánchez berzaínwhose face associated counterinsurgent violence february 1213as minister defense though uribe gone along frameup colombian peasant leader francisco pacho cortés bolivia pachos case nevertheless keeping uribista strategy creates bogus links social protest terrorism drug trafficking links conveniently obscure systematic highlevel connections drug trafficking political right order curry favor us government though right may retaken political initiative south america remains seen whether narrow unimaginative vision imposed bolivia much less rest continent whose peoples proven resistant long night neoliberal reich forrest hylton conducting doctoral research history bolivia spanish version story originally appeared pulso bolivian newsweekly september issue new left review features story hylton colombia evil hour uribes colombia historical context reached forresthyltonhotmailcom 160 | 959 |
<p>By Tamara Draut / Moyers &amp; CompanyThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/americas-new-working-class-demands-respect/" type="external">Moyers &amp; Company</a>.Tamara Draut's new book,</p>
<p>Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America, was released April 5. In it, she examines the struggles and challenges faced by today's workforce and how that force is shifting the country's political landscape, striving toward a renewal of the power that once defined our industrial working class. Below, through personal experience, interviews and research, Draut tells us why American workers demand and deserve the restoration of respect and fair treatment.</p>
<p>My father was a machinist at a steel factory for 29 years. A white male who wore a hard hat to work, carried his lunch in a pail and washed his dark blue uniform at the end of every day, the metallic and earthy smell lingering in the laundry room. He was America's hero, part of the brawny working class who soldered, heaved and secured America's industrial might in the world, earning the pride and respect of our nation.</p>
<p>That working class is dead, Detroit's bankruptcy providing a blunt symbol of its demise. My father died just a few short months after America's motor city metaphorically did the same. By the time I arrived at his bedside, his care was focused on keeping him comfortable. Around the clock, I watched as a fleet of health care professionals tended to my dad in his final days. There was the nursing assistant who delicately changed his bandages, the four young men responsible for moving him from one bed to another and the respiratory therapist who helped keep his breathing stable.</p>
<p />
<p>The people who surrounded our family in those last days represent the new working class - one that doesn't make things, but rather serves people. Unlike my father's working class, today's home health workers, janitors, retail salespeople and fast-food clerks are more female and more racially diverse - and they mostly work without the support or protection of a union.</p>
<p>As women and people of color became the new face of the working class, their longstanding second-class status in our society has contributed to the invisibility and marginalization of today's working class. Today, disrespect is baked into working class jobs. From unstable schedules to low pay to wage theft, employers impose punitive workplace policies that place the blame for a low quality of life squarely on the worker. In the new bargain-basement economy, workers are costs to be minimized, their dignity and value forsaken for maximum profit.</p>
<p>Nine out of 10 fast-food workers say they have experienced some type of wage theft, when <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/wage-theft-bigger-problem-theft-protect/" type="external">employers illegally withhold wages</a> by not paying overtime, forcing workers to work off the clock or not giving workers a full paycheck.&#160;In 2012 alone, $993 million was recovered in stolen wages thanks to the combined efforts of government officials and private lawyers.&#160;That's nearly&#160;three times&#160;the amount of money stolen during robberies in the same year.</p>
<p>I've been talking to members of the new working class as part of the research for my new book,&#160;Sleeping Giant. The people I've spoken with take pride in contributing to the success of the company they work for and the happiness of their customers. They also expressed a common desire for more respect. As a general laborer for Coca-Cola put it, "We're making them billions of dollars. Why are we being treated like something you step on in the grass?"</p>
<p>The disrespect that the working class has faced on the job for decades is now <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2015/04/24/fight-15-expands-fight-good-jobs/" type="external">trickling up to the professional middle class</a>. For example, roughly half of all college faculty members are&#160;only&#160;employed part-time. While it used to be that college faulty members consistently earned a middle-class salary, <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2014/12/19/well-educated-middle-class-joins-working-poor/" type="external">today's adjunct professors</a> often end up living near or below the federal poverty line.</p>
<p>Today's professional class face a near-constant expectation to be "on-call" 24 hours a day, ignoring the needs of their families so they can respond to emails at all hours. Tech workers' jobs are increasingly at risk of off-shoring. After his second lay-off, Rick, a 45-year-old computer engineer, was forced to train his foreign replacement as a condition for receiving his severance pay.</p>
<p>Unless the new working class reclaims the economic and political authority once enjoyed by the mostly white, blue-collar working class of the industrial era, anyone who is not truly affluent will remain living on a precipice of economic anxiety and insecurity. Why? Because the same philosophy that has decimated living standards for the working class is responsible for the weakening of the middle class.</p>
<p>An economy based on disrespect that ignores the needs of workers and their families is not sustainable. We need to address the root cause of these destructive policies to create prosperity that is widely held. We need a new, Better Deal for the working class. We need to invest in people and rebuild our infrastructure. We need to provide high-quality child care for every infant and toddler. We need to transform our current bargain-basement economy into one where all jobs pay a decent wage, labor laws are actually enforced and workers are paid exactly what they are owed.</p>
<p>This is the Better Deal we&#160;all&#160;need. The alternative - to sit back and watch as the needs of most Americans go unaddressed - simply cannot be an option.</p>
<p>Tamara Draut is the author of</p>
<p>Sleeping Giant: How America's New Working Class Will Transform America and vice president of policy and research at Demos, a public policy organization.</p> | true | 4 | tamara draut moyers amp companythis piece first appeared moyers amp companytamara drauts new book sleeping giant new working class transform america released april 5 examines struggles challenges faced todays workforce force shifting countrys political landscape striving toward renewal power defined industrial working class personal experience interviews research draut tells us american workers demand deserve restoration respect fair treatment father machinist steel factory 29 years white male wore hard hat work carried lunch pail washed dark blue uniform end every day metallic earthy smell lingering laundry room americas hero part brawny working class soldered heaved secured americas industrial might world earning pride respect nation working class dead detroits bankruptcy providing blunt symbol demise father died short months americas motor city metaphorically time arrived bedside care focused keeping comfortable around clock watched fleet health care professionals tended dad final days nursing assistant delicately changed bandages four young men responsible moving one bed another respiratory therapist helped keep breathing stable people surrounded family last days represent new working class one doesnt make things rather serves people unlike fathers working class todays home health workers janitors retail salespeople fastfood clerks female racially diverse mostly work without support protection union women people color became new face working class longstanding secondclass status society contributed invisibility marginalization todays working class today disrespect baked working class jobs unstable schedules low pay wage theft employers impose punitive workplace policies place blame low quality life squarely worker new bargainbasement economy workers costs minimized dignity value forsaken maximum profit nine 10 fastfood workers say experienced type wage theft employers illegally withhold wages paying overtime forcing workers work clock giving workers full paycheck160in 2012 alone 993 million recovered stolen wages thanks combined efforts government officials private lawyers160thats nearly160three times160the amount money stolen robberies year ive talking members new working class part research new book160sleeping giant people ive spoken take pride contributing success company work happiness customers also expressed common desire respect general laborer cocacola put making billions dollars treated like something step grass disrespect working class faced job decades trickling professional middle class example roughly half college faculty members are160only160employed parttime used college faulty members consistently earned middleclass salary todays adjunct professors often end living near federal poverty line todays professional class face nearconstant expectation oncall 24 hours day ignoring needs families respond emails hours tech workers jobs increasingly risk offshoring second layoff rick 45yearold computer engineer forced train foreign replacement condition receiving severance pay unless new working class reclaims economic political authority enjoyed mostly white bluecollar working class industrial era anyone truly affluent remain living precipice economic anxiety insecurity philosophy decimated living standards working class responsible weakening middle class economy based disrespect ignores needs workers families sustainable need address root cause destructive policies create prosperity widely held need new better deal working class need invest people rebuild infrastructure need provide highquality child care every infant toddler need transform current bargainbasement economy one jobs pay decent wage labor laws actually enforced workers paid exactly owed better deal we160all160need alternative sit back watch needs americans go unaddressed simply option tamara draut author sleeping giant americas new working class transform america vice president policy research demos public policy organization | 525 |
<p>Mexico City</p>
<p>The plea filed in a US federal court by Mexican drug-trafficker Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla – one of the top members of the Sinaloa Cartel – that he was protected by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in exchange for information on the organization’s rivals should come as no surprise, even if it threatens to be another embarrassment for Washington’s “drug warriors”.</p>
<p>Zambada, who was extradited to the US in 2010 and is currently awaiting trial in Chicago, says a deal was made as far back as 1998 by which the Sinaloa Cartel was given carte-blanche to traffic drugs, and its bosses – including Mexico’s biggest drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – granted immunity from prosecution. Zambada was arrested by Mexican authorities hours after he alleges a sneaky meeting took place between him, the cartel’s attorney and DEA agents in Mexico City in 2009.</p>
<p>Zambada also claims that the DEA tipped off cartel leaders about anti-narcotics operations so they could evade arrest and suggests that “Operation Fast and Furious” – whereby the US government illegally smuggled weapons to Mexico in a failed “sting operation” – was designed to arm the Sinaloa Cartel and its allies.</p>
<p>Zambada (aka “El Mayito”) is the son of Ismael Zambada Garcia (“the Big Mayo”), second-in-command to “El Chapo” in the Sinaloa hierarchy. Zambada, Jr. was allegedly the organization’s “logistical coordinator”, importing to the US “multi-ton quantities of cocaine … using various means, including but not limited to, Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, private aircraft … buses, rail cars, tractor-trailers, and automobiles.” The US government has until Sep. 9 to file a public response.</p>
<p>‘Narco-Royalty’</p>
<p>In Mexico, the suspicion that the National Action Party (PAN) administrations of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon were in cahoots with the Sinaloa Cartel has been rife for years, but Washington’s apparent role in protecting the organization only heightens the farce of their funding President Calderon’s crusade against the drug gangs.</p>
<p>There are actually two “Drug Wars” taking place in Mexico: one by the government against the so-called cartels, and another waged by the cartels against each other. Since Calderon militarized the “war” in 2006, the Sinaloa Cartel has been hoovering up territory, markets and smuggling routes like fat lines of cocaine. Its current major adversary, the Zetas gang, is fighting back hard, but Mexican security forces continue to pummel it while the Sinaloa – the biggest drug-trafficking organization in the country, maybe the world – reaps the rewards.</p>
<p>A recent study by Mexican newspaper “El Universal” showed that 80 per cent of “Drug War” slayings have taken place in just 162 of the country’s municipalities. Most of the violence is a result of the Sinaloa Cartel trying to take rivals’ territory, which means that in supporting “El Chapo”, authorities on both sides of the border have actually escalated the bloodshed, not reduced it.</p>
<p>The way to think of the Sinaloa Cartel is almost as “narco-royalty”. The organization’s leadership descends from Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo’s original Mexican drug-trafficking empire, which ran cocaine for Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. Those were the days when the country’s drug lords were rarely seen or heard, gave a nice cut of their profits to the ruling Institutional Party of the Revolution (PRI), and didn’t spill blood in public view.</p>
<p>A former PRI governor of Nuevo Leon, one of Mexico’s most violence-wracked states, recently told a university audience that in the 1980s and ’90s his party had “formalized, written agreements” with the cartels to turn a blind eye to their activities in exchange for “societal peace”. It sort of worked, but that peace was broken when the PAN began backing the Sinaloa Cartel’s bid for supremacy.</p>
<p>The potential Zambada scandal comes hot on the heels of the “Operation Fast and Furious” fiasco, whereby the Obama administration via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco &amp; Firearms (ATF) shopped as many as 2,500 illegal firearms to Mexican gangs during 2009-10. ATF border agents were told to allow arsenals purchased in the US and headed for Mexico to pass through. A Congressional Committee investigation reports that far from “stinging” the cartels, many of these weapons were simply recovered at grisly murder scenes.</p>
<p>According to one whistleblower: “hand guns, AK-47 variants, and .50 caliber rifles [were purchased] almost daily” by known or suspected straw buyers. ATF agents who opposed the operation on ethical grounds were told to “get with the program” or face dismissal.</p>
<p>Weapons involved in the racket have been traced to various incidents in Mexico including the shooting down of a military helicopter and the high-profile kidnapping of an attorney, as well as the murder of a US Border Patrol Agent in Arizona, whose family are considering a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government.</p>
<p>President Calderon lashed out at the op, but timidly, just as when he blames the illegal drug trade on US consumer demand. Washington backed its man during the civil unrest that followed his fraud-marred election in 2006 and likely struck a deal with him to fight for the privatization of Mexico’s oil industry, a move blocked by the PRI-majority Congress.</p>
<p>Calderon also approves of the US utilizing Mexico as its “southern security perimeter”, which means it keeping a tighter rein on Central America as a whole. In the late 1940s, Washington nicknamed Mexican president Miguel Aleman “Mr. Amigo” for his willingness to cater to US interests, and Calderon is his 21st century heir.</p>
<p>Yet for historical reasons, Mexican presidents mustn’t appear to be too close to Washington. Unlike Colombia, the presence of foreign (read “gringo”) troops and bases on Mexican soil is strictly forbidden by the constitution. Many Americans would be surprised to discover just how seriously this is taken by ordinary Mexicans who, for the most part, view the US&#160; as an arrogant imperial power.</p>
<p>This is a thorn in the side of Washington planners, who as Hillary Clinton admitted last year, would love a “Plan Colombia”-style deal in Mexico. So to bypass that pesky national sovereignty thing, there are now retired US military personnel – “retired” technically makes them “civilians” – working alongside CIA operatives at “intelligence outposts” on Mexican bases. Unarmed Predator drones circle the skies for surveillance, and Calderon is reportedly considering the use of private US security contractors. As one Mexican politician put it, “What are we? Afghanistan?”</p>
<p>The goal, as it was pretty much laid out in US embassy cables, is control of Mexico’s national security apparatus. This not only means fighting (some of) the drug gangs, but a greater ability to intervene in regional affairs. For Washington, a leftist, nationalistic, anti-NAFTA government south of the border is unthinkable; better to get your CIA operatives and (non-military) military personnel on the ground quick while “Mr. Amigo” is holding the door open.</p>
<p>The most recent horror show in Mexico was a vicious arson attack by the Zetas on a casino in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, the country’s third largest city and host to a turf war between the gang and its former employer, the Gulf Cartel. The government recently admitted that the Zetas are now the number one focus of its anti-narcotics strategy. They are, naturally, enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel.</p>
<p>52 people died in the attack, prompting President Calderon to label it an “act of terrorism” in a bid to justify his military-led campaign. The Zetas are certainly terroristic, but such rhetoric is a fear tactic designed to whip up support among a public who have long lost faith in the zero-tolerance approach. With an election looming in July 2012 (Calderon can’t run for a second term), expect to hear much more of this.</p>
<p>Many Mexicans are boycotting the Independence Day celebrations on Sep. 16 precisely because the traditional cry of “Viva Mexico!” rings hollow with so many Mexicans dead. Yet criticism has also come from the unlikeliest of places. Calderon’s predecessor, Vicente Fox&#160; – who used to while away weekends on the Bushes’ ranch in Crawford, Texas, and was a feisty “drug warrior” in his own right – used the occasion of the atrocity in Monterrey to call for a “truce” with the cartels.</p>
<p>Fox, along with another former president, Ernesto Zedillo, has clearly had a change of heart since his days in office. A few months back he memorably described Washington’s financing of the “Drug War” as “nothing more than a ‘tip’ given to us, paid in blood, death and violence – the task is theirs, to stop drugs from circulating in the United States.”</p>
<p>Yet Edgardo Buscaglia, one of the leading experts on “Drug War” economics, claims that less than 50 per cent of the Zetas’ income is actually derived from drug-trafficking. The rest comes from a variety of criminal activity including kidnapping, extortion, people-trafficking, illegal logging, and even pipeline-tapping. Increasingly then, the crisis in Mexico is not about drugs, but rather how easy it is for violent gangs to recruit members, arm themselves, and buy off officials regardless of whether they smuggle cocaine or petroleum.</p>
<p>Next year’s presidential election is already being seen as a referendum on Calderon’s “Drug War” policy. Once again, and after a crippling knock-on recession, the country is ripe for a victory by the Left, but almost cartoonish levels of in-fighting within the main progressive party, the Democratic Party of the Revolution (PRD), and a possible alliance between one half of that party and the PAN, means that the PRI is favorite to take power.</p>
<p>At this stage, all three major parties claim that a “truce” with the cartels is out of the question, but when even former “drug warriors” like Fox and Zedillo are decrying the violence, something may just have to give. Meanwhile, the “War on Drugs”, if there were such a thing, rolls on.</p>
<p>Paul Imison is a journalist. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:paulimison@hotmail.com" type="external">paulimison@hotmail.com</a> 
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | mexico city plea filed us federal court mexican drugtrafficker jesus vicente zambadaniebla one top members sinaloa cartel protected us drug enforcement administration dea exchange information organizations rivals come surprise even threatens another embarrassment washingtons drug warriors zambada extradited us 2010 currently awaiting trial chicago says deal made far back 1998 sinaloa cartel given carteblanche traffic drugs bosses including mexicos biggest drug lord joaquin el chapo guzman granted immunity prosecution zambada arrested mexican authorities hours alleges sneaky meeting took place cartels attorney dea agents mexico city 2009 zambada also claims dea tipped cartel leaders antinarcotics operations could evade arrest suggests operation fast furious whereby us government illegally smuggled weapons mexico failed sting operation designed arm sinaloa cartel allies zambada aka el mayito son ismael zambada garcia big mayo secondincommand el chapo sinaloa hierarchy zambada jr allegedly organizations logistical coordinator importing us multiton quantities cocaine using various means including limited boeing 747 cargo aircraft private aircraft buses rail cars tractortrailers automobiles us government sep 9 file public response narcoroyalty mexico suspicion national action party pan administrations vicente fox felipe calderon cahoots sinaloa cartel rife years washingtons apparent role protecting organization heightens farce funding president calderons crusade drug gangs actually two drug wars taking place mexico one government socalled cartels another waged cartels since calderon militarized war 2006 sinaloa cartel hoovering territory markets smuggling routes like fat lines cocaine current major adversary zetas gang fighting back hard mexican security forces continue pummel sinaloa biggest drugtrafficking organization country maybe world reaps rewards recent study mexican newspaper el universal showed 80 per cent drug war slayings taken place 162 countrys municipalities violence result sinaloa cartel trying take rivals territory means supporting el chapo authorities sides border actually escalated bloodshed reduced way think sinaloa cartel almost narcoroyalty organizations leadership descends miguel angel felix gallardos original mexican drugtrafficking empire ran cocaine pablo escobar 1980s days countrys drug lords rarely seen heard gave nice cut profits ruling institutional party revolution pri didnt spill blood public view former pri governor nuevo leon one mexicos violencewracked states recently told university audience 1980s 90s party formalized written agreements cartels turn blind eye activities exchange societal peace sort worked peace broken pan began backing sinaloa cartels bid supremacy potential zambada scandal comes hot heels operation fast furious fiasco whereby obama administration via bureau alcohol tobacco amp firearms atf shopped many 2500 illegal firearms mexican gangs 200910 atf border agents told allow arsenals purchased us headed mexico pass congressional committee investigation reports far stinging cartels many weapons simply recovered grisly murder scenes according one whistleblower hand guns ak47 variants 50 caliber rifles purchased almost daily known suspected straw buyers atf agents opposed operation ethical grounds told get program face dismissal weapons involved racket traced various incidents mexico including shooting military helicopter highprofile kidnapping attorney well murder us border patrol agent arizona whose family considering wrongful death lawsuit federal government president calderon lashed op timidly blames illegal drug trade us consumer demand washington backed man civil unrest followed fraudmarred election 2006 likely struck deal fight privatization mexicos oil industry move blocked primajority congress calderon also approves us utilizing mexico southern security perimeter means keeping tighter rein central america whole late 1940s washington nicknamed mexican president miguel aleman mr amigo willingness cater us interests calderon 21st century heir yet historical reasons mexican presidents mustnt appear close washington unlike colombia presence foreign read gringo troops bases mexican soil strictly forbidden constitution many americans would surprised discover seriously taken ordinary mexicans part view us160 arrogant imperial power thorn side washington planners hillary clinton admitted last year would love plan colombiastyle deal mexico bypass pesky national sovereignty thing retired us military personnel retired technically makes civilians working alongside cia operatives intelligence outposts mexican bases unarmed predator drones circle skies surveillance calderon reportedly considering use private us security contractors one mexican politician put afghanistan goal pretty much laid us embassy cables control mexicos national security apparatus means fighting drug gangs greater ability intervene regional affairs washington leftist nationalistic antinafta government south border unthinkable better get cia operatives nonmilitary military personnel ground quick mr amigo holding door open recent horror show mexico vicious arson attack zetas casino monterrey nuevo leon countrys third largest city host turf war gang former employer gulf cartel government recently admitted zetas number one focus antinarcotics strategy naturally enemies sinaloa cartel 52 people died attack prompting president calderon label act terrorism bid justify militaryled campaign zetas certainly terroristic rhetoric fear tactic designed whip support among public long lost faith zerotolerance approach election looming july 2012 calderon cant run second term expect hear much many mexicans boycotting independence day celebrations sep 16 precisely traditional cry viva mexico rings hollow many mexicans dead yet criticism also come unlikeliest places calderons predecessor vicente fox160 used away weekends bushes ranch crawford texas feisty drug warrior right used occasion atrocity monterrey call truce cartels fox along another former president ernesto zedillo clearly change heart since days office months back memorably described washingtons financing drug war nothing tip given us paid blood death violence task stop drugs circulating united states yet edgardo buscaglia one leading experts drug war economics claims less 50 per cent zetas income actually derived drugtrafficking rest comes variety criminal activity including kidnapping extortion peopletrafficking illegal logging even pipelinetapping increasingly crisis mexico drugs rather easy violent gangs recruit members arm buy officials regardless whether smuggle cocaine petroleum next years presidential election already seen referendum calderons drug war policy crippling knockon recession country ripe victory left almost cartoonish levels infighting within main progressive party democratic party revolution prd possible alliance one half party pan means pri favorite take power stage three major parties claim truce cartels question even former drug warriors like fox zedillo decrying violence something may give meanwhile war drugs thing rolls paul imison journalist reached paulimisonhotmailcom 160 160 | 961 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“You wanna run all the people out This what you’re all about Treat poor people just like trash Turn around and make big cash”</p>
<p>Open Letter (to a Landlord) by Living Color</p>
<p>Twenty five years ago this March 4th, Poletown Michigan made CBS national news as the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to consider whether or not Detroit could demolish a vibrant multi-cultural neighborhood to build a General Motors Cadillac plant.</p>
<p>Under pressure from GM, the City of Detroit had declared in 1981 that it could take private property and transfer it to a profit making corporation under the U.S. Constitution’s 5th Amendment, which said that land should be taken for “public use.” Traditionally the eminent domain clause had been interpreted to mean using sovereign power to build a public good like a road, a library or school, not a Fortune 500 corporation. Poletown residents fought back fiercely, but the MI Supreme Court gave Detroit/GM the green light.</p>
<p>Lost were 4,200 people, 1,500 homes, 144 businesses, 16 churches, a school and a hospital. Father Joseph Karasiewicz, the 59 year old pastor of Poletown’s Immaculate Conception Church, was removed from power by the Catholic Archdiocese for resisting the bulldozers. He died suddenly of a heart attack a few months after his church was demolished. Many parishioners believed it was due to all the stress.</p>
<p>Today citizen homeowner fights are taking place all over the country. In places like Norwood, Ohio (contesting a shopping complex), Long Beach, New Jersey (contesting condominiums) and in Rivera Beach, Florida where a mostly black, blue collar community of 6,000 is fighting an eminent domain attempt to destroy their homes to build a yachting and upper-scale residential complex.</p>
<p>Welcome to Poletown USA, where no one’s home is protected from capital’s destructive winds.</p>
<p>Taken for a Ride</p>
<p>In a mammoth reversal of fortunes, General Motors has sunk near the edges of bankruptcy. In November 2005, GM announced 30,000 layoffs across North America as its market share continued to plummet. In January, Ford Motor Company announced another 30,000 jobs. On the chopping block is its Wixom assembly plant in suburban Detroit. Media portrayed workers crying and in despair. It’s an eerie replay of Flint Michigan (which lost 30,000 in the 1980s after GM abandoned the city), much of Michigan is reeling from its own shock and awe.</p>
<p>As GM goes so does the local economy. Detroit’s Wayne County ended January with 3,364 homes in active foreclosure, the highest of any U.S. county by more than 1,000, according to Foreclosure.com of Boca Raton, Florida. With one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at 6.7%, Michigan has doubled its foreclosures over the past two years. In the country as a whole there were three million foreclosures over the past five years.</p>
<p>Detroit may be the bellwether for many regions of the country as the U.S. gallops towards a tipping point.</p>
<p>But with bad news in the offing, Detroit and the nation’s corporate culture decided to do the only reasonable thing. . . . throw a party!</p>
<p>Super Bowl Sunday in Detroit</p>
<p>Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL in February amidst a city staggering with nearly 50,000 abandoned houses and a 14.1% unemployment rate. Police swept homeless off the streets to project a goodly image to the world. The Romans might have thrown the homeless to the lions, but the Detroit Lions, a perennial loser, were nowhere in sight.</p>
<p>The Motor City’s celebration at Ford Field featured the 2007 Cadillac Escalade, a glimmering black SUV that was awarded to the Super Bowl MVP. The “Escalade,” a French term which means “to climb up or over (as in a wall)” was manufactured in Mexico, symbolically climbing over the grave of Poletown for that cheaper labor.</p>
<p>The GM/Poletown factory is located just a few miles from Ford stadium. In 1981 Poletown was billed as Detroit’s salvation. GM promised 6,500 jobs and feeder factories that surrounded the complex, creating plenty of more jobs. That scenario never materialized. Today the “Poletown” plant employs around 3,000 workers. Much of the 650 acres of the Poletown plant is dedicated to sprawling parking lots and neatly landscaped greenspace. Only 14 of the land is used by the company. There is no sign of the ferocious battle that took place there.</p>
<p>The 1981 Detroit/GM battle against the people of Poletown was captured in an award winning film, “Poletown Lives” by George Corsetti, a grassroots lawyer. He documented the struggle from inception to conclusion. Made on a shoestring budget of $5,000 the film depicts demonstrations, police SWAT teams, gun toting residents, elderly Polish women getting arrested and a city aflame from arsonists. Ralph Nader sent five staff people to fight the GM project and they stayed for three months working 12 hour days. But most politicians refused to meet with the Poletown Neighborhood Organization which fought bravely to save their homeland.</p>
<p>Poletown Lives Again</p>
<p>In January 26, 2006 Poletown Lives was placed on the top 50 Corporate Crime Movies of all time, in a list assembled by Corporate Crime reporter after years of inquiries from high school and college professors. It joins Erin Brockovitch, A Civil Action and Harlan County USA that won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1976.</p>
<p>Poletown sprang into the national spotlight again in 2004 when the Michigan Supreme Court reversed its 1981 opinion! A unanimous court wrote, “We must overrule Poletown in order to vindicate our Constitution, protect the people’s property rights, and preserve the legitimacy of the judicial branch as the expositor – not creator – of fundamental law.”</p>
<p>But in June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court trumped the MI Supreme Court, affirming property seizures in a 5-4 decision. Writing in dissent, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that small property owners now have little room to maneuver. “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.”</p>
<p>The issue alarms both the left and the right. The right fears that the decision could conceivably create the legitimacy for a community to condemn a corporation if they successfully argue that a company no longer serves a public use. That’s a very fecund idea!</p>
<p>Corsetti has long thought about doing an update to the film and has taken additional footage in the ensuing years. He thinks that a retrospective look at the legacy of the Poletown decision would be very useful. On the 25th anniversary, Corsetti says, “We need to ask, was this a wise decision?”</p>
<p>“We also need to look at the media. They control the information that we use to make our decisions. They severely restrict the information we need, so we make dumb decisions.”</p>
<p>Trading a Mythical Spectacle for the Real One</p>
<p>What would a new Poletown film look like? Mass culture dumbs down reality, but paradoxically the seeds of truth exists within the rituals begging to be analyzed. One could begin with Detroit’s Super Bowl itself.</p>
<p>In comedienne George Carlin’s famous bit “Baseball and Football,” Carlin likens football to an aggressive struggle over land use.</p>
<p>“With short bullet passes and long bombs, [the quarterback or field general] marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.”</p>
<p>The essence of football is the strategic and violent struggle for monopoly control of land, with the winner taking all. Poletown’s epic struggle is a real life enactment of this mythical spectacle. It is also a beacon of hope offering ideas for resistance in a dangerous world.</p>
<p>Meanwhile with its new found popularity, “Poletown Lives” should be required viewing in all the high schools and colleges in the USA. Corsetti’s film does for the Super Bowl what West Side Story did to Romeo and Juliet. It is an important media corrective.</p>
<p>The film reveals how the Motor City’s celebration of football and cars took place against a backdrop of human and environmental tragedy. It offers a glimpse of the price of victory.</p>
<p>“I just got a request for “Poletown Lives” from a community in Ardmore, PA. They are fighting an eminent domain attempt to take over main street.”</p>
<p>Up to 20 state legislatures are considering how to reign in eminent domain. Still, Corsetti is not hopeful in the short term. “It’s unrestrained capitalism,” he said. “I believe that Detroit would do the same thing today.”</p>
<p>Remaking Poletown: After the Deluge</p>
<p>An update would bring the story fuller circle, adding important historical contexts.</p>
<p>One episode sticks in my mind. At one demonstration Teofilo Lucero, an American Indian and Poletown resident held a sign that said, “GM murders senior citizens,” as reported in Jean Wylie’s 1990 Poletown, A Community Betrayed. “Now you know what it’s like to be relocated. It is a trail of tears,” he told neighbors.</p>
<p>In fact the conquest of Michigan was a relocation nightmare for the Anishnabeg – who’d thrived there for more than 7,000 years – as they were soon cast onto reserves, surrounded by hostile neighbors and “subject to intense indoctrination.” Anthropologist Charles Cleland, in his definitive “Rites of Conquest, The History and Culture of Michigan’s Native Americans” (1992), concluded that the tragic “acts of ethnocide can only be described [as] imperial aggression.”</p>
<p>Today, because of the federal government’s Toxic Release Inventory, we know that the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck “Poletown” assembly center is among the “dirtiest/worst facilities in the U.S.” Between 1988 and 2002, the time period for which data is available, the “Poletown” factory emitted 17,632,569 pounds of air pollution. The top cancer risk is from benzene. It is ranked seventh worse in the state of Michigan for “suspected cardiovascular or blood toxicants to air.”</p>
<p>Added to that are the untold tons of pollution coming out of the vehicle exhausts of the Cadillac cars once they hit the street. In 1995 the U.S. Justice Department recalled almost half a million Cadillacs and fined GM nearly $45 million for intentionally overriding emissions controls in the car’s catalytic converters which resulted in an additional 100,000 tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>A total accounting of the health and environmental damages from the Poletown plant would involve everything from traffic accidents and vehicle disposal to highway construction and sprawl.</p>
<p>In Detroit the playoffs are real. Millions of Michigan’s citizens are looking for a “Hail Mary” to avoid “sudden death.”</p>
<p>BRIAN McKENNA can be reached at: <a href="mailto:MCKENNA193@aol.com" type="external">MCKENNA193@aol.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 wan na run people youre treat poor people like trash turn around make big cash open letter landlord living color twenty five years ago march 4th poletown michigan made cbs national news michigan supreme court agreed consider whether detroit could demolish vibrant multicultural neighborhood build general motors cadillac plant pressure gm city detroit declared 1981 could take private property transfer profit making corporation us constitutions 5th amendment said land taken public use traditionally eminent domain clause interpreted mean using sovereign power build public good like road library school fortune 500 corporation poletown residents fought back fiercely mi supreme court gave detroitgm green light lost 4200 people 1500 homes 144 businesses 16 churches school hospital father joseph karasiewicz 59 year old pastor poletowns immaculate conception church removed power catholic archdiocese resisting bulldozers died suddenly heart attack months church demolished many parishioners believed due stress today citizen homeowner fights taking place country places like norwood ohio contesting shopping complex long beach new jersey contesting condominiums rivera beach florida mostly black blue collar community 6000 fighting eminent domain attempt destroy homes build yachting upperscale residential complex welcome poletown usa ones home protected capitals destructive winds taken ride mammoth reversal fortunes general motors sunk near edges bankruptcy november 2005 gm announced 30000 layoffs across north america market share continued plummet january ford motor company announced another 30000 jobs chopping block wixom assembly plant suburban detroit media portrayed workers crying despair eerie replay flint michigan lost 30000 1980s gm abandoned city much michigan reeling shock awe gm goes local economy detroits wayne county ended january 3364 homes active foreclosure highest us county 1000 according foreclosurecom boca raton florida one highest unemployment rates nation 67 michigan doubled foreclosures past two years country whole three million foreclosures past five years detroit may bellwether many regions country us gallops towards tipping point bad news offing detroit nations corporate culture decided reasonable thing throw party super bowl sunday detroit detroit hosted super bowl xl february amidst city staggering nearly 50000 abandoned houses 141 unemployment rate police swept homeless streets project goodly image world romans might thrown homeless lions detroit lions perennial loser nowhere sight motor citys celebration ford field featured 2007 cadillac escalade glimmering black suv awarded super bowl mvp escalade french term means climb wall manufactured mexico symbolically climbing grave poletown cheaper labor gmpoletown factory located miles ford stadium 1981 poletown billed detroits salvation gm promised 6500 jobs feeder factories surrounded complex creating plenty jobs scenario never materialized today poletown plant employs around 3000 workers much 650 acres poletown plant dedicated sprawling parking lots neatly landscaped greenspace 14 land used company sign ferocious battle took place 1981 detroitgm battle people poletown captured award winning film poletown lives george corsetti grassroots lawyer documented struggle inception conclusion made shoestring budget 5000 film depicts demonstrations police swat teams gun toting residents elderly polish women getting arrested city aflame arsonists ralph nader sent five staff people fight gm project stayed three months working 12 hour days politicians refused meet poletown neighborhood organization fought bravely save homeland poletown lives january 26 2006 poletown lives placed top 50 corporate crime movies time list assembled corporate crime reporter years inquiries high school college professors joins erin brockovitch civil action harlan county usa academy award best documentary 1976 poletown sprang national spotlight 2004 michigan supreme court reversed 1981 opinion unanimous court wrote must overrule poletown order vindicate constitution protect peoples property rights preserve legitimacy judicial branch expositor creator fundamental law june 2005 us supreme court trumped mi supreme court affirming property seizures 54 decision writing dissent justice sandra day oconnor wrote small property owners little room maneuver specter condemnation hangs property nothing prevent state replacing motel 6 ritzcarlton home shopping mall farm factory issue alarms left right right fears decision could conceivably create legitimacy community condemn corporation successfully argue company longer serves public use thats fecund idea corsetti long thought update film taken additional footage ensuing years thinks retrospective look legacy poletown decision would useful 25th anniversary corsetti says need ask wise decision also need look media control information use make decisions severely restrict information need make dumb decisions trading mythical spectacle real one would new poletown film look like mass culture dumbs reality paradoxically seeds truth exists within rituals begging analyzed one could begin detroits super bowl comedienne george carlins famous bit baseball football carlin likens football aggressive struggle land use short bullet passes long bombs quarterback field general marches troops enemy territory balancing aerial assault sustained ground attack punches holes forward wall enemys defensive line essence football strategic violent struggle monopoly control land winner taking poletowns epic struggle real life enactment mythical spectacle also beacon hope offering ideas resistance dangerous world meanwhile new found popularity poletown lives required viewing high schools colleges usa corsettis film super bowl west side story romeo juliet important media corrective film reveals motor citys celebration football cars took place backdrop human environmental tragedy offers glimpse price victory got request poletown lives community ardmore pa fighting eminent domain attempt take main street 20 state legislatures considering reign eminent domain still corsetti hopeful short term unrestrained capitalism said believe detroit would thing today remaking poletown deluge update would bring story fuller circle adding important historical contexts one episode sticks mind one demonstration teofilo lucero american indian poletown resident held sign said gm murders senior citizens reported jean wylies 1990 poletown community betrayed know like relocated trail tears told neighbors fact conquest michigan relocation nightmare anishnabeg whod thrived 7000 years soon cast onto reserves surrounded hostile neighbors subject intense indoctrination anthropologist charles cleland definitive rites conquest history culture michigans native americans 1992 concluded tragic acts ethnocide described imperial aggression today federal governments toxic release inventory know general motors detroithamtramck poletown assembly center among dirtiestworst facilities us 1988 2002 time period data available poletown factory emitted 17632569 pounds air pollution top cancer risk benzene ranked seventh worse state michigan suspected cardiovascular blood toxicants air added untold tons pollution coming vehicle exhausts cadillac cars hit street 1995 us justice department recalled almost half million cadillacs fined gm nearly 45 million intentionally overriding emissions controls cars catalytic converters resulted additional 100000 tons carbon monoxide atmosphere total accounting health environmental damages poletown plant would involve everything traffic accidents vehicle disposal highway construction sprawl detroit playoffs real millions michigans citizens looking hail mary avoid sudden death brian mckenna reached mckenna193aolcom 160 160 | 1,056 |
<p>The following article first appeared in Mother Jones Magazine. <a href="https://secure.motherjones.com/fnp/?action=SUBSCRIPTION&amp;a_first_name=&amp;a_last_name=&amp;a_address_1=&amp;a_city=&amp;a_state=&amp;a_country=&amp;a_zip=&amp;reloaded=true&amp;list_source=STOPNV&amp;new_print=1" type="external">Click here to subscribe</a>.</p>
<p>By January, Kiera had stuffed so many small bills into the envelope hidden in her underwear drawer that it split open. Kiera knew her mother occasionally cased her room, so to be safe, she'd labeled the envelope "soccer camp."</p>
<p>"It had to be cash," says Kiera (not her real name). She lets out a nervous laugh. "I couldn't write a check and write 'abortion' on the memo line."</p>
<p>Kiera, who lives in the Florida panhandle, is thoughtful, sarcastic, and whip-smart. It's easy to forget that she's only 18. But in December—when she was staring down a positive pregnancy test, thinking, shit—she was only 17. Florida is one of 37 states where a minor can't have an abortion unless at least one of her parents knows about it. Twenty-one of those states (though not Florida) require at least one parent to grant permission.</p>
<p>Kiera's parents are divorced, and her father lives on the other side of the country. Her mother, Kiera says, is "unstable," unpredictable, and sometimes violent. Once, she kicked Kiera out of the house for forgetting to tell her about a sleepover, and it took a whole weekend for her to cool down. Kiera was sure that if she told her mom, who volunteered for an anti-abortion group, that she wanted to end her pregnancy, she'd be out of the house for good.</p>
<p>But when Kiera confided in a school counselor, she learned about another option: She could ask a judge for permission to have an abortion. Her panic melted away. "I thought, 'This will save me,'" she recalls. She started socking away every dollar she could get her hands on—lunch money, tips from her waitressing job. And she started calling courthouses.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>EACH YEAR, HUNDREDSof girls in Florida petition judges for permission to have abortions; the nationwide number is likely in the thousands. But those statistics only include the girls who make it to court. Poorly trained court staff, anti-abortion judges, and a spate of increasingly restrictive laws have made it harder than ever for minors to exercise their legal rights.</p>
<p>Abortion foes have pushed for new restrictions because they believe the process, which is known as judicial bypass, is simply a loophole girls use to avoid talking to their parents. "Judges are rubber-stamping these requests," Ohio Right to Life <a href="//www.ohiolife.org/press-releases/2011/11/4/governor-john-kasich-signs-pro-life-legislation.html" type="external">warned</a> in a press release in 2011, just after John Kasich, the state's new Republican governor, signed a bill making the bypass process stricter.</p>
<p>But a review of more than 40 cases, along with interviews with minors and their attorneys, reveals that in much of the country, obtaining a judge's approval to get an abortion is a mammoth struggle.</p>
<p>"'Daunting' doesn't begin to cover it," says Jennifer Dalven, who runs the reproductive rights arm of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Imagine it: You're 17 years old. You're already struggling with this unplanned pregnancy. You may be afraid of your parents. And now you're told, 'Go to court'?"</p>
<p>Susan Hays, a Texas attorney who represents minors through a group called <a href="//janesdueprocess.org/" type="external">Jane's Due Process</a>, says about a third of the girls she works with don't have the option of asking their parents for permission—they're undocumented immigrants whose parents are not in the country, orphans, or what Hays calls "de facto orphans": "Mom's dead, Dad's in prison, they never liked me much anyway." She once represented a minor whose parents ran a meth ring: "She had split because she had the distinct impression they were going to start pimping her out." Legal guardians may grant permission for an abortion in most states. But this is no help to girls who live with family members who never established guardianship.</p>
<p>It isn't supposed to be this way. In 1979, the Supreme Court <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1239477-bellotti-v-baird" type="external">ruled</a> that a girl's parents can't exercise an absolute veto over her right to an abortion: States requiring parental notification or consent had to provide an escape hatch. The court did not mandate what form this escape hatch should take. Maine, for example, allows a physician to decide whether the minor is competent enough to make her own decision. But that's not good enough for anti-abortion activists. Led by <a href="//www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/americans-united-for-life-anti-abortion-transvaginal-ultrasound" type="external">Americans United for Life</a>, the legislative wing of the pro-life movement, they've advanced laws to put the decision in the hands of judges instead.</p>
<p>The process sounds simple: Go to a courthouse, file a form, and get a private hearing within a day or so. If the judge—who usually holds the hearing in his or her chambers—denies the petition, a minor has a right to a speedy appeal. A pregnant teen, according to standards defined by the Supreme Court, must show either that she is mature enough to have an abortion without her parents' involvement or that an abortion is in her best interest. "The way most laws are written, if you follow the statute, Jane Doe wins almost every time," Hays says. But in practice, girls are at the mercy of whichever judge they happen to draw, says Anne Dellinger, a retired University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor who has studied the bypass system. "If a girl wanders into the wrong [court], she doesn't have a chance," Dellinger says. With few checks on the system, Hays adds, judges are free to impose their beliefs on the girls who appear before them: "It's the law of bullies."</p>
<p>KIERA FINALLY APPEARED before a judge, a man nearing retirement age, when she was about 10 weeks along. Playing phone tag with the court had taken nearly three weeks.</p>
<p>Her school counselor said financial assistance from the clinic covered the gap between what she had squirreled away in the envelope and the cost of the abortion, but Kiera suspected her counselor paid the difference herself. She didn't care. By now, she had begun gaining weight and was sweating nonstop.</p>
<p>From the outset of her hearing, which Kiera weathered without a lawyer, the judge made his feelings about abortion clear. "I said, 'I'm an A and B student,'" Kiera recalls. "I tried to use my SAT words." The judge was not interested. He grilled her on whether she had contemplated her decision in church, or thought about how she might regret an abortion when she looked at her children in the future. He was upset to learn Kiera wasn't dating the father.</p>
<p>When they discussed her family, the judge began pleading. "He said, 'I'm sure your mother would understand,'" Kiera recalls. "He was kind of panicking—I felt like he was saying, 'Well, have you tried having a better mother? Have you tried religion?'" The judge adjourned the hearing without a ruling. It wasn't until two days later, after Kiera had already canceled her appointment at the clinic, that she got a call to come back to court. He'd granted her petition.</p>
<p>Kiera's case ended as she'd hoped. But court records show many girls are not so lucky. In the 40 cases I reviewed, judges denied minors' petitions for arbitrary, absurd, or personal reasons—such as a minor's failure to discuss her decision with a priest. (Although the initial hearings are private, summaries and partial transcripts became public when the minors appealed.)</p>
<p><a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1311525-973-so-2d-548" type="external">In 2008</a>, Florida Judge Raul Palomino Jr. urged a 17-year-old to think of how distressed her Catholic parents would be if they discovered her secret abortion. In a <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1311524-924-so-2d-935" type="external">2006 Florida case</a>, a girl testified she wasn't financially or emotionally equipped to raise a child—a claim, the judge ruled, that proved she wasn't mature enough to choose abortion. Three judges denied petitions because becoming pregnant by accident indicated a young woman was too immature to choose abortion.</p>
<p>The records I reviewed show that if a judge doesn't want to grant a petition, she will find a reason to deny it. <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1311523-803-so-2d-542" type="external">One 17-year-old in Alabama</a> tried to satisfy the state's requirement that minors be well informed by asking six people—a woman who'd had an abortion, a family friend, two nurses, and staffers at Planned Parenthood and the local health department—about the procedure. In court, she described the procedure in detail, naming the surgical instruments used. When the judge asked the girl—a straight-A student bound for college on two scholarships—if she felt emotionally ready to have an abortion, she replied, "I am. I've been strong-minded about all of this."</p>
<p>The judge then denied her petition because she hadn't spoken to the doctor who would perform the procedure. (The girl said the doctor refused to talk to her; clinics often limit contact with minors before their bypass hearing.)</p>
<p>"I'm a mother," said the judge, who is not named in the court documents. "These people are interested in one thing, it appears to me, and that is getting this young lady's money…This is a beautiful young girl with a bright future, and she does not need to have a butcher get ahold of her." A divided appeals court upheld the judge's denial.</p>
<p>In a 2013 case that made headlines, a Nebraska court <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1239479-s13-510009" type="external">decided</a>a 16-year-old in foster care was not mature—in part because she was "not self-sufficient." The minor had raised her siblings when her parents weren't around. The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision.</p>
<p><a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1311522-782-so-2d-791" type="external">In another case</a>, an appeals court described the testimony of a young woman who petitioned an Alabama judge in 2000:</p>
<p>"Her father drinks to excess and becomes violent. Recently, she said, he slapped her and told her to 'get out of the house' after she had asked him to turn down the volume of the television because she was trying to do her homework…Her father had told her that if she ever came home pregnant he would kill her. She also stated that she did not believe he meant this literally, but that she believed he would whip her. She testified that her mother was also violent and had beaten her older sister until she bled." The judge denied her petition.</p>
<p>In Alabama and Florida, some judges went so far as to <a href="//www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/alabama-abortion-law-attorney-fetus-lawyers" type="external">appoint lawyers for girls' fetuses</a>, even giving them names. "You say that you are aware that God instructed you not to kill your own baby," one attorney, who represented "Baby Ashley," thundered at his 17-year-old adversary. "But you want to do it anyway?"</p>
<p />
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<p>In 37 states, minors must notify or get consent from a parent before having an abortion. Since 2010, Republicans in 11 states have made it harder to bypass these restrictions by appearing before a judge.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>IN SOME WAYS,these girls were lucky to have made it to court at all. They had to get out of school, and in some cases to another town, for the hearing (and the procedure itself). They had to keep the whole process a secret—some attorneys with Hays' Texas group use Snapchat, a smartphone app that deletes messages after they've been viewed. But for many girls, the biggest obstacles are the court employees who act as the gatekeepers of the bypass system. For her 2007 book <a href="//www.amazon.com/Girls-Stand-Courts-Pregnant-Minors/dp/0814740731" type="external">Girls on the Stand: How Courts Fail PregnantMinors</a>, Lafayette College law professor Helena Silverstein and a research team called court employees across three states. They found more than half of the courts "proved absolutely or materially ignorant of their responsibilities" under bypass laws. Many court employees, and one judge, told the researchers judicial bypass didn't exist. Some court staff lectured callers about abortion or referred them to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Others warned that their judge had a blanket policy of denying petitions.</p>
<p>"We do not do that here," a staffer told Kiera at the first courthouse she called. When Kiera became upset, the staffer hung up on her. She called the courthouse back and spoke with a different staff member, who was apologetic, but equally clueless.</p>
<p>At the second courthouse Kiera called, no one answered the phone for several days. Finally, she was told, "That's something you need to ask your mother and father about." Kiera cajoled the staffer into looking into the court's bypass procedures. Later that week, the staffer left a message on Kiera's mom's answering machine explaining the process. Kiera frantically deleted the message before her mother got home.</p>
<p>None of this is unusual. In March 2012, students at the University of Michigan <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1239481-flbypass" type="external">replicated Silverstein's study</a>, calling each of Florida's 67 county courthouses. "Our results…were even worse than we had suspected," they wrote. "Over two thirds of courts were unable or unwilling to provide callers with the correct or complete information."</p>
<p>Sometimes, lawyers can counter the system's failings. In the early 2000s, the ACLU won several cases that sharpened Florida's legal definition of maturity, resulting in fewer arbitrary rulings. In Illinois, the group is collaborating with the courts to make the process quicker and fairer. In Texas, Jane's Due Process has had several judges who never approved petitions removed from the rotation of those hearing cases.</p>
<p>But since 2010, many states with new Republican governors—or new GOP majorities in their legislatures—have made the bypass process stricter. Lawmakers in Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Ohio have ratcheted up the standard of evidence in bypass hearings. Ohio and Oklahoma restricted the counties where young women can petition. Arizona and Arkansas passed laws forbidding anyone other than lawyers or court staff from helping a girl obtain a bypass.</p>
<p>A new Florida law requiring minors to seek judicial bypass in courts close to their homes is the work of state Sen. Kelli Stargel, an abortion foe who became pregnant at 17, married the father, and had the baby. John, Stargel's husband, went on to serve in the Florida House, where he helped write Florida's parental notification law in 2005. He now serves as a circuit judge—and sometimes rules on bypass petitions.</p>
<p>"Some of these children were being taken many, many miles from home," Kelli Stargel told me. "The child doesn't need to go out of the umbrella of the parent's protection. For all we know, the judge will deny the bypass petition, because he determines the parent should become involved."</p>
<p>In April, Alabama passed a <a href="//www.motherjones.com/documents/1239482-hb494-int" type="external">law</a> formally recognizing the right of judges to appoint lawyers to represent fetuses in the proceedings. I called Walter Mark Anderson III, a retired judge who began the practice, and told him the news. "That's fantastic!" he exclaimed. Before fetal attorneys, he explained, girls "came in, said this, that, and the other…and nobody really questioned her." The new law also requires district attorneys to cross-examine minors seeking a bypass—making the hearings, which are supposed to be fact-finding exercises, more like criminal trials. The judge may adjourn a hearing for as long as he sees fit, and he may disclose the minor's identity to any person he determines "needs to know." If a minor's parents become aware of the petition, which the Supreme Court intended to be confidential, they are entitled to participate in the hearing and be represented by a lawyer. On October 1, the ACLU filed a suit asking a federal court to stop the law from taking effect and rule it unconstitutional.</p>
<p>It's been eight months since Kiera's hearing, but the memory still sets her off. "I had to walk this total stranger through my life," she recalls angrily. "I had to open up one of the most embarrassing parts of my life." But she knows she was lucky. She has a friend whose dad used to hit her before she moved out of his house. If that friend got pregnant, Kiera asks, "should she ask him if she can have an abortion? Or should she go in front of a court that says, 'I'm sure your parents would understand'? No, really, tell me—which should she pick?"</p>
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<p>Molly Redden is a senior reporter focusing on gender equality. She previously reported for Mother Jones, the New Republic and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Follow her on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/mtredden" type="external">@mtredden</a></p> | true | 4 | following article first appeared mother jones magazine click subscribe january kiera stuffed many small bills envelope hidden underwear drawer split open kiera knew mother occasionally cased room safe shed labeled envelope soccer camp cash says kiera real name lets nervous laugh couldnt write check write abortion memo line kiera lives florida panhandle thoughtful sarcastic whipsmart easy forget shes 18 decemberwhen staring positive pregnancy test thinking shitshe 17 florida one 37 states minor cant abortion unless least one parents knows twentyone states though florida require least one parent grant permission kieras parents divorced father lives side country mother kiera says unstable unpredictable sometimes violent kicked kiera house forgetting tell sleepover took whole weekend cool kiera sure told mom volunteered antiabortion group wanted end pregnancy shed house good kiera confided school counselor learned another option could ask judge permission abortion panic melted away thought save recalls started socking away every dollar could get hands onlunch money tips waitressing job started calling courthouses 160 year hundredsof girls florida petition judges permission abortions nationwide number likely thousands statistics include girls make court poorly trained court staff antiabortion judges spate increasingly restrictive laws made harder ever minors exercise legal rights abortion foes pushed new restrictions believe process known judicial bypass simply loophole girls use avoid talking parents judges rubberstamping requests ohio right life warned press release 2011 john kasich states new republican governor signed bill making bypass process stricter review 40 cases along interviews minors attorneys reveals much country obtaining judges approval get abortion mammoth struggle daunting doesnt begin cover says jennifer dalven runs reproductive rights arm american civil liberties union imagine youre 17 years old youre already struggling unplanned pregnancy may afraid parents youre told go court susan hays texas attorney represents minors group called janes due process says third girls works dont option asking parents permissiontheyre undocumented immigrants whose parents country orphans hays calls de facto orphans moms dead dads prison never liked much anyway represented minor whose parents ran meth ring split distinct impression going start pimping legal guardians may grant permission abortion states help girls live family members never established guardianship isnt supposed way 1979 supreme court ruled girls parents cant exercise absolute veto right abortion states requiring parental notification consent provide escape hatch court mandate form escape hatch take maine example allows physician decide whether minor competent enough make decision thats good enough antiabortion activists led americans united life legislative wing prolife movement theyve advanced laws put decision hands judges instead process sounds simple go courthouse file form get private hearing within day judgewho usually holds hearing chambersdenies petition minor right speedy appeal pregnant teen according standards defined supreme court must show either mature enough abortion without parents involvement abortion best interest way laws written follow statute jane doe wins almost every time hays says practice girls mercy whichever judge happen draw says anne dellinger retired university north carolinachapel hill professor studied bypass system girl wanders wrong court doesnt chance dellinger says checks system hays adds judges free impose beliefs girls appear law bullies kiera finally appeared judge man nearing retirement age 10 weeks along playing phone tag court taken nearly three weeks school counselor said financial assistance clinic covered gap squirreled away envelope cost abortion kiera suspected counselor paid difference didnt care begun gaining weight sweating nonstop outset hearing kiera weathered without lawyer judge made feelings abortion clear said im b student kiera recalls tried use sat words judge interested grilled whether contemplated decision church thought might regret abortion looked children future upset learn kiera wasnt dating father discussed family judge began pleading said im sure mother would understand kiera recalls kind panickingi felt like saying well tried better mother tried religion judge adjourned hearing without ruling wasnt two days later kiera already canceled appointment clinic got call come back court hed granted petition kieras case ended shed hoped court records show many girls lucky 40 cases reviewed judges denied minors petitions arbitrary absurd personal reasonssuch minors failure discuss decision priest although initial hearings private summaries partial transcripts became public minors appealed 2008 florida judge raul palomino jr urged 17yearold think distressed catholic parents would discovered secret abortion 2006 florida case girl testified wasnt financially emotionally equipped raise childa claim judge ruled proved wasnt mature enough choose abortion three judges denied petitions becoming pregnant accident indicated young woman immature choose abortion records reviewed show judge doesnt want grant petition find reason deny one 17yearold alabama tried satisfy states requirement minors well informed asking six peoplea woman whod abortion family friend two nurses staffers planned parenthood local health departmentabout procedure court described procedure detail naming surgical instruments used judge asked girla straighta student bound college two scholarshipsif felt emotionally ready abortion replied ive strongminded judge denied petition hadnt spoken doctor would perform procedure girl said doctor refused talk clinics often limit contact minors bypass hearing im mother said judge named court documents people interested one thing appears getting young ladys moneythis beautiful young girl bright future need butcher get ahold divided appeals court upheld judges denial 2013 case made headlines nebraska court decideda 16yearold foster care maturein part selfsufficient minor raised siblings parents werent around nebraska supreme court upheld lower courts decision another case appeals court described testimony young woman petitioned alabama judge 2000 father drinks excess becomes violent recently said slapped told get house asked turn volume television trying homeworkher father told ever came home pregnant would kill also stated believe meant literally believed would whip testified mother also violent beaten older sister bled judge denied petition alabama florida judges went far appoint lawyers girls fetuses even giving names say aware god instructed kill baby one attorney represented baby ashley thundered 17yearold adversary want anyway 160 37 states minors must notify get consent parent abortion since 2010 republicans 11 states made harder bypass restrictions appearing judge 160 waysthese girls lucky made court get school cases another town hearing procedure keep whole process secretsome attorneys hays texas group use snapchat smartphone app deletes messages theyve viewed many girls biggest obstacles court employees act gatekeepers bypass system 2007 book girls stand courts fail pregnantminors lafayette college law professor helena silverstein research team called court employees across three states found half courts proved absolutely materially ignorant responsibilities bypass laws many court employees one judge told researchers judicial bypass didnt exist court staff lectured callers abortion referred antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers others warned judge blanket policy denying petitions staffer told kiera first courthouse called kiera became upset staffer hung called courthouse back spoke different staff member apologetic equally clueless second courthouse kiera called one answered phone several days finally told thats something need ask mother father kiera cajoled staffer looking courts bypass procedures later week staffer left message kieras moms answering machine explaining process kiera frantically deleted message mother got home none unusual march 2012 students university michigan replicated silversteins study calling floridas 67 county courthouses resultswere even worse suspected wrote two thirds courts unable unwilling provide callers correct complete information sometimes lawyers counter systems failings early 2000s aclu several cases sharpened floridas legal definition maturity resulting fewer arbitrary rulings illinois group collaborating courts make process quicker fairer texas janes due process several judges never approved petitions removed rotation hearing cases since 2010 many states new republican governorsor new gop majorities legislatureshave made bypass process stricter lawmakers florida kansas nebraska north dakota ohio ratcheted standard evidence bypass hearings ohio oklahoma restricted counties young women petition arizona arkansas passed laws forbidding anyone lawyers court staff helping girl obtain bypass new florida law requiring minors seek judicial bypass courts close homes work state sen kelli stargel abortion foe became pregnant 17 married father baby john stargels husband went serve florida house helped write floridas parental notification law 2005 serves circuit judgeand sometimes rules bypass petitions children taken many many miles home kelli stargel told child doesnt need go umbrella parents protection know judge deny bypass petition determines parent become involved april alabama passed law formally recognizing right judges appoint lawyers represent fetuses proceedings called walter mark anderson iii retired judge began practice told news thats fantastic exclaimed fetal attorneys explained girls came said otherand nobody really questioned new law also requires district attorneys crossexamine minors seeking bypassmaking hearings supposed factfinding exercises like criminal trials judge may adjourn hearing long sees fit may disclose minors identity person determines needs know minors parents become aware petition supreme court intended confidential entitled participate hearing represented lawyer october 1 aclu filed suit asking federal court stop law taking effect rule unconstitutional eight months since kieras hearing memory still sets walk total stranger life recalls angrily open one embarrassing parts life knows lucky friend whose dad used hit moved house friend got pregnant kiera asks ask abortion go front court says im sure parents would understand really tell mewhich pick 160 molly redden senior reporter focusing gender equality previously reported mother jones new republic chronicle higher education follow twitter mtredden | 1,480 |
<p>It was ironic that last month’s news told of U. S. troops patrolling and planes bombing Iraq in the name of democracy for resistant natives, while someone in Mobile, Alabama was being denied the right to speak to his representatives at a meeting of his city council. The irony sharpens when you were the one squelched.</p>
<p>And it deepens when you were attempting to speak on behalf of a local group, Citizens for Peace, which opposed this war even before it began. We considered the chatter about bestowing democracy on Iraq as a cover for less savory impulses to attack and as an imaginary outcome of the war.</p>
<p>But whatever the results might be over there, visions of spreading that American ideal were a handy sales pitch for promoters of the war here. So were any demeaning depictions that help to justify the fate of those who would be gutted and filleted when the war machinery trampled into their country.</p>
<p>Evil and Wicked Islam</p>
<p>That’s what propelled us to the city council with a resolution about a visitor coming to town soon, the Rev. Franklin Graham. After the attacks of 9/11/2001 many people said things in haste or anger which they later retracted or moderated.</p>
<p>Not Graham. He attributed 9/11 to the chief faith of the region where the plotters were born and declared that Islam is “a very evil and wicked religion.”</p>
<p>Not that some version of Islam adopted by some of the attackers contributed to the motives for their fiery suicide raid, but that the religion itself is inherently evil and wicked. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it, which aids those avid to wage and expand wars against Muslim nations. Most of those killed will be adherents of this vile religion, and their departure seems to cleanse the world of a grave mistake.</p>
<p>Graham has spurned opportunities to remove the barbs from his statement and salve the wounds it continues to cause. He reaffirmed it most recently in a front page story of the March 8 USA Today, granting that he’d said this about Islam and adding that “I haven’t backed down.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Protestant Pope</p>
<p>That article, with a picture of him in resolute pose before a gleaming cross, amounted to his investiture as his father’s successor. Franklin had long been the heir apparent of ailing Billy Graham’s worldwide evangelical organization. He has already taken Billy’s place as spiritual guide to presidents. He was God’s representative at the ceremonies re-inaugurating president Bush in January, 2005. The USA Today article announced his official rise to his father’s role at the ministry’s headquarters in North Carolina.</p>
<p>Franklin Graham is the Protestant pope-or the nearest thing the splayed-out Protestants have to that eminence. And he’s rented the civic center in downtown Mobile for three days of preaching and soul saving late this month.</p>
<p>So our proposed resolution asked the members of the city council to consider the implications of this. They not only have some legal authority over use of municipal facilities like the civic center; they are also custodians of the city’s values and character.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Holy Hatred</p>
<p>The most potent preacher in the country is bringing a doctrine of holy hatred to Mobile, which includes Muslims among its citizens. This isn’t a prominent part of his routine message, but neither will he repudiate it. Would Graham’s type of pious bias be acceptable here from anybody equally lofty who had said anything similar about Jews or any brand of Christians? Certainly not.</p>
<p>Our resolution didn’t ask the council to cancel Graham’s rental of the civic center. Instead it affirmed his right to use the building and to preach whatever he believes. It merely said that city officials should not welcome him to Mobile in any manner “until and unless the Rev. Graham publicly retracts and apologizes for his slander of Islam.”</p>
<p>Regardless of these officials’ opinions about wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the looming one in Iran, surely they would welcome an occasion to defend their Muslim constituents against Graham’s consigning them en masse to hell. Or if the council members didn’t give a damn about that, surely they would want to orate and then to formally affirm by this resolution their city’s dedication to respect and civility among all its varied parts.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Hush or Go Directly to Jail</p>
<p>Surely not. We were fortunate to get away from the council meeting without being arrested.</p>
<p>We had not followed all the rules for addressing the council, or so we were told. But we had meticulously done that and brought copious documentation to prove it.</p>
<p>Anyhow, our resolution was not pertinent, or so we were told. But we knew of many matters brought before the council that have little or no direct bearing on municipal functions. These included a resolution adopted last fall upon Rosa Parks’ death. It commended her refusal to move to the back of a bus in another city half a century ago. But a resolution about the use of a Mobile city facility now by a major public figure for public meetings attracting thousands is not pertinent? No, it’s not. Instead it’s “preposterous,” the council president said.</p>
<p>Anyhow, you’re not Christians. What else could the councilman have meant who called himself a Christian while calling our resolution “trash”?</p>
<p>He must be one of those who believe there was a secret eighth day of creation when God founded the Republican party, and Moses brought Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America and George Bush’s DNA down from Mt. Sinai.</p>
<p>Among the dozen or so who attended to support Citizens for Peace’s resolution, I’ve never heard any proclaim their faith like that councilman did. But I’ve seen them all live it.</p>
<p>Anyhow, if you don’t shut up, you’ll be arrested. That was the implication of the repeated warnings by the council president that our resolution was not to be discussed, that any attempt to do so was out of order, that this had already been decided, and that the whole council agreed about it.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Heretics Banished</p>
<p>Rather than go to jail the Citizens for Peace contingent retreated to the atrium of Government Plaza and held an impromptu press conference, which is still allowed.</p>
<p>Suspicious that my memory was playing tricks, I asked the other exiles: Did the council president really invite me to speak about topics other than our resolution, any other topics? Yes, they said, he did.</p>
<p>I didn’t need to ask what had happened to one council member who’d pledged to prevent a muzzling. I’d seen him shrivel silently in his seat as his colleagues assailed us. A couple weeks earlier I asked him to intervene, if necessary, for our right to speak and he readily agreed. But he behaved during the public meeting like a voodoo spell of mute paralysis had been cast upon him.</p>
<p>Something similar had apparently happened to local Muslims. Among the mostly foreign-born ones clustered around the University of South Alabama, none displayed any desire to uphold their faith before the city council. Members of an innercity mosque had at least met with us, declared their support, and indicated they would attend to bolster the resolution. But if they were present, their brand of Islam has the magical property of rendering them invisible.</p>
<p>A couple candidates for local office had also signaled their support and their intention to attend. But when the moment arrived, they too became transparent.</p>
<p>One councilman acknowledged in a later email to a Citizens for Peace member that “based on past practices of the Council” we should not have been choked. And the daily newspaper’s account of our gagging noted, accurately, that the council president “generally gives generous leeway to people who wish to speak.”</p>
<p>An exception was enforced against us not because we’d botched some procedure, and not because our resolution wasn’t germane, but because we are heretics. We refused to genuflect before the almighty Rev. Graham. We dared to propose a resolution asserting that he was capable of error, in need of repentance, and should be shunned until he had done so. We insisted that the city’s elected leaders vindicate their Muslim fellow citizens against Graham’s assault. And we declined the offer to prattle about anything else instead.</p>
<p>Theocratic Convergence</p>
<p>The council could easily have allowed us the typical five minutes to present our odious resolution. Then they could just have said nothing and done nothing-ignore us. And continue the meeting as if we’d never come.</p>
<p>But doing this would concede not only that the infidels had breached the walls and entered the inner sanctum but also that they had some right to be there. They had to be attacked-not ignored-because they’d challenged the sanctity and infallibility of the anointed one, Rev. Graham.</p>
<p>Not all seven of the council members joined the chorus. But silence signaled assent. I wondered especially what had occurred out of our sight to paralyze the one who’d assured us of access to the agenda. And what accounted for the missing Muslims? Or the vanished local candidates?</p>
<p>For answers you needn’t have the power to sign executive orders instructing spy agencies to skirt the law and snoop on emails and phone calls.</p>
<p>You merely need to have absorbed from experience and folklore the lessons about what befalls the sheep that stray from orthodoxy.</p>
<p>The word spreads: Stay away from those folks who say they’re going downtown with that fool resolution about Rev. Graham. He will come, and he will go, but his followers will still be here. And you will too. Do you want to fit in with this community? Do you want to keep your connections and your reputation? Do you care about that promotion you’ve been working toward all these years? Do you want to do business? Stay away from those folks.</p>
<p>And if you are one of those folks, friends-genuine ones-will ask if you’re sure you want to pursue this. And when they see that you really intend to, they will ask if you have a paid up life insurance policy. And they are not joking.</p>
<p>A democracy isn’t simply a place that has elections now and then. Among other things, it must also have unfettered, unafraid exchanges of information and opinions between officials, civic groups, and citizens.</p>
<p>Nor is a theocracy simply a place with an official religion. It could be a place without any formal merger of church and state-but some religion and some of its leaders are so weighty and sacrosanct that nobody is supposed to question or discomfit them. And if anybody does get uppity, their own elected representatives will rear up in unison to smite and silence them on behalf of the religious potentates.</p>
<p>So Citizens for Peace’s recent experience at the Mobile city council is in keeping with the era and the presiding political forces of America. Over there they impose regime change by invasions while trumpeting democracy, but they actually install systems closer to theocracy. And here they retain some of the outward forms of democracy, while edging toward the methods of theocracy.</p>
<p>You might call these converging trends globalization.</p>
<p>DAVID UNDERHILL is a member of Citizens for Peace in Mobile, Alabama. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:drunderhill@yahoo.com" type="external">drunderhill@yahoo.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | ironic last months news told u troops patrolling planes bombing iraq name democracy resistant natives someone mobile alabama denied right speak representatives meeting city council irony sharpens one squelched deepens attempting speak behalf local group citizens peace opposed war even began considered chatter bestowing democracy iraq cover less savory impulses attack imaginary outcome war whatever results might visions spreading american ideal handy sales pitch promoters war demeaning depictions help justify fate would gutted filleted war machinery trampled country evil wicked islam thats propelled us city council resolution visitor coming town soon rev franklin graham attacks 9112001 many people said things haste anger later retracted moderated graham attributed 911 chief faith region plotters born declared islam evil wicked religion version islam adopted attackers contributed motives fiery suicide raid religion inherently evil wicked thats story hes sticking aids avid wage expand wars muslim nations killed adherents vile religion departure seems cleanse world grave mistake graham spurned opportunities remove barbs statement salve wounds continues cause reaffirmed recently front page story march 8 usa today granting hed said islam adding havent backed 160 protestant pope article picture resolute pose gleaming cross amounted investiture fathers successor franklin long heir apparent ailing billy grahams worldwide evangelical organization already taken billys place spiritual guide presidents gods representative ceremonies reinaugurating president bush january 2005 usa today article announced official rise fathers role ministrys headquarters north carolina franklin graham protestant popeor nearest thing splayedout protestants eminence hes rented civic center downtown mobile three days preaching soul saving late month proposed resolution asked members city council consider implications legal authority use municipal facilities like civic center also custodians citys values character 160 holy hatred potent preacher country bringing doctrine holy hatred mobile includes muslims among citizens isnt prominent part routine message neither repudiate would grahams type pious bias acceptable anybody equally lofty said anything similar jews brand christians certainly resolution didnt ask council cancel grahams rental civic center instead affirmed right use building preach whatever believes merely said city officials welcome mobile manner unless rev graham publicly retracts apologizes slander islam regardless officials opinions wars iraq afghanistan looming one iran surely would welcome occasion defend muslim constituents grahams consigning en masse hell council members didnt give damn surely would want orate formally affirm resolution citys dedication respect civility among varied parts 160 hush go directly jail surely fortunate get away council meeting without arrested followed rules addressing council told meticulously done brought copious documentation prove anyhow resolution pertinent told knew many matters brought council little direct bearing municipal functions included resolution adopted last fall upon rosa parks death commended refusal move back bus another city half century ago resolution use mobile city facility major public figure public meetings attracting thousands pertinent instead preposterous council president said anyhow youre christians else could councilman meant called christian calling resolution trash must one believe secret eighth day creation god founded republican party moses brought newt gingrichs contract america george bushs dna mt sinai among dozen attended support citizens peaces resolution ive never heard proclaim faith like councilman ive seen live anyhow dont shut youll arrested implication repeated warnings council president resolution discussed attempt order already decided whole council agreed 160 heretics banished rather go jail citizens peace contingent retreated atrium government plaza held impromptu press conference still allowed suspicious memory playing tricks asked exiles council president really invite speak topics resolution topics yes said didnt need ask happened one council member whod pledged prevent muzzling id seen shrivel silently seat colleagues assailed us couple weeks earlier asked intervene necessary right speak readily agreed behaved public meeting like voodoo spell mute paralysis cast upon something similar apparently happened local muslims among mostly foreignborn ones clustered around university south alabama none displayed desire uphold faith city council members innercity mosque least met us declared support indicated would attend bolster resolution present brand islam magical property rendering invisible couple candidates local office also signaled support intention attend moment arrived became transparent one councilman acknowledged later email citizens peace member based past practices council choked daily newspapers account gagging noted accurately council president generally gives generous leeway people wish speak exception enforced us wed botched procedure resolution wasnt germane heretics refused genuflect almighty rev graham dared propose resolution asserting capable error need repentance shunned done insisted citys elected leaders vindicate muslim fellow citizens grahams assault declined offer prattle anything else instead theocratic convergence council could easily allowed us typical five minutes present odious resolution could said nothing done nothingignore us continue meeting wed never come would concede infidels breached walls entered inner sanctum also right attackednot ignoredbecause theyd challenged sanctity infallibility anointed one rev graham seven council members joined chorus silence signaled assent wondered especially occurred sight paralyze one whod assured us access agenda accounted missing muslims vanished local candidates answers neednt power sign executive orders instructing spy agencies skirt law snoop emails phone calls merely need absorbed experience folklore lessons befalls sheep stray orthodoxy word spreads stay away folks say theyre going downtown fool resolution rev graham come go followers still want fit community want keep connections reputation care promotion youve working toward years want business stay away folks one folks friendsgenuine oneswill ask youre sure want pursue see really intend ask paid life insurance policy joking democracy isnt simply place elections among things must also unfettered unafraid exchanges information opinions officials civic groups citizens theocracy simply place official religion could place without formal merger church statebut religion leaders weighty sacrosanct nobody supposed question discomfit anybody get uppity elected representatives rear unison smite silence behalf religious potentates citizens peaces recent experience mobile city council keeping era presiding political forces america impose regime change invasions trumpeting democracy actually install systems closer theocracy retain outward forms democracy edging toward methods theocracy might call converging trends globalization david underhill member citizens peace mobile alabama reached drunderhillyahoocom 160 160 | 969 |
<p>Image via Wikipedia</p>
<p>Numbers don’t lie, the old saying goes: people lie.</p>
<p>Conservative blogger Dean Chambers has taken this lesson and “unskewed” it, whitewashing the data gathered across multiple national polls and casting the numbers in a light favorable to Republicans. He does this by re-weighting the polls in favor of Republicans—a happy little magic trick that they don’t teach you in those liberal institutions of higher learning.</p>
<p>To Chambers, accurately predicting the outcome of the 2012 election is far less important than attempting to influence that outcome with propaganda.</p>
<p>Of course, tinkering with the numbers to inflate Romney’s chances isn’t the only thing Chambers is interested in. Chambers is pushing a culture war message, and nothing as trivial as statistics or math will get in his way. Take <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/the-far-left-turns-to-nate-silver-for-wisdom-on-the-polls?cid=db_articles" type="external">his broadside</a> against 538.com blogger Nate Silver, one of the most reliable sources for poll analysis:</p>
<p>Nate Silver is a man of very small stature, a thin and effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice that sounds almost exactly like the “Mr. New Castrati” voice used by Rush Limbaugh on his program. In fact, Silver could easily be the poster child for the New Castrati in both image and sound. Nate Silver, like most liberal and leftist celebrities and favorites, might be of average intelligence but is surely not the genius he’s made out to be. His political analyses are average at best and his projections, at least this year, are extremely biased in favor of the Democrats.</p>
<p>See, it’s not just about the “leftist” skew; Silver is an effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice. In other words, Silver is just too gay for the numbers to make sense. Only manly men like Chambers can properly weight polls and make them fair and balanced again.</p>
<p>The latest predictions from Nate Silver 538.com/New York TimesFox News and talk radio are not the only entities responsible for head-in-the-sand denialism on the right. Plenty of politicians engage in the same kind of thinking. But what it really boils down to is a subtle admission that Republicans are losing the demographic war and, seeing that battle slowly slipping away from them, are ramping up the culture war in its stead.</p>
<p>So we get absurd stories every holiday season about The War On Christmas, and we see bloggers like Chambers adopt Fox News’s affinity for the truth and apply it to mathematical models with the same blind fervor. It’s not a long-term strategy, it’s a short-term blitz aimed at staunching the demographic bleeding.</p>
<p>When I look at the state of American politics, it’s always a tiny bit surprising to see lower-income Americans voting Republican. Then I remember that economic interests may be important to everyone, but voters will all-too-willingly vote against their own economic interests if there is a compelling enough culture war narrative to sway them.</p>
<p>This compelling narrative is exactly what the Tea Party was all about. What the Tea Party did was introduce a new modern fable to latch onto, giving weight to words like “freedom” and hazy concepts like the Constitution—so that people who might otherwise look at how badly the GOP ransacked the American economy under George W. Bush might still blame President Obama for every woe, big government for every evil, and equate freedom and limited government with a party that has never given any indication that it cares about those things <a href="" type="internal">once in power</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, narrative is what the culture wars are truly about. More than anything, the culture wars serve politicians first and citizens second. They give politicians a better way to strike fear into the hearts of their supporters, assuring them that the Other is not merely wrong but also immoral and dangerous.</p>
<p>As we’ve seen perhaps more than ever in the 2012 election, standard-bearers of the Republican Party such as VP nominee Paul Ryan have very little interest in facts and a great deal of interest in spinning a narrative around themselves and their platform. Romney himself continues to spin a gilded-age narrative about the good ol’ days before Obama took office; Ryan sets up fake soup kitchen photo shoots in an attempt to merge that narrative with one of compassionate conservatism entirely at odds with his pseudo-Objectivist guiding philosophy.</p>
<p>Dean Chambers is merely following in others’ footsteps with his “unskewed” polls and his homophobic attacks on Nate Silver. Nor can we lay all the blame at Chambers’ feet. Other voices with more sway and, one hopes, more responsibility to presenting the truth, have hopped onto the anti-Silver bandwagon.</p>
<p>Take Politico’s Dylan Byers, <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/10/nate-silver-romney-clearly-could-still-win-147618.html" type="external">who wrote</a>:&#160;“So should Mitt Romney win on Nov. 6, it’s difficult to see how people can continue to put faith in the predictions of someone who has never given that candidate anything higher than a 41 percent chance of winning.”</p>
<p>It “makes a kind of sense,”&#160;that we’d see so much criticism of Silver come out of Politico <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/30/the-nate-silver-backlash/" type="external">writes Ezra Klein</a>. “Silver’s work poses a threat to more traditional—and, in particular, to more excitable—forms of political punditry and horce-race journalism.”</p>
<p>That’s a nice way of saying that models rooted in actual math (similar to theories rooted in actual science) pose a threat to people less concerned with facts, not bothered by half-truths or flat-out falsehoods, and much more interested in generating page clicks than in actually dissecting facts and fictions.</p>
<p>And for Fox News, the modern-day GOP, and Dean Chambers it’s about telling a compelling story no matter how poorly it may hold up against the numbers.</p>
<p>“The reality,”&#160;Public Policy Polling’s Tom&#160;Jensen <a href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/dean-chambers-unskewed-polls.php" type="external">told TalkingPointsMemo</a>,&#160;“is that (Republicans are)&#160;losing, they can’t accept it, and they’re going to find some reason to dismiss every poll that makes them unhappy no matter what its composition is. This isn’t really about Party ID, it’s about hardcore denial.”</p> | true | 4 | image via wikipedia numbers dont lie old saying goes people lie conservative blogger dean chambers taken lesson unskewed whitewashing data gathered across multiple national polls casting numbers light favorable republicans reweighting polls favor republicansa happy little magic trick dont teach liberal institutions higher learning chambers accurately predicting outcome 2012 election far less important attempting influence outcome propaganda course tinkering numbers inflate romneys chances isnt thing chambers interested chambers pushing culture war message nothing trivial statistics math get way take broadside 538com blogger nate silver one reliable sources poll analysis nate silver man small stature thin effeminate man softsounding voice sounds almost exactly like mr new castrati voice used rush limbaugh program fact silver could easily poster child new castrati image sound nate silver like liberal leftist celebrities favorites might average intelligence surely genius hes made political analyses average best projections least year extremely biased favor democrats see leftist skew silver effeminate man softsounding voice words silver gay numbers make sense manly men like chambers properly weight polls make fair balanced latest predictions nate silver 538comnew york timesfox news talk radio entities responsible headinthesand denialism right plenty politicians engage kind thinking really boils subtle admission republicans losing demographic war seeing battle slowly slipping away ramping culture war stead get absurd stories every holiday season war christmas see bloggers like chambers adopt fox newss affinity truth apply mathematical models blind fervor longterm strategy shortterm blitz aimed staunching demographic bleeding look state american politics always tiny bit surprising see lowerincome americans voting republican remember economic interests may important everyone voters alltoowillingly vote economic interests compelling enough culture war narrative sway compelling narrative exactly tea party tea party introduce new modern fable latch onto giving weight words like freedom hazy concepts like constitutionso people might otherwise look badly gop ransacked american economy george w bush might still blame president obama every woe big government every evil equate freedom limited government party never given indication cares things power indeed narrative culture wars truly anything culture wars serve politicians first citizens second give politicians better way strike fear hearts supporters assuring merely wrong also immoral dangerous weve seen perhaps ever 2012 election standardbearers republican party vp nominee paul ryan little interest facts great deal interest spinning narrative around platform romney continues spin gildedage narrative good ol days obama took office ryan sets fake soup kitchen photo shoots attempt merge narrative one compassionate conservatism entirely odds pseudoobjectivist guiding philosophy dean chambers merely following others footsteps unskewed polls homophobic attacks nate silver lay blame chambers feet voices sway one hopes responsibility presenting truth hopped onto antisilver bandwagon take politicos dylan byers wrote160so mitt romney win nov 6 difficult see people continue put faith predictions someone never given candidate anything higher 41 percent chance winning makes kind sense160that wed see much criticism silver come politico writes ezra klein silvers work poses threat traditionaland particular excitableforms political punditry horcerace journalism thats nice way saying models rooted actual math similar theories rooted actual science pose threat people less concerned facts bothered halftruths flatout falsehoods much interested generating page clicks actually dissecting facts fictions fox news modernday gop dean chambers telling compelling story matter poorly may hold numbers reality160public policy pollings tom160jensen told talkingpointsmemo160is republicans are160losing cant accept theyre going find reason dismiss every poll makes unhappy matter composition isnt really party id hardcore denial | 553 |
<p>“Did you come to see the zoo?”</p>
<p>A teenage girl wearing a colorful headband and dangling earrings stared at me as she asked about my intentions. The look on her face was a mixture of defiance and bemusement. Journalists prowling around her turf were once a common sight and, since the neighborhood is a small Serb enclave in the center of Pristina, noticing a man with a camera wasn’t very difficult.</p>
<p>The teenager’s home is located in a six-story block of apartments. One hundred and seventy-four Serbs live in the apartments, and other buildings housing thousands of Albanians surround the enclave. The Serbs have access to one small store, a fitness center and, when I asked where do the children play, the teenage girl pointed to a dusty courtyard that functions as a football pitch. Twenty British KFOR soldiers live in one of the apartments, and they guard the Serbs day and night. The soldiers are alert, well armed and, like the Serbs in the courtyard, easy targets for those staring in through invisible bars that encircle the enclave.</p>
<p>“We are like prisoners here,” said the girl. “We live like animals in a zoo.”</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Yugoslavia was once multi-ethnic and modern, a member of the United Nations and, until 1991, ruled by communists. Eleven years after the beginning of the endless warfare in the Balkans, the nation of Yugoslavia has been cleaved into pieces by various nationalist leaders identified in the international press as freedom fighters (Croats), democrats (Bosnian Muslims), rebels (Albanians) and butchers (Serbs). With the assistance of politicians, diplomats and bomber pilots from the United States of America – and compliant members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Association) and the United Nations – the leaders of these various entities have succeeded in creating ethnically pure regions carved out of the carnage of war.</p>
<p>Capitalism has replaced communism in these new nations and, although many of the same leaders continue to rule, the cleansing operations during the past decade have assured the people of the former Yugoslavia a future free from oppression, fear and ethnically incompatible neighbors.</p>
<p>Except, of course, in Kosovo.</p>
<p>During the Balkans Wars (1991-2002), Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians (Croat, Serb and Muslim), Macedonians and Albanians fought and died for the right to be independent and free. The Serbs living in Kosovo also fought and died, yet three years after the end of NATO’s brutal war against Yugoslavia they are still not free.</p>
<p>Statistics about the success or failure of the mission in Kosovo, gathered and published by KFOR, UNMIK and humanitarian aid groups – and reported by journalists and writers looking to confirm their own biases and agendas – are available in many busy offices located in bustling city of Pristina. The dissemination of this information and propaganda sometimes seems to take priority over the delivery of food and supplies to the people concentrated in a few ethnically pure enclaves scattered throughout Kosovo.</p>
<p>The simple stories about the lives of Serbs, Roma and other minorities living in these enclaves have gone missing, and the less-than-equal undesirables of Kosovo continue to live in fear, loathing the rise of a government dominated by Albanians and the fall of their own precarious living standards.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” said the man sitting next to me. “My son, he is full of energy.”</p>
<p>I met Jovica Rajkovic and his seven-year-old son Milan on the train that runs from Zvecan to G. Jankovic. Milan was sitting in the seat across from me, and he was kicking the edge of my seat. His father gently admonished the boy. Milan stopped kicking and tried to stand up on his seat and look out the dirt-encrusted window. Jovica reached over and took hold of his son’s arm. Milan sat down. He remained still for less than five seconds.</p>
<p>Zvecan is a small town located north of Mitrovica, the “flashpoint” city where Serbs and Albanians live, separated by the polluted Ibar River. Serbs live north of the river and Albanians live in the southern areas of the segregated city. The railroad station in Zvecan sits in a cleft between crumbling hills and shares a small valley with the rusting remains of the Trepca mining complex, the source of the pollution that flows in the Ibar River. G. Jankovic is a large town located near the border crossing between southern Kosovo and northern Macedonia, and it is the end of the line.</p>
<p>Three years ago, in the spring of 1999, the same train and the same tracks were used to transport thousands of Albanians to the Blace refugee camp in Macedonia. On a hot and humid day in June of 2002, a Serb father and son boarded the ancient train and traveled the short distance to their home in Kosovo Polje. Armed KFOR soldiers from Greece provided protection for the passengers as the train chugged slowly through areas populated by Albanians. The damage done to the Albanian towns and villages during the war has been repaired, and the new houses dotting the landscape would be considered small mansions in North America.</p>
<p>Jovica peered through the window. He pointed towards blackened shells of burned-out houses in abandoned Serb villages.</p>
<p>“Look there,” said Jovica. “The Albanians have destroyed our homes.”</p>
<p>There was very little rebuilding or remodeling occurring in the Serb villages, and there were no large homes being financed and constructed for Serbs, as was being done for the free and independent Albanians of Kosovo. Since the end of the war between NATO and Yugoslavia, thousands of new structures have been built by Albanians and paid for by the international community. However, three years after the war ended many Serbs continue to live in tents and small pre-fabricated shelters, surviving on what little aid and assistance that is trickling down to them after the Albanians have siphoned off most of the money, goods and services being provided by the international community.</p>
<p>“It is a catastrophe for my people,” said Jovica.</p>
<p>When we arrived at the station in Kosovo Polje, Jovica and Milan said goodbye and stepped down onto a platform crowded with passengers waiting to board the southbound train. Gripping his son’s hand tightly in his own huge fist, Jovica quickly threaded his way through groups of Albanians standing in and around the railway platform. The atmosphere was tense. Hostile stares and smirking laughter by the Albanians quickened the pace of the Serb father and son, and they were out of my sight within seconds.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>UNMIK is the acronym for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, the international organization responsible for re-organizing a shattered land and people. Although the landscape of Kosovo has seen some definite improvements, many of the people still live broken lives. And, fittingly for this surreal province of Serbia, UNMIK has not even been able to provide a secure environment for its own Serb civilian employees.</p>
<p>“This is terribly humiliating,” said Marija, a young Serb woman who works for UNMIK.</p>
<p>I was escorting Marija to her job in Pristina. She lives only three blocks from her office, but is afraid to walk through the streets alone. Although she speaks excellent English and passes herself off as an American, the young woman, a hard-edged and proud Serb, is scared to acknowledge her ethnicity.</p>
<p>Marija is not her real name. A Serb working in Albanian areas of Kosovo can easily become a target of Albanians who want to continue the cleansing of the ethnic minorities that began immediately after the end of the war in June of 1999. UNMIK also disapproves of any disparaging comments from the local staff. Marija could lose her life or her job if her real name was published. Like others Serbs, Marija has lost her identity as well as her freedom.</p>
<p>“The internationals want to get rid of us,” said Marija, referring to the enclaves populated by minorities, and protected by UNMIK and KFOR. “They want to get rid of a problem, and the problem is the Serbs.”</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>“The Serbs are not free.”</p>
<p>David Pierson is a 48-year-old American from Colorado working as an UNMIK policeman in the city of Pristina; he agrees with Marija.</p>
<p>“They are always under escort,” said Pierson. “I don’t call that free. They Serbs have to come and go in groups.”</p>
<p>Officer Pierson was sitting at a table outside a small kiosk, drinking coffee and watching the people pass by when I stopped and said hello. His perch was only a few blocks from Marija’s office. There are more than 500 American policemen currently working in Kosovo. They try to offer protection to the minority communities, but walking a beat in Pristina usually means driving around in a brand-new Sports Utility Vehicle painted to resemble a Coca-Cola can with wheels. Their contact with the people is limited to responding to calls for assistance from Serbs, and ordering coffee at Albanian cafes.</p>
<p>“Crime is down, murders are down,” said Barry Fletcher, a press spokesman for UNMIK. Fletcher is also American policeman. “Now, it’s just street crime, car thefts and sexual assaults. But if we pull out of here in the next few years, the situation will return to what is was in 1999.</p>
<p>“Both side view themselves as victims,” said Fletcher. “They do not accept that they are also the perpetrators. Only time will heal the hate.”</p>
<p>The Albanians once lived under Serbian rule, and they rebelled against their alleged oppressors. With the assistance of other Americans – politicians and diplomats, aid workers and soldiers – the Albanians won their won of liberation and have created a society that is discriminating against the Serbs, Roma and other minorities. The policemen now stationed throughout Kosovo have to deal with the problems.</p>
<p>“It’s apartheid,” said Fletcher, the UNMIK spokesman, acknowledging the fact that good cops cannot change bad behavior, and giving credence to the Serb complaints about whether the international community really cares about protecting innocent lives. “If you give us information about a crime, and give us a name, we’ll book them. We’d love to.”</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Marija thinks it is a crime when her right to walk to work is denied, and does not believe that freedom for the ethnic minorities of Kosovo is very high on the agendas of the Albanians or the Americans.</p>
<p>“The internationals want to get rid of the Serbs,” said Marija as I escorted her to her job at UNMIK headquarters.</p>
<p>“The Serbs are going to remain in a cage.”</p>
<p>James T. Phillips is a freelance reporter. He has covered wars in Iraq, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:james@unet.com.mk" type="external">james@unet.com.mk</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | come see zoo teenage girl wearing colorful headband dangling earrings stared asked intentions look face mixture defiance bemusement journalists prowling around turf common sight since neighborhood small serb enclave center pristina noticing man camera wasnt difficult teenagers home located sixstory block apartments one hundred seventyfour serbs live apartments buildings housing thousands albanians surround enclave serbs access one small store fitness center asked children play teenage girl pointed dusty courtyard functions football pitch twenty british kfor soldiers live one apartments guard serbs day night soldiers alert well armed like serbs courtyard easy targets staring invisible bars encircle enclave like prisoners said girl live like animals zoo yugoslavia multiethnic modern member united nations 1991 ruled communists eleven years beginning endless warfare balkans nation yugoslavia cleaved pieces various nationalist leaders identified international press freedom fighters croats democrats bosnian muslims rebels albanians butchers serbs assistance politicians diplomats bomber pilots united states america compliant members nato north atlantic treaty association united nations leaders various entities succeeded creating ethnically pure regions carved carnage war capitalism replaced communism new nations although many leaders continue rule cleansing operations past decade assured people former yugoslavia future free oppression fear ethnically incompatible neighbors except course kosovo balkans wars 19912002 slovenes croats bosnians croat serb muslim macedonians albanians fought died right independent free serbs living kosovo also fought died yet three years end natos brutal war yugoslavia still free statistics success failure mission kosovo gathered published kfor unmik humanitarian aid groups reported journalists writers looking confirm biases agendas available many busy offices located bustling city pristina dissemination information propaganda sometimes seems take priority delivery food supplies people concentrated ethnically pure enclaves scattered throughout kosovo simple stories lives serbs roma minorities living enclaves gone missing lessthanequal undesirables kosovo continue live fear loathing rise government dominated albanians fall precarious living standards im sorry said man sitting next son full energy met jovica rajkovic sevenyearold son milan train runs zvecan g jankovic milan sitting seat across kicking edge seat father gently admonished boy milan stopped kicking tried stand seat look dirtencrusted window jovica reached took hold sons arm milan sat remained still less five seconds zvecan small town located north mitrovica flashpoint city serbs albanians live separated polluted ibar river serbs live north river albanians live southern areas segregated city railroad station zvecan sits cleft crumbling hills shares small valley rusting remains trepca mining complex source pollution flows ibar river g jankovic large town located near border crossing southern kosovo northern macedonia end line three years ago spring 1999 train tracks used transport thousands albanians blace refugee camp macedonia hot humid day june 2002 serb father son boarded ancient train traveled short distance home kosovo polje armed kfor soldiers greece provided protection passengers train chugged slowly areas populated albanians damage done albanian towns villages war repaired new houses dotting landscape would considered small mansions north america jovica peered window pointed towards blackened shells burnedout houses abandoned serb villages look said jovica albanians destroyed homes little rebuilding remodeling occurring serb villages large homes financed constructed serbs done free independent albanians kosovo since end war nato yugoslavia thousands new structures built albanians paid international community however three years war ended many serbs continue live tents small prefabricated shelters surviving little aid assistance trickling albanians siphoned money goods services provided international community catastrophe people said jovica arrived station kosovo polje jovica milan said goodbye stepped onto platform crowded passengers waiting board southbound train gripping sons hand tightly huge fist jovica quickly threaded way groups albanians standing around railway platform atmosphere tense hostile stares smirking laughter albanians quickened pace serb father son sight within seconds unmik acronym united nations mission kosovo international organization responsible reorganizing shattered land people although landscape kosovo seen definite improvements many people still live broken lives fittingly surreal province serbia unmik even able provide secure environment serb civilian employees terribly humiliating said marija young serb woman works unmik escorting marija job pristina lives three blocks office afraid walk streets alone although speaks excellent english passes american young woman hardedged proud serb scared acknowledge ethnicity marija real name serb working albanian areas kosovo easily become target albanians want continue cleansing ethnic minorities began immediately end war june 1999 unmik also disapproves disparaging comments local staff marija could lose life job real name published like others serbs marija lost identity well freedom internationals want get rid us said marija referring enclaves populated minorities protected unmik kfor want get rid problem problem serbs serbs free david pierson 48yearold american colorado working unmik policeman city pristina agrees marija always escort said pierson dont call free serbs come go groups officer pierson sitting table outside small kiosk drinking coffee watching people pass stopped said hello perch blocks marijas office 500 american policemen currently working kosovo try offer protection minority communities walking beat pristina usually means driving around brandnew sports utility vehicle painted resemble cocacola wheels contact people limited responding calls assistance serbs ordering coffee albanian cafes crime murders said barry fletcher press spokesman unmik fletcher also american policeman street crime car thefts sexual assaults pull next years situation return 1999 side view victims said fletcher accept also perpetrators time heal hate albanians lived serbian rule rebelled alleged oppressors assistance americans politicians diplomats aid workers soldiers albanians liberation created society discriminating serbs roma minorities policemen stationed throughout kosovo deal problems apartheid said fletcher unmik spokesman acknowledging fact good cops change bad behavior giving credence serb complaints whether international community really cares protecting innocent lives give us information crime give us name well book wed love marija thinks crime right walk work denied believe freedom ethnic minorities kosovo high agendas albanians americans internationals want get rid serbs said marija escorted job unmik headquarters serbs going remain cage james phillips freelance reporter covered wars iraq croatia bosnia kosovo macedonia reached jamesunetcommk 160 | 960 |
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<p>Fourteen years later and do you even believe it? Did we actually live it? Are we still living it? And how improbable is that?</p>
<p>Fourteen years of wars, interventions, assassinations, torture, kidnappings, black sites, the growth of the American national security state to monumental proportions, and the spread of Islamic extremism across much of the Greater Middle East and Africa. Fourteen years of astronomical expense, bombing campaigns galore, and a military-first foreign policy of <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175854/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_a_record_of_unparalleled_failure/" type="external">repeated defeats</a>, disappointments, and disasters. Fourteen years of a <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175904/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_inside_the_american_terrordome" type="external">culture of fear</a> in America, of endless alarms and warnings, as well as dire predictions of terrorist attacks. Fourteen years of the burial of American democracy (or rather its recreation as a billionaire’s playground and a source of spectacle and entertainment but not governance). Fourteen years of the spread of secrecy, the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175570/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_the_national_security_complex_and_you/" type="external">classification</a> of every document in sight, the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175526/tomgram%3A_peter_van_buren,_joining_the_whistleblowers%27_club/" type="external">fierce prosecution</a> of whistleblowers, and a <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175789/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_a_ripley%27s_believe_it_or_not_national_security_state" type="external">faith-based</a> urge to keep Americans “secure” by leaving them in the dark about what their government is doing. Fourteen years of the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175970/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_is_a_new_political_system_emerging_in_this_country/" type="external">demobilization</a> of the citizenry. Fourteen years of the rise of the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175507/tom_engelhardt_remotely_piloted_war" type="external">warrior corporation</a>, the transformation of war and intelligence gathering into profit-making activities, and the flocking of countless private contractors to the Pentagon, the <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/10/nsa-leak-contractors_n_3418876.html?1370919691" type="external">NSA</a>, the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175780/tomgram%3A_pratap_chatterjee,_the_jason_bourne_strategy/" type="external">CIA</a>, and too many <a href="//www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/30/revealed-private-firms-at-heart-of-us-drone-warfare" type="external">other parts</a> of the national security state to keep track of. Fourteen years of our wars coming home in the form of <a href="//www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2014/04/03/why-the-iraq-war-has-produced-more-ptsd-than-the-conflict-in-afghanistan/" type="external">PTSD</a>, the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175881/tomgram%3A_matthew_harwood,_one_nation_under_swat/" type="external">militarization</a> of the police, and the spread of war-zone technology like <a href="//www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/13/half-us-mexico-border-patrolled-drone" type="external">drones</a> and <a href="//www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-stingray-cases-20150828-story.html" type="external">stingrays</a> to the “homeland.” Fourteen years of that un-American word “homeland.” Fourteen years of the expansion of surveillance of every kind and of the development of a <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175713/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_you_are_our_secret/" type="external">global surveillance system</a> whose reach -- from <a href="//www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-calls" type="external">foreign leaders</a> to tribal groups in the <a href="//www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-boundless-informant-global-datamining" type="external">backlands</a> of the planet -- would have stunned those running the totalitarian states of the twentieth century. Fourteen years of the financial starvation of America’s <a href="//www.infrastructurereportcard.org/" type="external">infrastructure</a> and still <a href="//www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/popular-elsewhere-high-speed-rail-remains-elusive-in-the-u-s/" type="external">not a single mile</a> of high-speed rail built anywhere in the country. Fourteen years in which to launch Afghan War 2.0, Iraq Wars 2.0 and 3.0, and Syria War 1.0. Fourteen years, that is, of the improbable made probable.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, thanks a heap, Osama bin Laden. With a <a href="//www.amazon.com/dp/1620971356/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">small number</a> of supporters, <a href="//www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm" type="external">$400,000-$500,000</a>, and 19 suicidal hijackers, most of them Saudis, you pulled off a geopolitical magic trick of the first order. Think of it as <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175388/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_osama_dead_and_alive/" type="external">wizardry</a> from the theater of darkness. In the process, you did “change everything” or at least enough of everything to matter. Or rather, you goaded us into doing what you had neither the resources nor the ability to do. So let’s give credit where it’s due. Psychologically speaking, the 9/11 attacks represented precision targeting of a kind American leaders would only dream of in the years to follow. I have no idea how, but you clearly understood us so much better than we understood you or, for that matter, ourselves. You knew just which buttons of ours to push so that we would essentially carry out the rest of your plan for you. While you sat back and waited in Abbottabad, we followed the blueprints for your dreams and desires as if you had planned it and, in the process, made the world a significantly different (and significantly grimmer) place.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, we don’t even grasp what we did.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, the improbability of it all still staggers the imagination, starting with those <a href="//911anniversary.nydailynews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape/rubble25.jpg" type="external">vast shards</a> of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, the real-world equivalent of the <a href="//www.originalprop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/planet-of-the-apes-statue-of-liberty-blu-ray-disc-screencap-hd-1080p-05.jpg" type="external">Statue of Liberty</a> sticking out of the sand in the original Planet of the Apes.&#160; With lower Manhattan still burning and the air acrid with destruction, they seemed like evidence of a culture that had undergone its own apocalyptic moment and come out the other side unrecognizably transformed.&#160; To believe the <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/118775/tom_engelhardt_9/11_in_a_movie-made_world" type="external">coverage</a> of the time, Americans had experienced Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima combined.&#160; We were planet Earth's ultimate victims and downtown New York was “Ground Zero,” a phrase previously reserved for places where nuclear explosions had occurred.&#160; We were instantly the world’s greatest victim and greatest survivor, and it was taken for granted that the world’s most fulfilling sense of revenge would be ours.&#160; 9/11 came to be seen as an assault on everything innocent and good and triumphant about us, the ultimate they-hate-our-freedoms moment and, Osama, it worked. You spooked this country into 14 years of giving any dumb or horrifying act or idea or law or intrusion into our lives or curtailment of our rights a get-out-of-jail-free pass. You loosed not just your dogs of war, but ours, which was exactly what you needed to bring chaos to the Muslim world. &#160; &#160;</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, let me remind you of just how totally improbable 9/11 was and how ragingly clueless we all were on that day. George W. Bush (and cohorts) couldn’t even take it in when, on August 6, 2001, the president was given a daily intelligence briefing <a href="//www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/" type="external">titled</a> “Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.” The <a href="//www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/13/the-al-qaeda-switchboard" type="external">NSA</a>, the <a href="//www.newsweek.com/2015/01/23/information-could-have-stopped-911-299148.html" type="external">CIA</a>, and the FBI, which had many of the pieces of the bin Laden puzzle in their hands, still couldn’t imagine it. And believe me, even when it was happening, I could hardly grasp it.&#160; I was doing exercises in my bedroom with the TV going when I first heard the news of a plane hitting the World Trade Center and saw the initial shots of a smoking tower. And I remember my immediate thought: just like the B-25 that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-25_Empire_State_Building_crash" type="external">almost took out</a> the Empire State Building back in 1945. Terrorists bringing down the World Trade Center? Please. Al-Qaeda? You must be kidding. Later, when two planes had struck in New York and another had taken out part of the Pentagon, and it was obvious that it wasn’t an accident, I had an even more ludicrous thought.&#160; It occurred to me that the unexpected vulnerability of Americans living in a land largely protected from the chaos so much of the world experiences might open us up to the pain of others in a new way. Dream on. All it opened us up to was bringing pain to others.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, don’t you still find it improbable that George W. Bush and company used those murderous acts and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks" type="external">nearly 3,000</a> resulting deaths as an excuse to try to make the world theirs?&#160; It took them no time at all to decide to launch a “Global War on Terror” in <a href="//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1547561.stm" type="external">up to 60 countries</a>.&#160; It took them next to no time to begin dreaming of the establishment of a future Pax Americana in the Middle East, followed by the sort of global imperium that had previously been conjured up only by cackling bad guys in James Bond films.&#160; Don’t you find it strange, looking back, just how quickly 9/11 set their brains aflame?&#160; Don’t you find it curious that the Bush administration’s top officials were quite so <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/101850/" type="external">infatuated</a> by the U.S. military?&#160; Doesn’t it still strike you as odd that they had such blind faith in that military's supposedly limitless powers to do essentially anything and be “the greatest force <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/washington/w23policytext.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">for human liberation</a> the world has ever known”? Don’t you still find it eerie that, amid the wreckage of the Pentagon, the <a href="//www.cbsnews.com/news/plans-for-iraq-attack-began-on-9-11/" type="external">initial orders</a> our secretary of defense gave his aides were to come up with plans for striking Iraq, even though he was already convinced that al-Qaeda had launched the attack? ("'Go massive,' an aide’s notes quote him as saying. 'Sweep it all up. Things related and not.'")&#160; Don’t you think “and not” sums up the era to come?&#160; Don’t you find it curious that, in the rubble of those towers, plans not just to pay Osama bin Laden back, but to turn Afghanistan, Iraq, and possibly <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/opinion/18KRUG.html" type="external">Iran</a> -- “Everyone wants to go to Baghdad.&#160; Real men want to go to Tehran” -- into American protectorates were already being imagined?</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, how probable was it that the country then universally considered the planet’s “sole superpower,” openly challenged only by tiny numbers of jihadist extremists, with a military better funded than the next <a href="//mic.com/articles/79673/america-spends-more-on-military-than-the-other-top-10-countries-combined" type="external">10</a> to <a href="//www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/everything-chuck-hagel-needs-to-know-about-the-defense-budget-in-charts/" type="external">13</a> forces combined (most of whom were allies anyway), and whose technological skills were, as they say, to die for would win <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175854/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_a_record_of_unparalleled_failure/" type="external">no wars</a>, defeat no enemies, and successfully complete no occupations?&#160; What were the odds?&#160; If, on September 12, 2001, someone had given you half-reasonable odds on a U.S. military winning streak in the Greater Middle East, don’t tell me you wouldn’t have slapped some money on the table.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, don’t you find it improbable that the U.S. military has been unable to extricate itself from Iraq and Afghanistan, its two major wars of this century, despite having officially <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/middleeast/last-convoy-of-american-troops-leaves-iraq.html" type="external">left</a> one of those countries in 2011 (only to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/07/statement-president" type="external">head back again</a> in the late summer of 2014) and having endlessly announced the conclusion of its operations in the other (only to ratchet them <a href="//www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/27/us-afghanistan-helmand-idUSKCN0QW1CO20150827" type="external">up again</a>)?</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, don’t you find it improbable that Washington’s post-9/11 policies in the Middle East <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175962/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_the_ten_commandments_for_a_better_american_world/" type="external">helped</a> lead to the establishment of the Islamic State’s “caliphate” in parts of fractured Iraq and Syria and to a movement of almost unparalleled extremism that has successfully “ <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/world/middleeast/islamic-state-sprouting-limbs-beyond-mideast.html" type="external">franchised</a>” itself out from <a href="//www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/isis-rises-in-libya" type="external">Libya</a> to <a href="//www.cnn.com/2015/03/12/middleeast/isis-boko-haram/" type="external">Nigeria</a> to <a href="//www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33322208" type="external">Afghanistan</a>" If, on September 12, 2001, you had predicted such a possibility, who wouldn’t have thought you mad"</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, don’t you find it improbable that the U.S. has gone into the business of robotic assassination big time; that (despite Watergate-era <a href="//edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/04/us.assassination.policy/" type="external">legal prohibitions</a> on such acts), we are now the Terminators of Planet Earth, not its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Connor" type="external">John Connors</a>; that the president is openly and proudly an <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175551/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_assassin-in-chief/" type="external">assassin-in-chief</a> with his own global “ <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html" type="external">kill list</a>”; that we have endlessly targeted the backlands of the planet with our (Grim) Reaper and Predator (thank you <a href="//www.imdb.com/title/tt0100403/?ref_=nv_sr_3" type="external">Hollywood</a>!) drones armed with Hellfire missiles; and that Washington has regularly knocked off <a href="//www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147" type="external">women</a> and <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/11/more-than-160-children-killed-in-us-strikes/" type="external">children</a> while searching for militant leaders and their <a href="//www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/the-case-against-drone-strikes-on-people-who-only-act-like-terrorists/278744/" type="external">generic followers</a>" &#160;And don’t you find it odd that all of this has been done in the name of wiping out the terrorists and their movements, despite the fact that wherever our drones strike, those movements seem to <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175936/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_the_national_security_state_%22works,%22_even_if_nothing_it_does_works/" type="external">gain</a> in strength and power"</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, don’t you find it improbable that our “war on terror” has so regularly devolved into a war of and for terror; that our methods, including the targeted killings of numerous <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/176022/tomgram%3A_pratap_chatterjee,_no_lone_rangers_in_drone_warfare/" type="external">leaders</a> and “lieutenants” of militant groups have <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175988/tomgram%3A_andrew_cockburn,_how_assassination_sold_drugs_and_promoted_terrorism/" type="external">visibly promoted</a>, not blunted, the spread of Islamic extremism; and that, despite this, Washington has generally not recalibrated its actions in any meaningful way?</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, isn’t it possible to think of 9/11 as a mass grave into which significant aspects of American life as we knew it have been shoveled?&#160; Of course, the changes that came, especially those reinforcing the most oppressive aspects of state power, didn’t arrive out of the blue like those hijacked planes.&#160; Who, after all, could dismiss the size and power of the national security state and the military-industrial complex before those 19 men with box cutters arrived on the scene?&#160; Who could deny that, packed into the Patriot Act (passed largely <a href="https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2009/03/02/congress-had-no-time-to-read-the-usa-patriot-act/" type="external">unread</a> by Congress in October 2001) was a <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/ten-years-later-look-three-scariest-provisions-usa-patriot-act" type="external">wish list</a> of pre-9/11 <a href="https://www.aclu.org/surveillance-under-usa-patriot-act" type="external">law enforcement</a> and right-wing hobbyhorses?&#160; Who could deny that the top officials of the Bush administration and their neocon supporters had <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175336/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_war_is_a_drug/" type="external">long been thinking</a> about how to leverage “U.S. military supremacy” into a Pax Americana-style new world order or that they had been dreaming of “a new Pearl Harbor” which might speed up the process?&#160; It was, however, only thanks to Osama bin Laden, that they -- and we -- were shuttled into the most improbable of all centuries, the twenty-first.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, the 9/11 attacks and the thousands of innocents killed represent international criminality and immorality of the first order.&#160; On that, Americans are clear, but -- most improbable of all -- no one in Washington has yet taken the slightest responsibility for blowing a hole through the Middle East, loosing mayhem across significant swathes of the planet, or helping release the forces that would create the first true terrorist state of modern history; nor has anyone in any official capacity taken responsibility for creating the conditions that led to the deaths of <a href="//watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians" type="external">hundreds of thousands</a>, possibly a <a href="//www.truth-out.org/news/item/30164-report-shows-us-invasion-occupation-of-iraq-left-1-million-dead" type="external">million or more</a> people, turned <a href="//warincontext.org/2015/09/02/the-worlds-failure-in-syria/" type="external">many</a> in the Greater Middle East into internal or external <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/174892/michael_schwartz_the_iraqi_brain_drain" type="external">refugees</a>, destroyed nations, and brought unbelievable pain to countless human beings.&#160; In these years, no act -- not of torture, nor murder, nor the illegal offshore imprisonment of <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/post/175630/tomgram:_peter_van_buren,_torture_superpower/" type="external">innocent people</a>, nor death delivered from the air or the ground, nor the slaughter of <a href="//www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175787/tomgram%3A_engelhardt,_washington%27s_wedding_album_from_hell/" type="external">wedding parties</a>, nor the killing of children -- has blunted the sense among Americans that we live in an “ <a href="//eaglerising.com/15660/marco-rubio-liberals-may-not-believe-know-america-exceptional/" type="external">exceptional</a>” and “ <a href="//www.voanews.com/content/obama_tells_air_force_academy_us_is_one_indispensable_country_world_affairs/940158.html" type="external">indispensable</a>” country of staggering goodness and innocence.</p>
<p>Fourteen years later, how improbable is that?</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the <a href="http://www.americanempireproject.com/" type="external">American Empire Project</a> and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/155849586X/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The End of Victory Culture</a>. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch.com</a>. His latest book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p> | true | 4 | stay top important articles like sign receive latest updates tomdispatchcom160160 fourteen years later even believe actually live still living improbable fourteen years wars interventions assassinations torture kidnappings black sites growth american national security state monumental proportions spread islamic extremism across much greater middle east africa fourteen years astronomical expense bombing campaigns galore militaryfirst foreign policy repeated defeats disappointments disasters fourteen years culture fear america endless alarms warnings well dire predictions terrorist attacks fourteen years burial american democracy rather recreation billionaires playground source spectacle entertainment governance fourteen years spread secrecy classification every document sight fierce prosecution whistleblowers faithbased urge keep americans secure leaving dark government fourteen years demobilization citizenry fourteen years rise warrior corporation transformation war intelligence gathering profitmaking activities flocking countless private contractors pentagon nsa cia many parts national security state keep track fourteen years wars coming home form ptsd militarization police spread warzone technology like drones stingrays homeland fourteen years unamerican word homeland fourteen years expansion surveillance every kind development global surveillance system whose reach foreign leaders tribal groups backlands planet would stunned running totalitarian states twentieth century fourteen years financial starvation americas infrastructure still single mile highspeed rail built anywhere country fourteen years launch afghan war 20 iraq wars 20 30 syria war 10 fourteen years improbable made probable fourteen years later thanks heap osama bin laden small number supporters 400000500000 19 suicidal hijackers saudis pulled geopolitical magic trick first order think wizardry theater darkness process change everything least enough everything matter rather goaded us neither resources ability lets give credit due psychologically speaking 911 attacks represented precision targeting kind american leaders would dream years follow idea clearly understood us much better understood matter knew buttons push would essentially carry rest plan sat back waited abbottabad followed blueprints dreams desires planned process made world significantly different significantly grimmer place fourteen years later dont even grasp fourteen years later improbability still staggers imagination starting vast shards world trade center downtown manhattan realworld equivalent statue liberty sticking sand original planet apes160 lower manhattan still burning air acrid destruction seemed like evidence culture undergone apocalyptic moment come side unrecognizably transformed160 believe coverage time americans experienced pearl harbor hiroshima combined160 planet earths ultimate victims downtown new york ground zero phrase previously reserved places nuclear explosions occurred160 instantly worlds greatest victim greatest survivor taken granted worlds fulfilling sense revenge would ours160 911 came seen assault everything innocent good triumphant us ultimate theyhateourfreedoms moment osama worked spooked country 14 years giving dumb horrifying act idea law intrusion lives curtailment rights getoutofjailfree pass loosed dogs war exactly needed bring chaos muslim world 160 160 fourteen years later let remind totally improbable 911 ragingly clueless day george w bush cohorts couldnt even take august 6 2001 president given daily intelligence briefing titled bin laden determined strike us nsa cia fbi many pieces bin laden puzzle hands still couldnt imagine believe even happening could hardly grasp it160 exercises bedroom tv going first heard news plane hitting world trade center saw initial shots smoking tower remember immediate thought like b25 almost took empire state building back 1945 terrorists bringing world trade center please alqaeda must kidding later two planes struck new york another taken part pentagon obvious wasnt accident even ludicrous thought160 occurred unexpected vulnerability americans living land largely protected chaos much world experiences might open us pain others new way dream opened us bringing pain others fourteen years later dont still find improbable george w bush company used murderous acts nearly 3000 resulting deaths excuse try make world theirs160 took time decide launch global war terror 60 countries160 took next time begin dreaming establishment future pax americana middle east followed sort global imperium previously conjured cackling bad guys james bond films160 dont find strange looking back quickly 911 set brains aflame160 dont find curious bush administrations top officials quite infatuated us military160 doesnt still strike odd blind faith militarys supposedly limitless powers essentially anything greatest force human liberation world ever known dont still find eerie amid wreckage pentagon initial orders secretary defense gave aides come plans striking iraq even though already convinced alqaeda launched attack go massive aides notes quote saying sweep things related not160 dont think sums era come160 dont find curious rubble towers plans pay osama bin laden back turn afghanistan iraq possibly iran everyone wants go baghdad160 real men want go tehran american protectorates already imagined fourteen years later probable country universally considered planets sole superpower openly challenged tiny numbers jihadist extremists military better funded next 10 13 forces combined allies anyway whose technological skills say die would win wars defeat enemies successfully complete occupations160 odds160 september 12 2001 someone given halfreasonable odds us military winning streak greater middle east dont tell wouldnt slapped money table fourteen years later dont find improbable us military unable extricate iraq afghanistan two major wars century despite officially left one countries 2011 head back late summer 2014 endlessly announced conclusion operations ratchet fourteen years later dont find improbable washingtons post911 policies middle east helped lead establishment islamic states caliphate parts fractured iraq syria movement almost unparalleled extremism successfully franchised libya nigeria afghanistan september 12 2001 predicted possibility wouldnt thought mad fourteen years later dont find improbable us gone business robotic assassination big time despite watergateera legal prohibitions acts terminators planet earth john connors president openly proudly assassininchief global kill list endlessly targeted backlands planet grim reaper predator thank hollywood drones armed hellfire missiles washington regularly knocked women children searching militant leaders generic followers 160and dont find odd done name wiping terrorists movements despite fact wherever drones strike movements seem gain strength power fourteen years later dont find improbable war terror regularly devolved war terror methods including targeted killings numerous leaders lieutenants militant groups visibly promoted blunted spread islamic extremism despite washington generally recalibrated actions meaningful way fourteen years later isnt possible think 911 mass grave significant aspects american life knew shoveled160 course changes came especially reinforcing oppressive aspects state power didnt arrive blue like hijacked planes160 could dismiss size power national security state militaryindustrial complex 19 men box cutters arrived scene160 could deny packed patriot act passed largely unread congress october 2001 wish list pre911 law enforcement rightwing hobbyhorses160 could deny top officials bush administration neocon supporters long thinking leverage us military supremacy pax americanastyle new world order dreaming new pearl harbor might speed process160 however thanks osama bin laden shuttled improbable centuries twentyfirst fourteen years later 911 attacks thousands innocents killed represent international criminality immorality first order160 americans clear improbable one washington yet taken slightest responsibility blowing hole middle east loosing mayhem across significant swathes planet helping release forces would create first true terrorist state modern history anyone official capacity taken responsibility creating conditions led deaths hundreds thousands possibly million people turned many greater middle east internal external refugees destroyed nations brought unbelievable pain countless human beings160 years act torture murder illegal offshore imprisonment innocent people death delivered air ground slaughter wedding parties killing children blunted sense among americans live exceptional indispensable country staggering goodness innocence fourteen years later improbable tom engelhardt cofounder american empire project author united states fear well history cold war end victory culture fellow nation institute runs tomdispatchcom latest book shadow government surveillance secret wars global security state singlesuperpower world | 1,197 |
<p>On Wednesday the 2nd of July, a “Palestinian from East Jerusalem deliberately plowed a bulldozer he was driving into a passenger bus on Jaffa Street in the capital shortly after noon, killing three people and wounding dozens more […] the bulldozer left a nearby construction site, drove against the direction of traffic on Jaffa Street, hitting the Egged bus, which turned over, along with other vehicles and pedestrians along the way.” (1)</p>
<p>The driver of the bulldozer was then shot by the police and died at the scene.</p>
<p>Israel immediate reaction was to say that this was a terrorist attack and started looking for which terrorist organization the driver was “working”. The Israeli media duly followed and the word terrorist was used in every single report issued by the Israeli press during the following hours.</p>
<p>The battle was won.</p>
<p>Reactions started to pour down on TV, newspapers and websites from “experts”, politicians, commentators and the public. Once more this terrorist attack proved that the Palestinians were monsters, blood thirsty animals and only wanted Israel ’s destruction. This also showed to the world that Israeli Jews had to fear attacks from the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank but also from ungrateful Palestinians living in Israel itself (usually called Israeli Arabs by the Israeli Jews).</p>
<p>Olmert and “his” government promised to respond “swiftly and harshly to break this pattern”. The family home of the terrorist would have to be demolished (by the same type of Bulldozer that ran over buses, people and cars on Jaffa St) the mourners tent taken down and the National Insurance Institute stipends of the family revoked. (2)(3)</p>
<p>Before going ahead with all this, the attorney general will first have to prove that the driver was a terrorist but this should not pose any major problem (it would be harder to prove this under international law, but this seems not to apply to Israel). The government said he was a terrorist, the media said he was a terrorist, George W Bush said he was a terrorist and the public said he was a terrorist. Who can argue with this?</p>
<p>A few hours later the police issued a statement saying that it feared violence towards Arabs as a result of this attack (4). The words were carefully chosen and the statement insisted on “as a result of this attack”. Once more Israeli attacks were only a response to Palestinian violence, a defensive move. Could people have lost their memory in the heat of the moment? Attacks by Israeli civilians against Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza or living in Israel have happened many times before and most of them were unprovoked.</p>
<p>To mention only 2 of the most recent events:</p>
<p>-In May dozens of Jewish teens were caught on CCTV camera outside a Jerusalem mall carrying out a brutal attack against 2 Israeli Arabs. (5)</p>
<p>-On the 8th of June, 4 masked settlers seriously beat a Palestinian farmer and its family with clubs. (6)</p>
<p>Even so, it is that simple for Israel . The country found its solution to the Palestinian problem a long time ago. They are all terrorists. Yell this word loud enough and everything you do will be considered retaliation. You are not responsible. You are only reacting, defending yourself. You are the victim. This P.R battle, this war of words cannot be lost by Israel. Without this, Israel’s finished. It is as important as having the 4th army in the world and more than 200 nuclear warheads. This media battle, constantly won by Israel, shows time after time to the world that Israel is trying to do good but that it faces relentless attacks by anti Semitic terrorists and faces extinction if the world&#160; does not help her.</p>
<p>What is interesting is that the word “terrorist” is only used when describing Palestinians or Israeli Arabs attacks. For example:</p>
<p>-Baruch Goldstein an Israeli physician who killed 29 Palestinians and injured 150 others in the “Cave of the patriarch massacre” in Hebron the 25/02/94 was never called a terrorist, his house never razed and his family never had any of its benefits revoked. On the contrary, militant Jews now organize parties at his grave site celebrating the anniversary of the massacre.(7)</p>
<p>-Yigal Amir, a right wing radical, who killed Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, was called an assassin but never a terrorist. In prison he is now allowed to receive conjugal visits and his wife got pregnant and gave birth when he was in jail.(8)</p>
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense" type="external">United States Department of Defense</a> defines terrorism as: “the calculated use of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”</p>
<p>This definition clearly applies for those two cases. Why not using the word then?</p>
<p>What happened this Wednesday also reminded me of Shawn Nelson, who in May 1995 “stole a 63-ton Military tank from a National Guard armoury in California and used it to rampage through neighbourhoods, flattening utility poles, fire hydrants and cars before being shot by police” (9)</p>
<p>Mr Nelson, an unemployed man in his thirties who had served in the army was never called a terrorist. He was described by his neighbours as someone whose life had been crumbling, his home being in foreclosure and his utilities shut off. He also had a history of medical problems. This was the desperate act of a desperate man.</p>
<p>It turns out that the life of the driver of the bulldozer was also crumbling. His name was Husam Tayseer Dwayat. He was also in his thirties. His neighbours said that he was a drug addict, a petty criminal and that he had recently spent a year and a half in prison because “he got into trouble” with a Jewish girl.(10) This girl, who had spent 6 years with Mr Dwayat said that he had no problem with Jews and that he even used to call her to make sure that her family and herself were ok when a suicide bombing or a terrorist attack occurred.</p>
<p>Husam Tayseer Dwayat was not unemployed. He worked for a construction company (which, some people said, owned him a large amount of money in back pay (11)) involved in the construction of the Jerusalem light railway system which will soon connect West Jerusalem to settlements in the occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>Many Palestinians and people around the globe consider this project as a mean to expand Israeli control, illegal under international law. Was Husam Tayseer Dwayat one of them? He was not part of Fatah, Hamas, the Al Aqsa brigades or any known Palestinian or Arab“terrorist” organization.</p>
<p>Husam Tayseer Dwayat was a sick man with nothing to loose and nothing to look forward to who committed an atrocious and inexcusable act.</p>
<p>There are many Palestinians like him all over the West Bank, Gaza and Israel itself. Starving Palestinians living in the open air prison of Gaza, encaged Palestinians who have to go through&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; multiples checkpoints to go to work, school or see their family and face daily humiliations in the hands of the IDF in the West Bank or Palestinians living as second class citizens in Israel itself. Those Palestinians, mostly in their twenties and thirties have been denied everything. They’ve heard the story of their grandparents who were kicked off their villages during the Nakba in 1948. They’ve heard the story of their parents who have never been able to return to their villages (when they were not completely erased from the map) and go back to a normal life.</p>
<p>And there is their story. They’ve lost friends during the first and second intifada. They’ve seen their houses destroyed by Israel, sometimes more than once (around 18000 houses destroyed by Israel). They’ve been to prison. They’ve studied to try to better themselves and get a good job but this has not been possible for most of them .All the good jobs are in Israel or abroad and they cannot get a permit or a visa. They went to work on construction sites or as cleaners in Israeli campuses, institutions and hospitals, but even this, since the second intifada has been barred to them. Israel now uses cheap labour from Africa or from the East to do those jobs.</p>
<p>The Palestinians have been denied everything. They even have been denied the right to complain, to be heard and understood.</p>
<p>They are not considered as equals. They are not “people” anymore. Their voices do not count.</p>
<p>What the Israelis have to understand is that this can not go on forever. They have to understand that they live side by side with another people and that those people are like them. They’ve got feelings, aspirations and want to be able, like them, to look forward to a brighter future for their kids. It is also their country and they will not disappear. The Israelis need to go against their government and start meeting Palestinians again. This is pretty much impossible nowadays. Even if they live a few miles or blocks away from one another, they do not meet. It is forbidden. There is us and them. They are “the others”.</p>
<p>The day the Israelis understand that the Palestinians are people like themselves and that what is good for one people is good for both. The day the Israelis look beyond their government propaganda and start to learn about the history of “the others”.</p>
<p>The day they realise that it is down to them, the people, to make things change.</p>
<p>This day, not only a major battle would have been won, but the peace process will finally be able to start.</p>
<p>FRANK BARAT works with the <a href="http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index2b.asp" type="external">Palestine Solidarity Campaign</a> and the <a href="http://www.icahd.org/icahdukdev/eng/" type="external">Israeli Committee against house demolition UK</a> in London. He can be reached at: <a href="" type="internal">duffer2205@googlemail.com</a></p>
<p>PS: While I was finalising this article, Ehud Barak ordered the demolition of Husam Tayseer Dwayat house(12) and Vice Premier Ramon asked for parts of East Jerusalem to be completely cut off from Israel itself to become Palestinian villages (13). Has Ramon realised that this is what the Palestinians want? Give East Jerusalem to the future Palestinian state and a lot of problem will be solved.</p>
<p>(1) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998294.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998294.html</a> (2) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998418.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998418.html</a> (3) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998725.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998725.html</a> (4) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998824.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998824.html</a> (5) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/987638.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/987638.html</a> (6) <a href="" type="internal">http://www.btselem.org/</a> (7) <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/685792.stm" type="external">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/685792.stm</a> (8) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/778758.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/778758.html</a> (9) <a href="" type="internal">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/</a> (10) <a href="" type="internal">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998807.html</a> (11) <a href="" type="internal">http://english.aljazeera.net/</a> (12) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html</a> (13) <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html" type="external">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | wednesday 2nd july palestinian east jerusalem deliberately plowed bulldozer driving passenger bus jaffa street capital shortly noon killing three people wounding dozens bulldozer left nearby construction site drove direction traffic jaffa street hitting egged bus turned along vehicles pedestrians along way 1 driver bulldozer shot police died scene israel immediate reaction say terrorist attack started looking terrorist organization driver working israeli media duly followed word terrorist used every single report issued israeli press following hours battle reactions started pour tv newspapers websites experts politicians commentators public terrorist attack proved palestinians monsters blood thirsty animals wanted israel destruction also showed world israeli jews fear attacks palestinians living gaza west bank also ungrateful palestinians living israel usually called israeli arabs israeli jews olmert government promised respond swiftly harshly break pattern family home terrorist would demolished type bulldozer ran buses people cars jaffa st mourners tent taken national insurance institute stipends family revoked 23 going ahead attorney general first prove driver terrorist pose major problem would harder prove international law seems apply israel government said terrorist media said terrorist george w bush said terrorist public said terrorist argue hours later police issued statement saying feared violence towards arabs result attack 4 words carefully chosen statement insisted result attack israeli attacks response palestinian violence defensive move could people lost memory heat moment attacks israeli civilians palestinians living west bank gaza living israel happened many times unprovoked mention 2 recent events may dozens jewish teens caught cctv camera outside jerusalem mall carrying brutal attack 2 israeli arabs 5 8th june 4 masked settlers seriously beat palestinian farmer family clubs 6 even simple israel country found solution palestinian problem long time ago terrorists yell word loud enough everything considered retaliation responsible reacting defending victim pr battle war words lost israel without israels finished important 4th army world 200 nuclear warheads media battle constantly israel shows time time world israel trying good faces relentless attacks anti semitic terrorists faces extinction world160 help interesting word terrorist used describing palestinians israeli arabs attacks example baruch goldstein israeli physician killed 29 palestinians injured 150 others cave patriarch massacre hebron 250294 never called terrorist house never razed family never benefits revoked contrary militant jews organize parties grave site celebrating anniversary massacre7 yigal amir right wing radical killed yitzhak rabin november 1995 called assassin never terrorist prison allowed receive conjugal visits wife got pregnant gave birth jail8 united states department defense defines terrorism calculated use unlawful violence inculcate fear intended coerce intimidate governments societies pursuit goals generally political religious ideological definition clearly applies two cases using word happened wednesday also reminded shawn nelson may 1995 stole 63ton military tank national guard armoury california used rampage neighbourhoods flattening utility poles fire hydrants cars shot police 9 mr nelson unemployed man thirties served army never called terrorist described neighbours someone whose life crumbling home foreclosure utilities shut also history medical problems desperate act desperate man turns life driver bulldozer also crumbling name husam tayseer dwayat also thirties neighbours said drug addict petty criminal recently spent year half prison got trouble jewish girl10 girl spent 6 years mr dwayat said problem jews even used call make sure family ok suicide bombing terrorist attack occurred husam tayseer dwayat unemployed worked construction company people said owned large amount money back pay 11 involved construction jerusalem light railway system soon connect west jerusalem settlements occupied west bank many palestinians people around globe consider project mean expand israeli control illegal international law husam tayseer dwayat one part fatah hamas al aqsa brigades known palestinian arabterrorist organization husam tayseer dwayat sick man nothing loose nothing look forward committed atrocious inexcusable act many palestinians like west bank gaza israel starving palestinians living open air prison gaza encaged palestinians go through160160160160 multiples checkpoints go work school see family face daily humiliations hands idf west bank palestinians living second class citizens israel palestinians mostly twenties thirties denied everything theyve heard story grandparents kicked villages nakba 1948 theyve heard story parents never able return villages completely erased map go back normal life story theyve lost friends first second intifada theyve seen houses destroyed israel sometimes around 18000 houses destroyed israel theyve prison theyve studied try better get good job possible good jobs israel abroad get permit visa went work construction sites cleaners israeli campuses institutions hospitals even since second intifada barred israel uses cheap labour africa east jobs palestinians denied everything even denied right complain heard understood considered equals people anymore voices count israelis understand go forever understand live side side another people people like theyve got feelings aspirations want able like look forward brighter future kids also country disappear israelis need go government start meeting palestinians pretty much impossible nowadays even live miles blocks away one another meet forbidden us others day israelis understand palestinians people like good one people good day israelis look beyond government propaganda start learn history others day realise people make things change day major battle would peace process finally able start frank barat works palestine solidarity campaign israeli committee house demolition uk london reached duffer2205googlemailcom ps finalising article ehud barak ordered demolition husam tayseer dwayat house12 vice premier ramon asked parts east jerusalem completely cut israel become palestinian villages 13 ramon realised palestinians want give east jerusalem future palestinian state lot problem solved 1 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998294html 2 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998418html 3 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998725html 4 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998824html 5 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages987638html 6 httpwwwbtselemorg 7 httpnewsbbccouk1hiworldmiddle_east685792stm 8 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages778758html 9 httpquerynytimescomgst 10 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998807html 11 httpenglishaljazeeranet 12 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998668html 13 httpwwwhaaretzcomhasenspages998668html 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 907 |
<p>ZumaPress/&lt;a href="http://zumapress.com/zpdtl.html?IMG=20090112_mkh_l52_971.jpg&amp;CNT=29"&gt;Mariela Lombard&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>Glenn Beck’s favorite gold company is getting hauled up to Capitol Hill Thursday for a grilling over its allegedly deceptive business practices. And top on the list of questions for company officials is likely to be: Do you really think President Obama plans to confiscate people’s gold?</p>
<p>That members of Congress would be seriously considering such a question during a hearing is a sign of how strange the political times are. But concern over gold confiscation, once relegated to paranoid Beck fans, has gone mainstream, all thanks to the aggressive marketing and rapid growth of Goldline International. The California-based precious metals company is one of the largest sponsors of the right-wing talk radio and TV empire, especially Beck’s share of it. And scaring people about potential government gold confiscation is one of its most successful sales pitches.</p>
<p>As Mother Jones <a href="" type="internal">revealed earlier this year</a>, Goldline’s salespeople frequently tout gold coins as a good investment—but not just any gold coins. As part of its standard telemarketing and sales pitch, the company urges customers to eschew government-issued bullion in favor of “numismatic” coins, which tend to be old European currency like the Swiss 20-franc piece. Such coins contains a tenth of the gold of a standard bullion, and Goldline marks them up 30-plus percent higher than the value of the gold in the coin, compared with a 5 percent markup on regular bullion.</p>
<p>To make the upsale to the overpriced coins, the company preys on people’s fears about the economy. Goldline’s sales staff suggests numismatic coins were exempt from confiscation in 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order making private gold ownership illegal—ergo, when Obama comes for your gold, the government won’t be able to take your Swiss francs. It’s an utterly ridiculous idea on its face. Nonetheless, Goldline includes in its standard “investor kit” a copy of the 1933 executive order that ended the gold standard in the US. The order exempted certain types of gold from the anti-hoarding provisions, including “gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins.” Goldline claims its 20-franc coins and other semi-rare offerings meet this standard.</p>
<p>Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has questioned Goldline extensively about these claims. As part of his office’s investigation into Goldline’s practices, which began late last year after Beck’s relationship with the company received heavy media scrutiny, Weiner asked the Congressional Research Service to examine how accurate Goldline’s interpretation of the 1933 executive order really is. The CRS reports lay waste to Goldline’s spin on history, as well as the assertions of the company’s sales staff that its overpriced coins would have been exempt from Roosevelt’s executive order.</p>
<p>According to the reports, the government today would have no reason to confiscate anyone’s gold, rare coins or not. The reason? The US parted completely from the gold standard in the 1970s, so the dollar is no longer linked to gold in the way it was in 1933. Back then, Roosevelt had to stop gold hoarding to stabilize the US currency. But today, even if the dollar went into a free-fall, confiscating gold wouldn’t do a thing to stop it. And of course, CRS notes, the president would only have such authority under extreme circumstances—a national emergency that almost always requires a declaration of war.</p>
<p>CRS’ research also shows that the 20-franc coins Goldline most often talks people into buying likely wouldn’t have escaped confiscation under Roosevelt’s order. That’s because Goldline’s most popular offering wouldn’t make the cut as collectables. CRS highlights a 1940 federal appellate case in which a guy was caught selling $20 gold coins without a license. The defendant argued that the coins were intended for collectors (as Goldline often does) and that he was exempt under the law from needing a license.</p>
<p>The court ruled that while people legally selling gold coins under the law’s exemption for rare collectables don’t have to be collectors themselves, they must be selling coins “because of the qualities of the coins and not because of the bullion value therein.” Goldline markets its 20 franc coins as an “investment,” pitching gold as a hedge against the falling dollar. By that measure, and the fact that many of the “numismatic” coins it peddles to low-budget investors aren’t that rare (they’re easily found on eBay), Goldline’s claims that its coins are a good defense against government confiscation are largely fiction.</p>
<p>Weiner and other members of the House Energy and Commerce committee—which is chaired by the notoriously hard-changing investigator Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)—will be digging into Goldline’s use of such revisionist history on Thursday.</p>
<p>The congressional investigation, along with legislation Weiner has introduced to impose stiffer regulations on the sale of gold coins, has sent Goldline scrambling to beef up its Washington lobbying presence. In recent weeks, <a href="http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/119579-gold-company-sticking-with-glenn-beck-other-conservative-pundits?page=2#comments" type="external">Goldline has hired</a> a fleet of lobbyists from the Prime Policy Group to fend off further regulation and to help it navigate the congressional hearing. It has also tapped the public relations firm Powell Tate to devise its defensive message.</p>
<p>But so far, Goldline’s new defense doesn’t sound that much different from its old one. According to a <a href="http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/119579-gold-company-sticking-with-glenn-beck-other-conservative-pundits?page=2#comments%20" type="external">recent story in The Hill</a>, Goldline executives have been meeting with various lawmakers and journalists and touting its “A+” Better Business Bureau rating. That Goldline is still using this argument suggests it doesn’t have much else to work with. Apparently it missed <a href="" type="internal">the news a few months ago</a> that an intrepid blogger showed just how easy it is to buy an A rating from the BBB—when he got one for Hamas.</p>
<p>Still, Goldline may emerge from the hearing mostly unscathed. An alleged victim, Dr. Julius Bazan, will testify that Goldline convinced him to transfer $140,000 from his 401(k) into gold that turned out to be worth only $85,000. He will tell the committee that a Goldline rep promised him that the price of gold would eventually go up to $3,000 an ounce by the end of the year. (It is still hovering around $1,280.) But such stories tend to reflect as badly on the consumers as they do on the company. More importantly, though, as the company has already pointed out to the committee in written answers to questions, it has been disclosing what a rip-off its coins are in all its marketing materials for quite some time. The disclosure will be Goldline’s best defense. Weiner will have a hard time getting company executives off the message that consumers know what they’re getting.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the bad press Goldine has received of late doesn’t seem to be making much of a dent in its business. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the company was on track to rake in $1 billion in revenue next year. Revelations about Goldline’s controversial business practices don’t seem to have changed Beck’s opinion of the firm, either. After his big “Restoring Honor” rally last month in DC, Beck launched a new website called The Blaze. Goldline appears to be one of the site’s primary advertisers. It seems Beck doesn’t think a little congressional investigation is going interfere with his favorite sponsor’s ability to bilk the clueless people who watch his show.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | zumapresslta hrefhttpzumapresscomzpdtlhtmlimg20090112_mkh_l52_971jpgampcnt29gtmariela lombardltagt glenn becks favorite gold company getting hauled capitol hill thursday grilling allegedly deceptive business practices top list questions company officials likely really think president obama plans confiscate peoples gold members congress would seriously considering question hearing sign strange political times concern gold confiscation relegated paranoid beck fans gone mainstream thanks aggressive marketing rapid growth goldline international californiabased precious metals company one largest sponsors rightwing talk radio tv empire especially becks share scaring people potential government gold confiscation one successful sales pitches mother jones revealed earlier year goldlines salespeople frequently tout gold coins good investmentbut gold coins part standard telemarketing sales pitch company urges customers eschew governmentissued bullion favor numismatic coins tend old european currency like swiss 20franc piece coins contains tenth gold standard bullion goldline marks 30plus percent higher value gold coin compared 5 percent markup regular bullion make upsale overpriced coins company preys peoples fears economy goldlines sales staff suggests numismatic coins exempt confiscation 1933 franklin roosevelt issued executive order making private gold ownership illegalergo obama comes gold government wont able take swiss francs utterly ridiculous idea face nonetheless goldline includes standard investor kit copy 1933 executive order ended gold standard us order exempted certain types gold antihoarding provisions including gold coins recognized special value collectors rare unusual coins goldline claims 20franc coins semirare offerings meet standard rep anthony weiner dny questioned goldline extensively claims part offices investigation goldlines practices began late last year becks relationship company received heavy media scrutiny weiner asked congressional research service examine accurate goldlines interpretation 1933 executive order really crs reports lay waste goldlines spin history well assertions companys sales staff overpriced coins would exempt roosevelts executive order according reports government today would reason confiscate anyones gold rare coins reason us parted completely gold standard 1970s dollar longer linked gold way 1933 back roosevelt stop gold hoarding stabilize us currency today even dollar went freefall confiscating gold wouldnt thing stop course crs notes president would authority extreme circumstancesa national emergency almost always requires declaration war crs research also shows 20franc coins goldline often talks people buying likely wouldnt escaped confiscation roosevelts order thats goldlines popular offering wouldnt make cut collectables crs highlights 1940 federal appellate case guy caught selling 20 gold coins without license defendant argued coins intended collectors goldline often exempt law needing license court ruled people legally selling gold coins laws exemption rare collectables dont collectors must selling coins qualities coins bullion value therein goldline markets 20 franc coins investment pitching gold hedge falling dollar measure fact many numismatic coins peddles lowbudget investors arent rare theyre easily found ebay goldlines claims coins good defense government confiscation largely fiction weiner members house energy commerce committeewhich chaired notoriously hardchanging investigator henry waxman dcalifwill digging goldlines use revisionist history thursday congressional investigation along legislation weiner introduced impose stiffer regulations sale gold coins sent goldline scrambling beef washington lobbying presence recent weeks goldline hired fleet lobbyists prime policy group fend regulation help navigate congressional hearing also tapped public relations firm powell tate devise defensive message far goldlines new defense doesnt sound much different old one according recent story hill goldline executives meeting various lawmakers journalists touting better business bureau rating goldline still using argument suggests doesnt much else work apparently missed news months ago intrepid blogger showed easy buy rating bbbwhen got one hamas still goldline may emerge hearing mostly unscathed alleged victim dr julius bazan testify goldline convinced transfer 140000 401k gold turned worth 85000 tell committee goldline rep promised price gold would eventually go 3000 ounce end year still hovering around 1280 stories tend reflect badly consumers company importantly though company already pointed committee written answers questions disclosing ripoff coins marketing materials quite time disclosure goldlines best defense weiner hard time getting company executives message consumers know theyre getting meanwhile bad press goldine received late doesnt seem making much dent business los angeles times recently reported company track rake 1 billion revenue next year revelations goldlines controversial business practices dont seem changed becks opinion firm either big restoring honor rally last month dc beck launched new website called blaze goldline appears one sites primary advertisers seems beck doesnt think little congressional investigation going interfere favorite sponsors ability bilk clueless people watch show | 701 |
<p>Some weeks are slow on Move America Forward’s email list. Others are bustling. September 15 to 21, 2006, was an example of the latter. Six emails were sent, including two from “The Other Iraq,” at the address “KDC@RMRWest.Net.”</p>
<p>The emails are noteworthy because they illustrate synergy between two clients of the Republican-associated Sacramento public relations firm Russo Marsh &amp; Rogers (RM&amp;R): Move America Forward, a conservative cheerleader for the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” and the Kurdistan Development Corporation, an “investment holding and tradings company” formed in partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Government of northern Iraq (and presumably the KDC of the above email address).</p>
<p>The first of the “other Iraq” emails began, “We wanted to send you this short note to let you know that a delegation from Iraqi Kurdistan is back in the United States – continuing our campaign to tell the American public about ‘The Other Iraq.'”</p>
<p>The message, sent on September 15, continued, “Americans helped us to win our freedom from the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein. Thank you so very much for that. … So far we’ve been to Washington, D.C. and New York and now Nashville, Tennessee. We’re heading westward across America to tell our story and attract American support and investment in the new Iraqi Kurdistan.”</p>
<p>The second email, sent September 19, invited those who “can help play a role in the rebuilding of our region’s future, or [who] wish to learn more information on investment or business opportunities” to email “The Other Iraq” campaign. But most of the message focused on, as the subject line described them, “poll numbers on Iraq you haven’t seen.”</p>
<p>The poll was conducted in January 2006 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), a joint project of the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies and the Center on Policy Attitudes. Most of the poll figures cited in the “other Iraq” email are correct, if lacking context. One, however, is demonstrably false.</p>
<p>The email claimed that no Iraqi Kurds agreed with the statement, “It is offensive to me to have foreign forces in my country.” PIPA’s report on the poll states that, of the 35 percent of Iraqis who favored U.S. forces leaving within six months, seven percent of Iraqi Kurds took the position because of the offensive nature of foreign troops, while four percent of Iraqi Kurds wanted U.S. troops out because their presence “attracts more violent attacks and makes things worse.”</p>
<p>Apparently those Iraqi Kurds were not deemed sufficiently pro-American by RM&amp;R and/or the Kurdistan Development Corporation to merit mention. Northern Iraq’s Top Flacks</p>
<p>RM&amp;R’s work promoting Iraqi Kurdistan has been reported previously. In July 2006, as part of “a national media blitz … to attract investment and tourism,” the Kurdistan Development Corporation launched print and cable TV ads promoting “The Other Iraq,” while its development office embarked upon a multi-city U.S. tour.</p>
<p>RM&amp;R was behind the ad campaign. A spokesman told the Washington Post that the ads were part of a “pretty open-ended” deal that’s likely to bring the firm “millions of dollars over a couple of years.” RM&amp;R also promoted the U.S. tour, including a July 27 San Francisco press conference that featured the Iraqi Kurd delegation and parents of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. “The gold star families that were invited are all supporters of the war,” noted San Francsico’s KGO-7.</p>
<p>When asked by Free Speech Radio News reporter Aaron Glantz about the complementarity of his firm’s work for the Kurdistan Development Corporation and the pro-Iraq War group Move America Forward, RM&amp;R head Sal Russo said, “There’s not a relationship, other than we have a lot of clients and those are two of them.”</p>
<p>In contrast to the July delegation, the Kurdistan Development Corporation’s September visit was nearly totally ignored by news outlets. The sole article PR Watch found — by The City Paper of Nashville, TN — explained, “Most of the group’s time will be spent promoting a new foreign investment law that touts free markets and economic incentives for foreign investments in Kurdistan.” Kurdistan Development Corporation chair Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman told The City Paper, “In Kurdistan, we need everything. Whether it’s hospitals, better roads or improving our school system … these needs present opportunity for investors and American companies.”</p>
<p>Nijyar H. Shemdin, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representative to the United States, Canada and the United Nations, told PR Watch that the Iraqi Kurd delegation visited the United States for just over a week. “The theme of the delegation was thank you, America,” he said. “There is another Iraq, which is safe and secure, and you are welcome to invest there. The Kurdish parliament recently passed the investment law, and in October will ratify an investment law on oil and natural resources.”</p>
<p>The members of the September delegation, according to Mr. Shemdin, were himself, Ms. Rahman, Bill Garaway — and RM&amp;R’s Sal Russo. Is RM&amp;R a Wise Investment?</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Iraqi Kurds are grateful for the U.S. removal of Saddam Hussein. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 50,000 — and as many as 100,000 — Iraqi Kurds were killed during the Hussein regime’s genocidal Anfal military campaign of 1986 to 1989.</p>
<p>It’s also true that the Kurdish region of northern Iraq is more peaceful, and in some ways more developed, than the rest of the country. “Kurdistan has so much to offer” the rest of Iraq, Gulf War veteran and Education for Peace in Iraq Center director Erik Gustafson told PR Watch. He added, “investment is crucially needed, but there are questions about how it’s done.” With regard to natural resources, he stressed the risks involved with production sharing agreements that “surrender sovereign control over oil resources to foreign corporations and allow much of the country’s oil wealth to go abroad.”</p>
<p>In response to questions about the Kurdistan Development Corporation’s “The Other Iraq” campaign, Gustafson reflected that there have been “so many failures” associated with U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in Iraq that the Kurdistan Regional Government may be trying to attract private investors to make up for the missteps and diminished spending of the U.S. government. “Given that most Americans think of the entirity of Iraq as a monolithic quagmire, Iraqi Kurds will have to work hard to build confidence in the profitability of investing in Iraq’s development,” he pointed out. “The Iraqi diaspora can be one source of investment, but I think major U.S. corporations and wealthy private investers are higher on the itinerary.”</p>
<p>Last year, RM&amp;R’s Joe Wierzbicki told journalist Bill Berkowitz that his firm was interested in the Kurdish Development Corporation account because “of all the different groups in Iraq that have a vision for the future, the vision of the Kurds is closest to ours. It’s important to recognize that the Kurds are not hostile to the West.”</p>
<p>But why are the Iraqi Kurds working with RM&amp;R?</p>
<p>RM&amp;R’s Move America Forward campaigns have included opposing the Michael Moore movie “Fahrenheit 9/11,” supporting John Bolton’s nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, and organizing a “Truth Tour” of Iraq, for conservative talk radio personalities. The firm’s other work is with election campaigns, nearly all for U.S. Republican politicians. On the “agency experience” section of its website, RM&amp;R lists Republicans George Pataki of New York, John Shimkus of Illinois, George Deukmejian and Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, and George Nethercutt of Washington as past clients.</p>
<p>Searching the RM&amp;R website for the words “investment,” “economic,” or “development” yields no hits — with the exception of one RM&amp;R staffer’s undergraduate minor in economics. A Nexis news database search confirms that RM&amp;R and its previous incarnations (Russo Marsh Raper, Russo Marsh &amp; Copsey, and Russo Marsh &amp; Associates) do campaign media consulting for conservative candidates and issues. They don’t do — or at least haven’t done until now — promotion of foreign investment.</p>
<p>The strange pairing of RM&amp;R and the Kurdish Development Corporation — which aims “to promote, facilitate and establish business and investment opportunities in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq” — can be explained in one of three ways: either the Iraqi Kurds don’t realize RM&amp;R’s area of experience, or RM&amp;R is branching out into new areas, or the Kurds believe that ties with U.S. conservative politicians will best facilitate foreign investment in their homeland. When asked about the choice of RM&amp;R, Mr. Shemdin deferred to Ms. Rahman, who, a week later, has yet to respond.</p>
<p>DIANE FARSETTA is a Senior Researcher, Center for Media &amp; Democracy, publisher of <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/" type="external">PR Watch</a>. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:diane@prwatch.org" type="external">diane@prwatch.org</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | weeks slow move america forwards email list others bustling september 15 21 2006 example latter six emails sent including two iraq address kdcrmrwestnet emails noteworthy illustrate synergy two clients republicanassociated sacramento public relations firm russo marsh amp rogers rmampr move america forward conservative cheerleader bush administrations war terror kurdistan development corporation investment holding tradings company formed partnership kurdistan regional government northern iraq presumably kdc email address first iraq emails began wanted send short note let know delegation iraqi kurdistan back united states continuing campaign tell american public iraq message sent september 15 continued americans helped us win freedom oppressive rule saddam hussein thank much far weve washington dc new york nashville tennessee heading westward across america tell story attract american support investment new iraqi kurdistan second email sent september 19 invited help play role rebuilding regions future wish learn information investment business opportunities email iraq campaign message focused subject line described poll numbers iraq havent seen poll conducted january 2006 program international policy attitudes pipa joint project university marylands center international security studies center policy attitudes poll figures cited iraq email correct lacking context one however demonstrably false email claimed iraqi kurds agreed statement offensive foreign forces country pipas report poll states 35 percent iraqis favored us forces leaving within six months seven percent iraqi kurds took position offensive nature foreign troops four percent iraqi kurds wanted us troops presence attracts violent attacks makes things worse apparently iraqi kurds deemed sufficiently proamerican rmampr andor kurdistan development corporation merit mention northern iraqs top flacks rmamprs work promoting iraqi kurdistan reported previously july 2006 part national media blitz attract investment tourism kurdistan development corporation launched print cable tv ads promoting iraq development office embarked upon multicity us tour rmampr behind ad campaign spokesman told washington post ads part pretty openended deal thats likely bring firm millions dollars couple years rmampr also promoted us tour including july 27 san francisco press conference featured iraqi kurd delegation parents us soldiers killed iraq gold star families invited supporters war noted san francsicos kgo7 asked free speech radio news reporter aaron glantz complementarity firms work kurdistan development corporation proiraq war group move america forward rmampr head sal russo said theres relationship lot clients two contrast july delegation kurdistan development corporations september visit nearly totally ignored news outlets sole article pr watch found city paper nashville tn explained groups time spent promoting new foreign investment law touts free markets economic incentives foreign investments kurdistan kurdistan development corporation chair bayan sami abdul rahman told city paper kurdistan need everything whether hospitals better roads improving school system needs present opportunity investors american companies nijyar h shemdin kurdistan regional governments representative united states canada united nations told pr watch iraqi kurd delegation visited united states week theme delegation thank america said another iraq safe secure welcome invest kurdish parliament recently passed investment law october ratify investment law oil natural resources members september delegation according mr shemdin ms rahman bill garaway rmamprs sal russo rmampr wise investment doubt iraqi kurds grateful us removal saddam hussein human rights watch estimates least 50000 many 100000 iraqi kurds killed hussein regimes genocidal anfal military campaign 1986 1989 also true kurdish region northern iraq peaceful ways developed rest country kurdistan much offer rest iraq gulf war veteran education peace iraq center director erik gustafson told pr watch added investment crucially needed questions done regard natural resources stressed risks involved production sharing agreements surrender sovereign control oil resources foreign corporations allow much countrys oil wealth go abroad response questions kurdistan development corporations iraq campaign gustafson reflected many failures associated usled reconstruction efforts iraq kurdistan regional government may trying attract private investors make missteps diminished spending us government given americans think entirity iraq monolithic quagmire iraqi kurds work hard build confidence profitability investing iraqs development pointed iraqi diaspora one source investment think major us corporations wealthy private investers higher itinerary last year rmamprs joe wierzbicki told journalist bill berkowitz firm interested kurdish development corporation account different groups iraq vision future vision kurds closest important recognize kurds hostile west iraqi kurds working rmampr rmamprs move america forward campaigns included opposing michael moore movie fahrenheit 911 supporting john boltons nomination ambassador united nations organizing truth tour iraq conservative talk radio personalities firms work election campaigns nearly us republican politicians agency experience section website rmampr lists republicans george pataki new york john shimkus illinois george deukmejian howard buck mckeon california george nethercutt washington past clients searching rmampr website words investment economic development yields hits exception one rmampr staffers undergraduate minor economics nexis news database search confirms rmampr previous incarnations russo marsh raper russo marsh amp copsey russo marsh amp associates campaign media consulting conservative candidates issues dont least havent done promotion foreign investment strange pairing rmampr kurdish development corporation aims promote facilitate establish business investment opportunities kurdistan region iraq explained one three ways either iraqi kurds dont realize rmamprs area experience rmampr branching new areas kurds believe ties us conservative politicians best facilitate foreign investment homeland asked choice rmampr mr shemdin deferred ms rahman week later yet respond diane farsetta senior researcher center media amp democracy publisher pr watch reached dianeprwatchorg 160 160 160 | 854 |
<p>In the historic port city of Yalta, located on the Crimean Peninsula, we visited the site where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, in February of 1945, concluded negotiations ending World War II.</p>
<p>These leaders and their top advisors were also present at the creation of the United Nations and other instruments of international negotiation and non-military cooperation. Tragically, the creation of the “Cold War” was underway soon after. Reviving tensions between the United States and Russia make it seem as though the Cold War might not have ended.</p>
<p>We also met with groups of young adults, teachers, and veterans of foreign wars. At each meeting, participants readily agreed that new peace agreements are needed.</p>
<p>Olga, a tour guide, told me that she was fairly sure most young people here in Yalta would know what NATO is, what the acronym stands for, and they would know about recent NATO developments. Our delegation has been wondering how to cope with a quite different reality in the U.S., where many people may be poorly informed about NATO and would know even less about the Anti -Ballistic Missile treaty that the U.S. more or less tore up in 2001.</p>
<p>The Federation of American Scientists, in its 2016 inventory of nuclear forces, states that approximately 93 percent of all <a href="http://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/" type="external">nuclear warheads</a> are owned by Russia and the&#160;United States who each have roughly 4,500-4,700 warheads in their military stockpiles.</p>
<p>Konstatin, a veteran from the USSR war in Afghanistan, now a grandfather, spoke to us about Yalta’s history during World War II. “Many people perished here,” he said. “More than a million perished during WWII. This tourist resort was founded from the bones of people killed in the war.” Some 22 million Russians overall died during World War II, most of them civilians. Konstatin urged all of us to find ways for avoiding further war, and he spoke about how funds spent on weapons are crucially needed to help heal children afflicted by disease or hunger.</p>
<p>Julia, a University student who wants to become an interpreter working with diplomats, said that she is glad and grateful never to have lived through a war.” I always want to choose words instead of weapons,” Julia said.</p>
<p>We asked university students what they thought of prospects for abolition of nuclear weapons. Anton, who studies engineering, told us that he believes “the youth of different countries would like to bridge the gap and work out ways to unite people.” His words are extremely important now, as Russia and the U.S., possessing such huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons, engage in intensifying conflict. “All of us should soften the geopolitical relations between our countries,” Anton continued, “and try to get together on the same level, on the same ground. The idea of this future should be attractive to everyone and enable us to solve ecological problems. And if we all put efforts into reaching this idea of development and creativity, in the future, then the nuclear abolition will be something we can accomplish”</p>
<p>In 1954 the Soviet government transferred this largely Russian-speaking area from Russia to the Ukraine. In 2014, after Ukraine’s elected president was ousted and its new government formed in part by avowed neo-Nazis, Russia occupied the Crimea and after overwhelmingly winning an uncomfortably hasty vote, annexed it or “reunited” the Crimean peninsula with Russia, depending on who describes the history. The Ukraine ouster, it is widely believed here and in much of the world outside the United States, is considered to have been engineered by the United States and NATO. What plays in the U.S. as Russian aggression is seen by many here as a response to antidemocratic NATO interference along the Russian border.</p>
<p>It can be credibly argued that at its creation NATO’s mission was essentially defensive. Stalin was a terrifying dictator, suffering from increasing psychosis, with a long history of betraying even those who seemed to be his closest allies. Yet, as one Russian World War II veteran noted, the Russians had not tried to take over other countries far from their borders. They actually had been very cautious and conservative about extending the boundaries or reach of the Soviet empire by military force, and after World War II Russia needed to focus on rebuilding the internal Soviet economy and society.</p>
<p>The continuously assertive military posturing of NATO undermines and conflicts with the mission and development of instruments for international negotiation and constructive cooperation. Among the most striking examples in recent years are:</p>
<p>i–the decision to expand NATO into eastern and southern Europe by accepting the membership or candidacy of countries as far south as Georgia;</p>
<p>ii–the 2001 decision by George Bush to abrogate the U.S. – Russian Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems treaty and to build a so-called ballistic missile shield system in East European countries, allegedly intended to protect against prospective Iranian missile launches directed toward Europe;</p>
<p>iii-the 2001 to the present decisions by the U.S. and NATO to invade Afghanistan and to establish long term military bases there, anchoring a military presence in the center of Central Asia.</p>
<p>New conflicts around the Ukraine are still brewing.</p>
<p>Milan Rai, writing for <a href="http://peacenews.info/node/7651" type="external">Peace News</a>, helps put this conflict in context:</p>
<p>“Since Vladimir Putin’s first ascendancy to the Russian presidency in 2000, the Russian state has used its armed forces against other countries twice: against&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Georgia</a>, in 2008; and now against Ukraine…</p>
<p>In the same time period, the US has used its armed forces in a criminal fashion against a number of countries, including: Afghanistan (2001-present);&#160; <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-yemen/" type="external">Yemen</a>&#160;(drone attacks, 2002-present); Iraq (2003-present);&#160; <a href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-pakistan/" type="external">Pakistan</a>&#160;(drone attacks, 2004-present); Libya (2011);&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Somalia</a>&#160;(2011-present)….</p>
<p>The western powers are in no position to lecture Putin, whose actions in Crimea look like a Gandhian direct action when compared to the normal US-UK mode of operation. From 28 February to 18 March, Russian forces captured over a dozen Ukrainian bases or military posts without the loss of a single life. Compare this to the US use of tank-mounted ploughs to bury alive perhaps&#160;thousands of Iraqi conscripts in desert trenches during the opening moves of the 1991 invasion of Iraq. (US colonel Lon Maggart, in charge of one of the brigades involved,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">estimated</a>&#160;that between 80 and 250 Iraqis had been buried alive.)</p>
<p>When one thinks of the number of deaths caused by US-UK aggression since 2000, including the grim ongoing&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24547256" type="external">tragedy</a>&#160;of the Iraqi civil war, it is difficult to listen to the wave of western outrage.”</p>
<p>“This is not to deny that Putin has presided over a repressive administration,” Mil continues, noting that Putin has also carried out atrocities, particularly the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, which followed <a href="" type="internal">massacres</a> and the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">enforced disappearance</a>&#160;of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Chechens.”</p>
<p>I believe that the greatest threat to the long range peace and security of Europe and the United States is the reality that the military sectors of western governments and the military spending sectors of western economies are so huge and bloated, like incurable cancers, that they cannot give up on inventing military threats and advocating military solutions which powerfully undermine diplomatic efforts to secure peace.</p>
<p>I hope Anton’s ideas will echo in the U.S. and help steer his generation toward pursuit of new acutely needed agreements.</p> | true | 4 | historic port city yalta located crimean peninsula visited site churchill roosevelt stalin february 1945 concluded negotiations ending world war ii leaders top advisors also present creation united nations instruments international negotiation nonmilitary cooperation tragically creation cold war underway soon reviving tensions united states russia make seem though cold war might ended also met groups young adults teachers veterans foreign wars meeting participants readily agreed new peace agreements needed olga tour guide told fairly sure young people yalta would know nato acronym stands would know recent nato developments delegation wondering cope quite different reality us many people may poorly informed nato would know even less anti ballistic missile treaty us less tore 2001 federation american scientists 2016 inventory nuclear forces states approximately 93 percent nuclear warheads owned russia the160united states roughly 45004700 warheads military stockpiles konstatin veteran ussr war afghanistan grandfather spoke us yaltas history world war ii many people perished said million perished wwii tourist resort founded bones people killed war 22 million russians overall died world war ii civilians konstatin urged us find ways avoiding war spoke funds spent weapons crucially needed help heal children afflicted disease hunger julia university student wants become interpreter working diplomats said glad grateful never lived war always want choose words instead weapons julia said asked university students thought prospects abolition nuclear weapons anton studies engineering told us believes youth different countries would like bridge gap work ways unite people words extremely important russia us possessing huge stockpiles nuclear weapons engage intensifying conflict us soften geopolitical relations countries anton continued try get together level ground idea future attractive everyone enable us solve ecological problems put efforts reaching idea development creativity future nuclear abolition something accomplish 1954 soviet government transferred largely russianspeaking area russia ukraine 2014 ukraines elected president ousted new government formed part avowed neonazis russia occupied crimea overwhelmingly winning uncomfortably hasty vote annexed reunited crimean peninsula russia depending describes history ukraine ouster widely believed much world outside united states considered engineered united states nato plays us russian aggression seen many response antidemocratic nato interference along russian border credibly argued creation natos mission essentially defensive stalin terrifying dictator suffering increasing psychosis long history betraying even seemed closest allies yet one russian world war ii veteran noted russians tried take countries far borders actually cautious conservative extending boundaries reach soviet empire military force world war ii russia needed focus rebuilding internal soviet economy society continuously assertive military posturing nato undermines conflicts mission development instruments international negotiation constructive cooperation among striking examples recent years ithe decision expand nato eastern southern europe accepting membership candidacy countries far south georgia iithe 2001 decision george bush abrogate us russian antiballistic missile systems treaty build socalled ballistic missile shield system east european countries allegedly intended protect prospective iranian missile launches directed toward europe iiithe 2001 present decisions us nato invade afghanistan establish long term military bases anchoring military presence center central asia new conflicts around ukraine still brewing milan rai writing peace news helps put conflict context since vladimir putins first ascendancy russian presidency 2000 russian state used armed forces countries twice against160 georgia 2008 ukraine time period us used armed forces criminal fashion number countries including afghanistan 2001present160 yemen160drone attacks 2002present iraq 2003present160 pakistan160drone attacks 2004present libya 2011160 somalia1602011present western powers position lecture putin whose actions crimea look like gandhian direct action compared normal usuk mode operation 28 february 18 march russian forces captured dozen ukrainian bases military posts without loss single life compare us use tankmounted ploughs bury alive perhaps160thousands iraqi conscripts desert trenches opening moves 1991 invasion iraq us colonel lon maggart charge one brigades involved160 estimated160that 80 250 iraqis buried alive one thinks number deaths caused usuk aggression since 2000 including grim ongoing160 tragedy160of iraqi civil war difficult listen wave western outrage deny putin presided repressive administration mil continues noting putin also carried atrocities particularly indiscriminate bombing civilians southern russian republic chechnya followed massacres the160 enforced disappearance160of hundreds perhaps thousands chechens believe greatest threat long range peace security europe united states reality military sectors western governments military spending sectors western economies huge bloated like incurable cancers give inventing military threats advocating military solutions powerfully undermine diplomatic efforts secure peace hope antons ideas echo us help steer generation toward pursuit new acutely needed agreements | 707 |
<p>Bachmann’s end-times rhetoric resonates with many of her constituents. When you listen to her pray, the ease and power of her delivery are a clue as to why she’s been re-elected twice, despite her record of incendiary and off-the-wall beliefs. But there is, in every high-wire act, the potential for failure.</p>
<p>Michele Bachmann’s late-career incarnation as a far-Right superstar has always been a high-wire act.</p>
<p>Bachmann’s signature stunt is her willingness to say—loud and proud—outlandish things that make her sound, to many people, delusional. She has said, for example, that America’s founders <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/oshadavidson/2011/07/08/michele-bachmann-salutes-the-upside-to-slavery/" type="external">“worked tirelessly”</a> to end slavery. In 2009, she swatted away the pesky science of climate change by <a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/2012/07/michele-bachmanns-most-controversial-quotes/000293-003819.html" type="external">declaring</a>&#160;that “there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.” And last summer, she claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/19/michele-bachmann-sticks-to-accusations-about-muslim-brotherhood" type="external">might be infiltrating</a> the U.S. government and shaping our foreign policy through Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Abedin, who is of Pakistani descent, was born in the U.S. and is married to Anthony Weiner, the former Congressman from New York.</p>
<p>The danger of the act isn’t that Bachmann, who has been the U.S. representative from Minnesota’s 6th&#160;Congressional District since 2007, will say something so off-the-charts nutty that it discredits her with a majority of voters in the district. At this point, that may not be possible.</p>
<p>The danger is that she is so occupied with her crusades that she isn’t bringing home the bacon for the people of her district. Fighting threats from big government and foreign subversives is an excellent way to build your national right-wing reputation. But voters expect their representative to deliver concrete benefits as well.</p>
<p>Which is why a bridge spanning the St. Croix River, and connecting Minnesota to Wisconsin, was a major subject of the <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/10/30/politics/michele-bachmann-jim-graves-debate/" type="external">first debate</a> between Bachman and her <a href="http://www.dfl.org/" type="external">Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party</a> opponent, Jim Graves, this week. (The DFL is the Minnesota affiliate of the Democratic Party, and was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party.)&#160;</p>
<p>To move forward, the bridge required a <a href="http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/03/michele_bachman_55.php" type="external">legislative exemption</a> from the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. With the help of the Republican leadership, Bachmann was able to obtain the waiver&#160;by&#160;fast-tracking the legislation through the House early this year. At Tuesday’s debate, she claimed that success as one of the major accomplishment of her three terms in Congress and cited it as proof that she had “delivered” for the people of the 6th&#160;CD.</p>
<p>Graves called the design of the bridge extravagant and wasteful—a Rolls-Royce, he said, when a Chevrolet would have served the people just as well. He has also criticized it as a poor use of Minnesota’s money, since it will primarily benefit the rural Wisconsin community on the other side.</p>
<p>Bachmann’s other main contribution to the economic development of the 6th&#160;CD, as she explained in the debate, is her fierce opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which she believes will kill jobs and strangle small businesses.</p>
<p>Helping get a bridge built and opposing “Obamacare” are not, by anyone’s standard, an impressive record of delivering for constituents. That likely accounts for the fact that Bachmann is engaged in a surprisingly close re-election race. In 2010, she defeated her DFL Party opponent by more than 12 points. A <a href="http://www.nj.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2012/10/bachmann_on_defense_after_wh_b.html" type="external">recent poll</a> of the district shows her leading six points. But that poll, Grave pointed out, was conducted exclusively among people who use landline phones. Since his own base of support skews toward young people, the race is actually be much tighter, he believes.</p>
<p>Graves is an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the hospitality business—he built the AmericInn hotel chain—and decided to get into politics specifically because of Bachman. “I’m running because she’s so bad—bad for the country, bad for the future, bad for the people of the 6th&#160;District,” he said. “She epitomizes everything that’s wrong with this government and this culture. It’s not that she doesn’t have some skills. She’s passionate. She believes what she believes. She’s a phenomenal fundraiser. And she creates wonderful headlines for herself. So she should be doing something else. She shouldn’t be in Congress, where you have to find a way to move the process forward and get things done.”</p>
<p>Graves is casting himself as a pro-labor fiscal conservative who will make budget reform along the lines of the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/02/a-few-basic-misconceptions-about-simpson-bowles/" type="external">Simpson-Bowles plan</a>—that is, a combination of budget cuts and tax increases—his highest priority. He has promised that he would serve no more than three terms. “I’m doing this to get the job done and serve the needs of the people and the country,” he said, “and then get the hell out of there.”</p>
<p>His first experience running for Congress has also led Graves to become a strong advocate of campaign-finance reform. “You read about it,” he said. “But the influence of money is even worse than you think it is. It’s terrible. It sucks. It’s a bad deal—really bad. The influence that’s bought and sold in politics is just sickening. Everyone wants you to pledge this or pledge that, and then they’ll give you money.”</p>
<p>Bachmann’s salvation, if she wins, may be precisely the fact that she’s so successful at the fundraising aspect of the political game. Through September, Bachmann <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/26/nation/la-na-bachmann-20121027" type="external">had spent</a> about $8 million on her campaign. Graves had spent about $1 million.</p>
<p>Bachmann’s other key advantage is the makeup of the 6th&#160;District, which leaned conservative even before recent redistricting turned it deeper red. The suburban Minneapolis communities that make up the district are over-represented by politically conservative evangelical Christians. For Bachmann, the language and assumptions of that subculture are second nature in a way that they aren’t for Graves, a lifelong Catholic.</p>
<p>In 2006, for example, Bachmann <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/18/264811/bachmann-predicted-world-end-2006/?mobile=nc" type="external">delivered a public prayer</a> in which she said that “the day is at hand, Lord, when your return will come nigh. Nothing is more important than bringing sheep into the fold, than bringing new life into the kingdom….The harvest is at hand.”</p>
<p>That kind of end-times rhetoric resonates with many of Bachmann’s constituents. When you listen to her pray, the ease and power of her delivery are a clue as to why she’s been re-elected twice, despite her record of incendiary and off-the-wall beliefs. But there is, in every high-wire act, the potential for failure. Bachmann has behaved as if “bringing new life into the kingdom”—while rooting out the nation’s enemies, foreign and domestic—are her most important tasks as a politician. She’s done so at the expense of building bridges, literal and metaphorical, in her own district.</p>
<p>So what does it all add up to? Will building just the one bridge, connecting Minnesota to Wisconsin, be enough to save Bachmann? Or are the end times indeed at hand for her political career?</p>
<p>We’ll know soon enough. &#160;</p>
<p>Theo Anderson, an In These Times writing fellow, has contributed to the magazine since 2010. He has a Ph.D. in modern U.S. history from Yale and writes on the intellectual and religious history of conservatism and progressivism in the United States. Follow him on Twitter @Theoanderson7 and contact him at theo@inthesetimes.com.</p> | true | 4 | bachmanns endtimes rhetoric resonates many constituents listen pray ease power delivery clue shes reelected twice despite record incendiary offthewall beliefs every highwire act potential failure michele bachmanns latecareer incarnation farright superstar always highwire act bachmanns signature stunt willingness sayloud proudoutlandish things make sound many people delusional said example americas founders worked tirelessly end slavery 2009 swatted away pesky science climate change declaring160that isnt even one study produced shows carbon dioxide harmful gas last summer claimed muslim brotherhood might infiltrating us government shaping foreign policy huma abedin aide secretary state hillary clinton abedin pakistani descent born us married anthony weiner former congressman new york danger act isnt bachmann us representative minnesotas 6th160congressional district since 2007 say something offthecharts nutty discredits majority voters district point may possible danger occupied crusades isnt bringing home bacon people district fighting threats big government foreign subversives excellent way build national rightwing reputation voters expect representative deliver concrete benefits well bridge spanning st croix river connecting minnesota wisconsin major subject first debate bachman democraticfarmerlabor party opponent jim graves week dfl minnesota affiliate democratic party formed 1944 merger democratic party farmerlabor party160 move forward bridge required legislative exemption wild scenic rivers act help republican leadership bachmann able obtain waiver160by160fasttracking legislation house early year tuesdays debate claimed success one major accomplishment three terms congress cited proof delivered people 6th160cd graves called design bridge extravagant wastefula rollsroyce said chevrolet would served people well also criticized poor use minnesotas money since primarily benefit rural wisconsin community side bachmanns main contribution economic development 6th160cd explained debate fierce opposition affordable care act believes kill jobs strangle small businesses helping get bridge built opposing obamacare anyones standard impressive record delivering constituents likely accounts fact bachmann engaged surprisingly close reelection race 2010 defeated dfl party opponent 12 points recent poll district shows leading six points poll grave pointed conducted exclusively among people use landline phones since base support skews toward young people race actually much tighter believes graves entrepreneur made fortune hospitality businesshe built americinn hotel chainand decided get politics specifically bachman im running shes badbad country bad future bad people 6th160district said epitomizes everything thats wrong government culture doesnt skills shes passionate believes believes shes phenomenal fundraiser creates wonderful headlines something else shouldnt congress find way move process forward get things done graves casting prolabor fiscal conservative make budget reform along lines simpsonbowles planthat combination budget cuts tax increaseshis highest priority promised would serve three terms im get job done serve needs people country said get hell first experience running congress also led graves become strong advocate campaignfinance reform read said influence money even worse think terrible sucks bad dealreally bad influence thats bought sold politics sickening everyone wants pledge pledge theyll give money bachmanns salvation wins may precisely fact shes successful fundraising aspect political game september bachmann spent 8 million campaign graves spent 1 million bachmanns key advantage makeup 6th160district leaned conservative even recent redistricting turned deeper red suburban minneapolis communities make district overrepresented politically conservative evangelical christians bachmann language assumptions subculture second nature way arent graves lifelong catholic 2006 example bachmann delivered public prayer said day hand lord return come nigh nothing important bringing sheep fold bringing new life kingdomthe harvest hand kind endtimes rhetoric resonates many bachmanns constituents listen pray ease power delivery clue shes reelected twice despite record incendiary offthewall beliefs every highwire act potential failure bachmann behaved bringing new life kingdomwhile rooting nations enemies foreign domesticare important tasks politician shes done expense building bridges literal metaphorical district add building one bridge connecting minnesota wisconsin enough save bachmann end times indeed hand political career well know soon enough 160 theo anderson times writing fellow contributed magazine since 2010 phd modern us history yale writes intellectual religious history conservatism progressivism united states follow twitter theoanderson7 contact theointhesetimescom | 626 |
<p>Luke_Franzen/iStock</p>
<p />
<p>This <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/10/hawaii-prison-officials-say-it-will-cost-23000-for-public-records/" type="external">story</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org" type="external">CiviLBeat.org</a>.</p>
<p>Each year, Hawaii spends <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/08/hawaii-re-ups-with-arizona-prison-for-45-million-per-year/" type="external">tens of millions</a> of dollars to house prisoners on the mainland, a practice that it has <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/04/prison-officials-are-quietly-moving-to-extend-an-out-of-state-contract/" type="external">maintained</a> for more than 25 years.</p>
<p>But the state’s taxpayers are <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2016/05/hawaii-keeps-secret-what-happens-in-its-private-prison/" type="external">kept in the dark</a> about much of what goes on at the <a href="http://www.cca.com/facilities/saguaro-correctional-center" type="external">Saguaro Correctional Center</a>, a private Arizona prison where about 1,400 Hawaii prisoners are housed.</p>
<p>This year, we’ve been examining our prison system—including the mainland facility—in our investigative series, “ <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/projects/hawaii-behind-bars/" type="external">Hawaii Behind Bars</a>.”</p>
<p>But we’re still waiting for much of the information we requested months ago. Now, the Department of Public Safety wants $23,000 to give us records that should be readily available.</p>
<p>In February, we submitted a public records request, asking for a number of documents that would help us—and the public—better understand the Saguaro operation, which is handled by <a href="http://www.cca.com/" type="external">Corrections Corporation of America</a>, a private prison contractor that owns and operates the Arizona facility. CCA’s problems at a number of its mainland facilities have been well-documented over many years.</p>
<p>In fact, Saguaro too has had a long history of problems under CCA’s management, including the murders of at least three Hawaii prisoners since 2010.</p>
<p>We wanted to find out about the level of violence at the prison beyond what has been reported in the media.</p>
<p>We wanted policies governing the use of force and disciplinary measures put in place to curb violence at Saguaro.</p>
<p>All pretty straightforward, as public records requests go.</p>
<p>Still, eight months later, we’re nowhere near getting what we asked for.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Here’s what’s happened since we sent in the request:</p>
<p>We spent several weeks working with Shelley Nobriga, the litigation coordination official at DPS in an effort to refine our request and make it easier for them to produce the records.</p>
<p>After exchanging emails and meeting twice with Nobriga, we agreed to focus on seven types of documents—including monthly reports submitted to the state by the Saguaro warden and the department’s on-site monitor.</p>
<p>That was late March. Under the <a href="http://oip.hawaii.gov/laws-rules-opinions/uipa/uniform-information-practices-act-uipa/" type="external">Uniform Information Practices Act</a>—Hawaii’s public records law—the department was required to respond within 10 business days with an estimate of the cost to fill the request and, if any information was going to be denied, the reason why.</p>
<p>But we didn’t hear anything from Nobriga by the deadline. We spent the next three months pestering her.</p>
<p>Finally, in late June, Nobriga responded. She said our request was being reviewed by the <a href="http://ag.hawaii.gov/" type="external">Hawaii Department of the Attorney General</a>. A week later, we checked back with Nobriga and the attorney’s general office—but to no avail.</p>
<p>Then another six weeks of silence on the part of the state.</p>
<p>So in mid-September, we filed a complaint with Nolan Espinda, the director of public safety, reminding him that his agency’s response was long overdue.</p>
<p>A week later, Nobriga finally replied. She said the department would produce some of the documents we’d asked for. But not all.</p>
<p>Here’s what we’ve gotten so far:</p>
<p>• A copy of a certificate showing that Saguaro has been accredited by the <a href="http://www.aca.org/aca_prod_imis/aca_member" type="external">American Correctional Association</a>.</p>
<p>And that’s it.</p>
<p>The rest of the public records DPS is willing to release will cost us $22,940.</p>
<p>Nobriga says the department will need 1,300 hours to search for the documents and make redactions, as well as copy an estimated 2,000 pages of documents.</p>
<p>In many states, the reports would be available immediately in electronic format, the click of a mouse button away. Hawaii has well-known challenges with its computer system, but still you’d think the reports would be neatly tucked away in a file cabinet somewhere, organized by date. Apparently not, or at least that’s what they tell us.</p>
<p>Here’s what they say it will take to produce records even DPS agrees are publicly available:</p>
<p>You do the math, but it looks like it will take DPS roughly three months just to find the reports we want and then another six months to go through them and black out the stuff they don’t think should be made public. And we’ve already been waiting eight months to get to this point.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>And then there are records Nobriga says we simply can’t get, either because DPS believes it’s allowed to withhold them under the law or because the department just doesn’t have them.</p>
<p>In particular, Nobriga said any reports about the deaths of Saguaro prisoners would be off-limits, citing privacy <a href="http://oip.hawaii.gov/laws-rules-opinions/uipa/uniform-information-practices-act-uipa/#92F13" type="external">exemptions</a> and “the frustration of a legitimate government function.” She did not elaborate on what that function is or why releasing the reports on incidents that happened several years ago would be frustrating.</p>
<p>Nobriga also noted that the death reports would be exempted from disclosure under another <a href="http://oip.hawaii.gov/laws-rules-opinions/uipa/uniform-information-practices-act-uipa/#92F22" type="external">provision</a>, which limits the release of any reports relating to “upcoming, ongoing or pending” civil or criminal action. In one case, the cellmate of a Hawaii prisoner who was <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2015/08/death-of-hawaii-inmate-under-investigation-at-arizona-prison/" type="external">strangled to death</a> in August 2015 is facing murder trial in Arizona.</p>
<p>Nobriga says DPS doesn’t have a copy of Saguaro’s use-of-force policy, even though CCA has submitted it twice to the state—when it bid on the contract to house Hawaii prisoners in 2011 and 2016.</p>
<p>Nobriga also says the department doesn’t have any reports about “disciplinary segregation” lasting more than 60 days, even though CCA is mandated under the contract to mail them to Hawaii at the end of each month.</p>
<p>Mateo Caballero, legal director of the <a href="http://acluhi.org/" type="external">American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii</a>, says the fees DPS is charging appear “excessive and wholly disproportionate in light of the type of reports requested.”</p>
<p>“By law, agencies are supposed to estimate fees in good faith,” Caballero said. “Fee estimates cannot and should not be a roadblock to transparency.”</p>
<p>The ACLU of Hawaii had its own run-in with DPS over UIPA noncompliance in 2013, when it brought a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/hawaii-department-public-safety-violation-open-records-law" type="external">lawsuit</a> on behalf of a San Francisco law firm, which had paid more than $5,300 in fees and waited nearly seven months for records—but to no avail.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the court ordered the department to produce some of the requested records and pay more than $25,000 in legal fees.</p>
<p>“Hawaii’s open records laws are expansive and clear,” Caballero said. “Agencies like the Department of Public Safety have an obligation to respond to requests for public records in a thorough and timely manner.”</p>
<p>Brian Black, executive director of <a href="http://www.civilbeatlawcenter.org/" type="external">The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest</a>, says the department could do more to speed up the process.</p>
<p>“It is a large request, and they had a lot of things to consider. But they stretched it farther than they needed to, and ultimately their response to you wasn’t cooperative at all,” Black said.</p>
<p>Black added: “What you’re seeking is something that they should be proactively trying to put out there for free. It’s not something they should try to conceal behind either time and money—two different ways that they have at their disposal to hide information.”</p>
<p>Nobriga declined to talk to us for this story.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | luke_franzenistock story originally appeared civilbeatorg year hawaii spends tens millions dollars house prisoners mainland practice maintained 25 years states taxpayers kept dark much goes saguaro correctional center private arizona prison 1400 hawaii prisoners housed year weve examining prison systemincluding mainland facilityin investigative series hawaii behind bars still waiting much information requested months ago department public safety wants 23000 give us records readily available february submitted public records request asking number documents would help usand publicbetter understand saguaro operation handled corrections corporation america private prison contractor owns operates arizona facility ccas problems number mainland facilities welldocumented many years fact saguaro long history problems ccas management including murders least three hawaii prisoners since 2010 wanted find level violence prison beyond reported media wanted policies governing use force disciplinary measures put place curb violence saguaro pretty straightforward public records requests go still eight months later nowhere near getting asked heres whats happened since sent request spent several weeks working shelley nobriga litigation coordination official dps effort refine request make easier produce records exchanging emails meeting twice nobriga agreed focus seven types documentsincluding monthly reports submitted state saguaro warden departments onsite monitor late march uniform information practices acthawaiis public records lawthe department required respond within 10 business days estimate cost fill request information going denied reason didnt hear anything nobriga deadline spent next three months pestering finally late june nobriga responded said request reviewed hawaii department attorney general week later checked back nobriga attorneys general officebut avail another six weeks silence part state midseptember filed complaint nolan espinda director public safety reminding agencys response long overdue week later nobriga finally replied said department would produce documents wed asked heres weve gotten far copy certificate showing saguaro accredited american correctional association thats rest public records dps willing release cost us 22940 nobriga says department need 1300 hours search documents make redactions well copy estimated 2000 pages documents many states reports would available immediately electronic format click mouse button away hawaii wellknown challenges computer system still youd think reports would neatly tucked away file cabinet somewhere organized date apparently least thats tell us heres say take produce records even dps agrees publicly available math looks like take dps roughly three months find reports want another six months go black stuff dont think made public weve already waiting eight months get point records nobriga says simply cant get either dps believes allowed withhold law department doesnt particular nobriga said reports deaths saguaro prisoners would offlimits citing privacy exemptions frustration legitimate government function elaborate function releasing reports incidents happened several years ago would frustrating nobriga also noted death reports would exempted disclosure another provision limits release reports relating upcoming ongoing pending civil criminal action one case cellmate hawaii prisoner strangled death august 2015 facing murder trial arizona nobriga says dps doesnt copy saguaros useofforce policy even though cca submitted twice statewhen bid contract house hawaii prisoners 2011 2016 nobriga also says department doesnt reports disciplinary segregation lasting 60 days even though cca mandated contract mail hawaii end month mateo caballero legal director american civil liberties union hawaii says fees dps charging appear excessive wholly disproportionate light type reports requested law agencies supposed estimate fees good faith caballero said fee estimates roadblock transparency aclu hawaii runin dps uipa noncompliance 2013 brought lawsuit behalf san francisco law firm paid 5300 fees waited nearly seven months recordsbut avail ultimately court ordered department produce requested records pay 25000 legal fees hawaiis open records laws expansive clear caballero said agencies like department public safety obligation respond requests public records thorough timely manner brian black executive director civil beat law center public interest says department could speed process large request lot things consider stretched farther needed ultimately response wasnt cooperative black said black added youre seeking something proactively trying put free something try conceal behind either time moneytwo different ways disposal hide information nobriga declined talk us story | 644 |
<p>A trio of <a href="" type="internal">mysterious Russian government satellites</a> startled space experts when, shortly after blasting into low orbit between 2013 and 2015, they began dramatically changing their orbits, demonstrating a rare degree of maneuverability for small spacecraft.</p>
<p>Now after being idle for a year or more, two of the mystery-sats are <a href="http://www.russianspaceweb.com/Cosmos-2504.html" type="external">on the move again</a>. On April 20, 2017, one of them reportedly shaved hundreds of meters off its orbit in order to zoom within 1,200 meters of a big chunk of a defunct Chinese weather satellite that China smashed in a controversial 2007 test of an anti-satellite rocket.</p>
<p>By orbital standards, that's pretty close.</p>
<p>The Russian spacecrafts' impressive maneuvers have got observers scratching their heads. No one outside of the Russian government -- and probably the U.S. military -- seems to know for sure what the satellites are for.</p>
<p>Experts say the Russian satellites could be technology-demonstrators. They might also be precursors to orbital weapons.</p>
<p>Either way, the nimble spacecraft are "intriguing," Dr. Laura Grego, a space expert with the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists, told The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>Those who know for sure ... aren't talking. The Russian space agency didn't respond to an email seeking comment -- and has barely mentioned the mystery craft at all since late 2014. The U.S. Air Force, which tracks all the world's satellites, issued the same boilerplate statement it released the first time the Russian satellites started moving around.</p>
<p>"U.S. Strategic Command's ... space component tracks Kosmos-2504 and -2499 ... as well as more than 23,000 man-made, earth-orbiting objects every day," Capt. Nicholas Mercurio, an Air Force spokesman, told The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>The original trio of satellites -- known by their Russian code names Kosmos-2491, Kosmos-2499 and Kosmos-2504 -- seemed to be maneuvering toward specific targets in space when they first began their orbital dances.</p>
<p>Several times in 2014, 2015, and 2016, the roughly 200-pound satellites <a href="http://www.russianspaceweb.com/Cosmos-2499.htm" type="external">moved closer and closer</a> to spent stages of the rockets that had delivered them into orbit, approaching to within a few dozen feet of the old booster shells.</p>
<p>That implied that the Kosmos triplets could be inspection satellites capable of closely matching the orbit of another spacecraft and scanning it, or even physically interacting with it in order to repair, modify or dismantle it. The Pentagon calls these "rendezvous and proximity operations."</p>
<p>Indeed, Anatoly Zak, an independent expert on Russian spacecraft, claimed that the mystery-sats might match the dimensions and performance of a known Russian inspection satellite called Yubileiny.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>The possible war-time applications of inspection satellites are obvious. "You can probably equip them with lasers, maybe put some explosives on them," Zak said of the Kosmos triplets in 2015. "If [one] comes very close to some military satellite, it probably can do some harm."</p>
<p>To be clear, inspection satellites are not new. The U.S. government operates several of them. But secret inspection satellites are rare and potentially problematic, considering how easily they could be converted into weapons.</p>
<p>Moscow took pains to obscure at least one of the Kosmos mystery-sats. The Russian space agency launched Kosmos-2491 aboard a single rocket that also carried three, non-maneuvering communications satellites.</p>
<p>The Russians announced the comms-sats in advance. They didn't mention Kosmos-2491 ... until after foreign and independent spacewatchers saw Kosmos-2491, which they had initially mistaken for debris, move under its own power.</p>
<p>In a brief statement in December 2014, Russian space agency chief Oleg Ostapenko insisted that the maneuverable spacecraft were peaceful in purpose and not, as some feared, "killer satellites."</p>
<p>Kosmos-2491 has apparently been inactive since late 2014. Kosmos-2499 executed dramatic maneuvers in the spring of 2016 then fell idle until March 2017. Kosmos-2504 orbited like dead weight for nearly two years since performing a close pass on a spent rocket stage in October 2015. Around the same time Kosmos-2499 came back to life, Kosmos-2504 began moving closer to that chunk of old Chinese weather satellite.</p>
<p>The periods of idleness are not insignificant, Grego said, while stressing that she had not verified the details of the Russian satellites' recent movements. "I do find very interesting that the satellite would go dormant for two years and then come back to life to maneuver. That could help the satellite be stealthy."</p>
<p>"One strategy to keep maneuvering satellites stealthy is to pretend they are debris -- i.e., not to have them maneuver at all at first, and then come to life later. To be confident this works, you might want to be able to test if your equipment works after being idle for months or years."</p>
<p>Despite the weirdness of the Kosmos crafts' behavior, Brian Weeden, a space expert at the Secure World Foundation in Colorado, cautioned against assuming the mystery-sats are, or will ever be, weapons.</p>
<p>"In most cases, it's far easier to jam a satellite's communications or hit it with a missile than try and do some sort of destructive co-orbital rendezvous," Weeden told The Daily Beast. "The capability to do rendezvous and proximity operations ... has a whole bunch of applications -- civil, commercial and military."</p>
<p>It's worth noting that one of America's own highly-maneuverable spacecraft, the <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/07/x-37b-spaceplane-returns-to-earth-and-makes-precision-autopilot-landing/" type="external">X-37B robotic mini-shuttle</a>, returned to Earth in early May 2017 after spending 718 days in low orbit -- a record for the type.</p>
<p>The Air Force, which operates the two X-37Bs, has always insisted that the maneuverable mini-shuttles are strictly experimental -- but has otherwise declined to discuss the crafts' missions. Much like the Russians with their patient, maneuverable Kosmos sats.</p> | true | 4 | trio mysterious russian government satellites startled space experts shortly blasting low orbit 2013 2015 began dramatically changing orbits demonstrating rare degree maneuverability small spacecraft idle year two mysterysats move april 20 2017 one reportedly shaved hundreds meters orbit order zoom within 1200 meters big chunk defunct chinese weather satellite china smashed controversial 2007 test antisatellite rocket orbital standards thats pretty close russian spacecrafts impressive maneuvers got observers scratching heads one outside russian government probably us military seems know sure satellites experts say russian satellites could technologydemonstrators might also precursors orbital weapons either way nimble spacecraft intriguing dr laura grego space expert massachusettsbased union concerned scientists told daily beast know sure arent talking russian space agency didnt respond email seeking comment barely mentioned mystery craft since late 2014 us air force tracks worlds satellites issued boilerplate statement released first time russian satellites started moving around us strategic commands space component tracks kosmos2504 2499 well 23000 manmade earthorbiting objects every day capt nicholas mercurio air force spokesman told daily beast original trio satellites known russian code names kosmos2491 kosmos2499 kosmos2504 seemed maneuvering toward specific targets space first began orbital dances several times 2014 2015 2016 roughly 200pound satellites moved closer closer spent stages rockets delivered orbit approaching within dozen feet old booster shells implied kosmos triplets could inspection satellites capable closely matching orbit another spacecraft scanning even physically interacting order repair modify dismantle pentagon calls rendezvous proximity operations indeed anatoly zak independent expert russian spacecraft claimed mysterysats might match dimensions performance known russian inspection satellite called yubileiny start finish day top stories daily beast speedy smart summary news need know nothing dont possible wartime applications inspection satellites obvious probably equip lasers maybe put explosives zak said kosmos triplets 2015 one comes close military satellite probably harm clear inspection satellites new us government operates several secret inspection satellites rare potentially problematic considering easily could converted weapons moscow took pains obscure least one kosmos mysterysats russian space agency launched kosmos2491 aboard single rocket also carried three nonmaneuvering communications satellites russians announced commssats advance didnt mention kosmos2491 foreign independent spacewatchers saw kosmos2491 initially mistaken debris move power brief statement december 2014 russian space agency chief oleg ostapenko insisted maneuverable spacecraft peaceful purpose feared killer satellites kosmos2491 apparently inactive since late 2014 kosmos2499 executed dramatic maneuvers spring 2016 fell idle march 2017 kosmos2504 orbited like dead weight nearly two years since performing close pass spent rocket stage october 2015 around time kosmos2499 came back life kosmos2504 began moving closer chunk old chinese weather satellite periods idleness insignificant grego said stressing verified details russian satellites recent movements find interesting satellite would go dormant two years come back life maneuver could help satellite stealthy one strategy keep maneuvering satellites stealthy pretend debris ie maneuver first come life later confident works might want able test equipment works idle months years despite weirdness kosmos crafts behavior brian weeden space expert secure world foundation colorado cautioned assuming mysterysats ever weapons cases far easier jam satellites communications hit missile try sort destructive coorbital rendezvous weeden told daily beast capability rendezvous proximity operations whole bunch applications civil commercial military worth noting one americas highlymaneuverable spacecraft x37b robotic minishuttle returned earth early may 2017 spending 718 days low orbit record type air force operates two x37bs always insisted maneuverable minishuttles strictly experimental otherwise declined discuss crafts missions much like russians patient maneuverable kosmos sats | 560 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, was so eager to see the United States launch a preemptive strike against Iraq in early 2002, that he ordered the CIA to investigate the past work of Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, who in February 2002, was asked to lead a team of U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction, in an attempt to undermine the scientist.</p>
<p>The unusual move by Wolfowitz underscores the steps the Bush administration was willing to take a year before the U.S. invaded Iraq to manipulate and or exaggerate intelligence information to support it’s claims that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the United States and that the only solution to quell the problem was the use of military force.</p>
<p>U.S. military forces in Iraq have yet to find any evidence of WMD. Some U.S. lawmakers have accused the Bush administration of distorting intelligence information, which claimed Iraq possessed tons of chemical and biological agents, to justify the attack to overthrow Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein. Although the Bush administration continues to deny the accusations, evidence, such as the secret report Wolfowitz asked the CIA in January 2002 to produce on Blix, prove that the administration had already decided that removing Saddam from power would require military force and it would do so regardless of the U.N..</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Blix accused the Bush administration of launching a smear campaign against him because he could not find evidence of WMD in Iraq and, he said, he refused to pump up his reports to the U.N. about Iraq’s WMD programs, which would have given the U.S. the evidence it needed to get a majority of U.N. member countries to support a war against Iraq. Instead, Blix said the U.N. inspectors should be allowed more time to conduct searches in Iraq for WMD.</p>
<p>In a June 11 interview with the London Guardian newspaper, Blix said “U.S. officials pressured him to use more damning language when reporting on Iraq’s alleged weapons programs.”</p>
<p>“By and large my relations with the U.S. were good,” Blix told the Guardian. “But toward the end the (Bush) administration leaned on us.'”</p>
<p>Tensions between Blix and the hawks in the Bush administration, such as Wolfowitz, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, go back at least two years, when President Bush, at the urging of Secretary of State Colin Powell, said he wanted the U.N. to resurrect U.N. arms inspections for Iraq.</p>
<p>The move angered some in the administration, such as Wolfowitz, who, according to an April 15 report in the Washington Post, wanted to see military action against Iraq sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>When the U.N. said privately in January 2002 that Blix would lead an inspections team into Iraq, Wolfowitz contacted the CIA to produce a report on why Blix, as chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency during the 1980s and 1990s, failed to detect Iraqi nuclear activity.</p>
<p>But, according to the Washington Post’s April 15, 2002 story, the CIA report said Blix “had conducted inspections of Iraq’s declared nuclear power plants fully within the parameters he could operate as chief of the Vienna-based agency between 1981 and 1997.”</p>
<p>Wolfowitz, according to the Post, quoting a former State Department official familiar with the report, “hit the ceiling” because it failed to provide sufficient ammunition to undermine Blix and, by association, the new U.N. weapons inspection program.”</p>
<p>“The request for a CIA investigation underscored the degree of concern by Wolfowitz and his civilian colleagues in the Pentagon that new inspections — or protracted negotiations over them — could torpedo their plans for military action to remove Hussein from power,” the Post reported.</p>
<p>Soon after the CIA issued its report, the administration began exaggerating intelligence information of Iraq’s weapons programs and, in some cases, forcing intelligence officials to “cook” up information to support a war, according to a Nov. 19, 2002 story in the London Guardian newspaper.</p>
<p>For example, last August, Cheney said Iraq would have nuclear weapons “fairly soon” – in direct contradiction of CIA reports that said it would take at least five more years.</p>
<p>Rumsfeld, in public comments last year, accused Saddam Hussein of providing sanctuary to al-Qaida operatives fleeing Afghanistan – although they had actually traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan, which is outside Saddam’s control, the Guardian reported.</p>
<p>On Feb. 12, 2002, a week or so after the CIA issued its report to Wolfowitz on Blix, reporters questioned Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld about the accuracy of the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq was harboring al-Qaida terrorists and the countries alleged stockpile of WMD, which some news reports said was not true.</p>
<p>Rumsfeld’s response to the reporters’ questions about the accuracy of the information proves that the Defense Secretary cares little about providing the public with thoughtful, intelligent analysis.</p>
<p>“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know,” Rumsfeld said.</p>
<p>But on Wednesday, Rumsfeld and Gen Richard Myers, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, radically changed their stance on the accuracy of such intelligence The officials said at a news conference that intelligence information the U.S. gathered leading up to the war in Iraq that concluded the country possessed WMD may have been wrong.</p>
<p>“Intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean something is true,” Myers said “It’s just — it’s intelligence. You know, it’s your best estimate of the situation. It doesn’t mean it’s a fact. I mean, that’s not what intelligence is. It’s not — they’re — and so you make judgments.”</p>
<p>JASON LEOPOLD can be reached at: <a href="mailto:jasonleopold@hotmail.com" type="external">jasonleopold@hotmail.com</a></p> | true | 4 | 160 paul wolfowitz deputy secretary defense eager see united states launch preemptive strike iraq early 2002 ordered cia investigate past work hans blix chief united nations weapons inspector february 2002 asked lead team un weapons inspectors iraq search weapons mass destruction attempt undermine scientist unusual move wolfowitz underscores steps bush administration willing take year us invaded iraq manipulate exaggerate intelligence information support claims iraq posed immediate threat united states solution quell problem use military force us military forces iraq yet find evidence wmd us lawmakers accused bush administration distorting intelligence information claimed iraq possessed tons chemical biological agents justify attack overthrow iraqs president saddam hussein although bush administration continues deny accusations evidence secret report wolfowitz asked cia january 2002 produce blix prove administration already decided removing saddam power would require military force would regardless un earlier month blix accused bush administration launching smear campaign could find evidence wmd iraq said refused pump reports un iraqs wmd programs would given us evidence needed get majority un member countries support war iraq instead blix said un inspectors allowed time conduct searches iraq wmd june 11 interview london guardian newspaper blix said us officials pressured use damning language reporting iraqs alleged weapons programs large relations us good blix told guardian toward end bush administration leaned us tensions blix hawks bush administration wolfowitz secretary defense donald rumsfeld vice president dick cheney go back least two years president bush urging secretary state colin powell said wanted un resurrect un arms inspections iraq move angered administration wolfowitz according april 15 report washington post wanted see military action iraq sooner rather later un said privately january 2002 blix would lead inspections team iraq wolfowitz contacted cia produce report blix chief international atomic energy agency 1980s 1990s failed detect iraqi nuclear activity according washington posts april 15 2002 story cia report said blix conducted inspections iraqs declared nuclear power plants fully within parameters could operate chief viennabased agency 1981 1997 wolfowitz according post quoting former state department official familiar report hit ceiling failed provide sufficient ammunition undermine blix association new un weapons inspection program request cia investigation underscored degree concern wolfowitz civilian colleagues pentagon new inspections protracted negotiations could torpedo plans military action remove hussein power post reported soon cia issued report administration began exaggerating intelligence information iraqs weapons programs cases forcing intelligence officials cook information support war according nov 19 2002 story london guardian newspaper example last august cheney said iraq would nuclear weapons fairly soon direct contradiction cia reports said would take least five years rumsfeld public comments last year accused saddam hussein providing sanctuary alqaida operatives fleeing afghanistan although actually traveled iraqi kurdistan outside saddams control guardian reported feb 12 2002 week cia issued report wolfowitz blix reporters questioned secretary defense rumsfeld accuracy bush administrations claim iraq harboring alqaida terrorists countries alleged stockpile wmd news reports said true rumsfelds response reporters questions accuracy information proves defense secretary cares little providing public thoughtful intelligent analysis reports say something hasnt happened always interesting know known knowns things know know also know known unknowns say know things know also unknown unknowns ones dont know dont know rumsfeld said wednesday rumsfeld gen richard myers chairman joint chiefs staff radically changed stance accuracy intelligence officials said news conference intelligence information us gathered leading war iraq concluded country possessed wmd may wrong intelligence doesnt necessarily mean something true myers said intelligence know best estimate situation doesnt mean fact mean thats intelligence theyre make judgments jason leopold reached jasonleopoldhotmailcom | 577 |
<p>The “global war on terror” started by President George W. Bush more than a decade ago has taken a new and more sinister turn. Now we know that Barack Obama, the current president, goes through the profiles of people he wants eliminated ( <a href="" type="internal">New York Times</a>, May 29, 2012). He decides their fate in escalating drone wars in a growing number of countries.</p>
<p>Those to be killed may or may not be combatants engaged in war against America. They may or may not even be involved in an armed struggle against a brutal dictatorship which is America’s regional proxy. Mere age of others or their relationship and proximity to the “target” in a loose tribal community can be enough to be given the label of “militant”––a crime punishable by death. In Obama’s world, what else could their motive be if they were in the same area as a “terrorist?” It is a license to kill at will.</p>
<p>But never underestimate the cost of humiliation. For in war victory is never clean, because it empowers the vanquished or their successors to struggle in the future. Recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world confirm this, often unheeded, lesson of history. From Alexander the Great, king of the Macedonian Empire, nearly two-and-a-half millennia ago to date, imperial powers far afield have sent their rampaging armies to conquer and to humiliate the populations of vast fertile lands, cradles of civilization, close to the four great rivers, the Nile, the Euphrates, the Indus and the Hwang He. What has transpired forms a pattern.</p>
<p>Those lands include modern Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the South Asian subcontinent, Pakistan and India in particular. Amid extreme volatility in this region, there has existed something consistent. Alexander’s campaign of conquest finally ran out of steam on the banks of the Hydaspes, modern-day Jhelum river in India and Pakistan. Exhausted, his troops mutinied, refusing to march any further. The rebellion continued later at Opis, a Babylonian city on the east bank of the <a href="" type="internal" />Tigris, where Alexander gave a stirring speech admonishing his troops. But his rhetoric failed.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in the Kunar and Swat valleys, tribes put up extraordinary resistance forewarning one of history’s greatest military geniuses. However, the message from those uprisings was not enough for Alexander to overcome his hubris. After the Battle of Hydaspes, he retreated to Persia, leaving governors he had appointed in charge. They, too, misbehaved. Alexander was exhausted, injured, his aura of invincibility having abandoned him. Alexander became even more brutal. He retreated to Persia and died three years later. A remark attributed to him at the time: “I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.”</p>
<p>The hills and valleys of Swat and Kunar, together with lands of the vast region of South and West Asia, have been subjected to repeated invasions through the centuries. The soil is soaked in blood spilled in violence between invaders and defenders, communities and tribes, whose fortunes and failings have attracted eagle-eyed predators far and near. The soil is fertile for resistance as it is for agriculture. Foreign armies have found this to their detriment time and again.</p>
<p>Subjugation by external forces renders victims helpless, but consolidates their long-term resolve. It breeds local resistance to foreign occupiers and their culture. It results in the colonization of lands occupied by foreign troops, mercenaries, and those wearing civilian hats as administrators and advisers. They engage in activities to extract and sell local assets, manufactured and agricultural goods through market mechanisms created and managed by themselves, not by those who owned them in the first place. Or they use the location of occupied lands to extend their control further.</p>
<p>In Chapter V of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1613821719/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Prince</a>, Niccolo Machiavelli discussed three ways to hold newly acquired states that once had their own sovereign laws. His methods were: by devastating them; going and living there in person; or by letting them keep their own laws, extracting tribute and setting up an oligarchy which will keep the state friendly. Machiavelli’s work is associated with corrupt, manipulative and totalitarian government.</p>
<p>Examples are provided by Spartans and Romans. The Spartans ruled Athens and Thebes through the oligarchies they established there, although in the end they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, destroyed them and so never lost them. They wanted to rule Greece almost as the Spartans did, freely, under its own laws, but they did not succeed. So, in order to maintain their power, they destroyed many cities in that province.</p>
<p>Five centuries after, Machiavellianism, a mishmash of cunning and duplicity, lives on–– despised if words of condemnation were to be believed, but witnessed extensively in practice.</p>
<p>Since the end of the Cold War and the defeat of Soviet communism, the terms of the United States-led Western military campaign for unrestrained access to petroleum and other strategic resources have altered. War today is fought for “freedom” against “terrorism” when both terms remain highly contested. Definitions, when attempted, are arbitrary, incoherent and irrational. The right to use unreserved force under the pretext of “self-defense” for the powerful has superseded the underdog’s right to self-defense and to resist.</p>
<p>We hear the absurd logic of brute military power couched in legal jargon. As an example, the rights of the Israeli state prevail over the basic rights of the Palestinians. Israel is allowed to have its clandestine nuclear weapons program, but no other country in the region. Elections in Iran are “fraudulent” in the absence of irrefutable evidence. But polls are “acceptable” in Afghanistan where plenty of evidence of fraud exists. High-altitude bombing in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and drone attacks killing civilians posthumously described as “militants” or “terrorists” are justified in the “war on terror.” Talk is rare of “night raids”–– a euphemism for breaking into Afghans’ homes at night. Those at the receiving end of such treatment see it as humiliation under foreign occupation.</p>
<p>Loss of possessions is one thing, loss of dignity is quite another. There exists an inverse relationship between humiliation and pride. Take away a people’s dignity and they will be ever more determined to take revenge in the form that their culture and values dictate when the opportunity arises. History has repeatedly shown that the price of great power intervention is high; national humiliation caused to the victim leaves a legacy that haunts the intervenor and tempts the conqueror to resort to even more force.</p>
<p>The dynamic of the victor-vanquished relationship is that the fewer means the humiliated has, the more precious his honor becomes, and the stronger and more determined his retaliatory instinct is. Imperial powers like Britain and Russia––and more recently the United States––have intervened at will in the oil-rich Middle East and surroundings for resources and access to waterways. The legacy of imperial subjugation continues in the form of conflict and social upheaval.</p>
<p>At the advent of the twenty-first century, a decade after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the United States tried to reshape the region in President George W. Bush’s vision.&#160;The world’s greatest military power found the spirit of resistance in the peoples radicalized by past interventions as strong as ever.</p>
<p>When Bush left the White House in January 2009, America was involved in costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, exhausted and in deep economic crisis. Under the Obama presidency, the “war on terror” has been expanded and the economic crisis is deeper, not only for America, but for the entire industrialized world.</p>
<p>Unchecked military power and hubris, seeking pleasure in the abuse and humiliation of others, are corrosive. They take the perpetrator on a path of infamy leading to the abuser’s own humiliation.</p>
<p>War is history’s revenge.</p>
<p>Deepak Tripathi&#160;was&#160;the BBC Afghanistan correspondent in the early 1990s. His works can be found at&#160; <a href="http://deepaktripathi.wordpress.com/" type="external">http://deepaktripathi.wordpress.com</a>&#160;and he can be reached at:&#160; <a href="mailto:dandatripathi@gmail.com" type="external">dandatripathi@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | global war terror started president george w bush decade ago taken new sinister turn know barack obama current president goes profiles people wants eliminated new york times may 29 2012 decides fate escalating drone wars growing number countries killed may may combatants engaged war america may may even involved armed struggle brutal dictatorship americas regional proxy mere age others relationship proximity target loose tribal community enough given label militanta crime punishable death obamas world else could motive area terrorist license kill never underestimate cost humiliation war victory never clean empowers vanquished successors struggle future recent wars iraq afghanistan elsewhere muslim world confirm often unheeded lesson history alexander great king macedonian empire nearly twoandahalf millennia ago date imperial powers far afield sent rampaging armies conquer humiliate populations vast fertile lands cradles civilization close four great rivers nile euphrates indus hwang transpired forms pattern lands include modern iran iraq afghanistan south asian subcontinent pakistan india particular amid extreme volatility region existed something consistent alexanders campaign conquest finally ran steam banks hydaspes modernday jhelum river india pakistan exhausted troops mutinied refusing march rebellion continued later opis babylonian city east bank tigris alexander gave stirring speech admonishing troops rhetoric failed elsewhere kunar swat valleys tribes put extraordinary resistance forewarning one historys greatest military geniuses however message uprisings enough alexander overcome hubris battle hydaspes retreated persia leaving governors appointed charge misbehaved alexander exhausted injured aura invincibility abandoned alexander became even brutal retreated persia died three years later remark attributed time dying treatment many physicians hills valleys swat kunar together lands vast region south west asia subjected repeated invasions centuries soil soaked blood spilled violence invaders defenders communities tribes whose fortunes failings attracted eagleeyed predators far near soil fertile resistance agriculture foreign armies found detriment time subjugation external forces renders victims helpless consolidates longterm resolve breeds local resistance foreign occupiers culture results colonization lands occupied foreign troops mercenaries wearing civilian hats administrators advisers engage activities extract sell local assets manufactured agricultural goods market mechanisms created managed owned first place use location occupied lands extend control chapter v prince niccolo machiavelli discussed three ways hold newly acquired states sovereign laws methods devastating going living person letting keep laws extracting tribute setting oligarchy keep state friendly machiavellis work associated corrupt manipulative totalitarian government examples provided spartans romans spartans ruled athens thebes oligarchies established although end lost romans order hold capua carthage numantia destroyed never lost wanted rule greece almost spartans freely laws succeed order maintain power destroyed many cities province five centuries machiavellianism mishmash cunning duplicity lives despised words condemnation believed witnessed extensively practice since end cold war defeat soviet communism terms united statesled western military campaign unrestrained access petroleum strategic resources altered war today fought freedom terrorism terms remain highly contested definitions attempted arbitrary incoherent irrational right use unreserved force pretext selfdefense powerful superseded underdogs right selfdefense resist hear absurd logic brute military power couched legal jargon example rights israeli state prevail basic rights palestinians israel allowed clandestine nuclear weapons program country region elections iran fraudulent absence irrefutable evidence polls acceptable afghanistan plenty evidence fraud exists highaltitude bombing afghanistan iraq libya drone attacks killing civilians posthumously described militants terrorists justified war terror talk rare night raids euphemism breaking afghans homes night receiving end treatment see humiliation foreign occupation loss possessions one thing loss dignity quite another exists inverse relationship humiliation pride take away peoples dignity ever determined take revenge form culture values dictate opportunity arises history repeatedly shown price great power intervention high national humiliation caused victim leaves legacy haunts intervenor tempts conqueror resort even force dynamic victorvanquished relationship fewer means humiliated precious honor becomes stronger determined retaliatory instinct imperial powers like britain russiaand recently united stateshave intervened oilrich middle east surroundings resources access waterways legacy imperial subjugation continues form conflict social upheaval advent twentyfirst century decade soviet unions collapse united states tried reshape region president george w bushs vision160the worlds greatest military power found spirit resistance peoples radicalized past interventions strong ever bush left white house january 2009 america involved costly wars iraq afghanistan exhausted deep economic crisis obama presidency war terror expanded economic crisis deeper america entire industrialized world unchecked military power hubris seeking pleasure abuse humiliation others corrosive take perpetrator path infamy leading abusers humiliation war historys revenge deepak tripathi160was160the bbc afghanistan correspondent early 1990s works found at160 httpdeepaktripathiwordpresscom160and reached at160 dandatripathigmailcom 160 | 719 |
<p>The Right has a tendency to confuse patriotism with burying your head in the sand.</p>
<p>The culture wars are blazing again. This time, the subject is high school history. The College Board, the private company that administers the Advanced Placement exam, released a new framework for AP history classes. Conservatives reacted with fury.</p>
<p>A Republican National Committee resolution savaged the curricular recommendations as a “radically revisionist slant on history.” Fox News personality and possible 2016 presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson called them so tilted to the left that “most people, when they finish that course, they’d be ready to sign up for ISIS.”</p>
<p>And in Jefferson County, Colorado—one of the fifty biggest school districts in the United States—the controversy has brought the teaching of high school history to a stand-still: After a new conservative majority on the school board ordered a review of the allegedly offensive materials, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/10/03/353327302/school-board-wants-civil-disorder-deemphasized-students-walk-out" type="external">students walked out of class in droves</a>, and dozens of teachers called in sick in protest. As of this writing, matters there remain in a tense standoff.</p>
<p>So what’s behind this impassioned outpouring? In part, the controversy evinces the right-wing antipathy to federal dictates that undercut local control, especially local control of education. Ronald Reagan, for example, in his campaign for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, excoriated the National Education Association for working toward what he called a “national education system”—like the one imposed, a long time ago, in Germany: “They changed their academic system to suit the rule of the dictator. … When [he] said burn the books, they burned the books.”</p>
<p>In this spirit, because the College Board noted that the new AP framework is meant to harmonize with the Obama Administration’s national “Common Core” standards, the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas considered jettisoning AP history courses altogether, consistent with a 2013 law that prohibits the teaching of materials from the Common Core.&#160;There is also is the familiar right-wing criticism of history that allegedly slights the Great White Males in favor of emphasizing the history of women and minorities.</p>
<p>But there is an even more crucial factor at play here: American conservatism’s historic addiction to the power of positive thinking.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t emphasize any positive things,” <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/ap-us-history-controversy_n_5875264.html" type="external">said Jane Robbins</a>, a fellow at something called the American Principles Project. “History class, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/colorado-students-protest-proposed-curriculum-changes/" type="external">echoed Julie Williams</a>, the leader of the Jefferson County School Board’s three-member conservative majority, should predominantly concern “present positive aspects of the United States.”</p>
<p>And that, above all, is what pushed conservative buttons the hardest.</p>
<p>The cult of optimism in education is an old impulse on the right. In 1967, the target was the eighth grade text Land of the Free by the esteemed African-American historian John Hope Franklin. Pasadena’s “Land of the Free Committee” said the book’s “negative thought models” would give our children a “guilt complex.”</p>
<p>Max Rafferty, the California State Commissioner of Education and a conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, said it “tear[s] our country down.” One parent risked legal action rather than let his daughter be in the same room with it.</p>
<p>It was the leading edge of a veritable anti-gloom movement on the Right. Two censorship crusaders from Texas, Mel Gabler and Norma Gabler (who insisted reporters identify them, in patriarchal fashion, as the “Mel Gablers”), soon became household names. They advised their fellow 1970s culture warriors to be on the lookout for the liberal secularists’ most dangerous weapon: books with a “morbid,” “negative,” or “depressing tone.” (One particular target: Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Cask of Amontillado.”)</p>
<p>Acolytes availed themselves of a clause in the Supreme Court’s anti-pornography Miller v. California decision giving municipalities the right to ban expression violating “contemporary community standards”; thus armed, a Ridgefield, Connecticut, school board banned Mike Royko’s biography of Mayor William J. Daley, Boss, explaining that it “portrays politics in an un-American way and we don’t want our kids to know about such things as corrupt politics”—a particularly neat example of the right-wing tendency to confuse patriotism with burying your head in the sand.</p>
<p>In North Dakota, a short story anthology with dark selections by Faulker and Hemingway and James Dickey’s Deliverance were fed to a bonfire, the teacher who assigned them thrown into jail. Kurt Vonnegut’s satire on the America’s firebombing of Dresden was such a bête noire nationwide that it made a cameo in the 1984 movie Footloose. A parent approaches the fundamentalist minister played by Jon Lithgow: “Reverend, we have a little problem. I heard the English teacher is planning to teach that book… Slaughterhouse Five. Isn’t that an awful name?”</p>
<p>Liberals—including those who might not even self-identify as such, since a vision of patriotism that insists on civic self-criticism is indeed ineluctably liberal, just as the conservatives charge—counter with the civic value of history that provides “a full measure of truth about our promises and our problems as Americans” (the president of the California Council of Social Studies, speaking in 1967), asking questions like, “Does that mean we’re going to eliminate slavery from class discussions, because that wasn’t a particularly positive time in our history?” (Jefferson County’s PTA president, just last month).</p>
<p>Well, that sounded like a good idea last year to a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, Laura Murphy, whose son took home a novel <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fairfax-county-parent-wants-beloved-banned-from-school-system/2013/02/07/99521330-6bd1-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html" type="external">he called</a> “disgusting and gross. It was hard for me to handle. I gave up on it.”</p>
<p>The book was Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a discomfiting text that concludes with an escaped slave murdering her two-year-old daughter rather than allow herself to be recaptured.</p>
<p>The school’s English department responded eloquently that the discomfort was the whole point: “Reading and studying books that expose us, imaginatively and safely, to … trouble steels our souls to pull us through our own hard times and leads us to a greater empathy for the plight of our fellow human beings.”</p>
<p>Liberals prevailed in that particular battle: Beloved stayed in the curriculum. But the underlying war will continue. Because whistling past the graveyard has become as much a part of the right wing’s political religion as, well, religion.</p>
<p>Which is funny. I thought conservatives were supposed to believe in America. Don’t they believe it’s strong enough to teach our kids how to think like grownups?</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Rick Perlstein is the author of The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan (2014), Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008), a New York Times bestseller picked as one of the best nonfiction books of the year by over a dozen publications, and Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Award for history.</p> | true | 4 | right tendency confuse patriotism burying head sand culture wars blazing time subject high school history college board private company administers advanced placement exam released new framework ap history classes conservatives reacted fury republican national committee resolution savaged curricular recommendations radically revisionist slant history fox news personality possible 2016 presidential candidate dr ben carson called tilted left people finish course theyd ready sign isis jefferson county coloradoone fifty biggest school districts united statesthe controversy brought teaching high school history standstill new conservative majority school board ordered review allegedly offensive materials students walked class droves dozens teachers called sick protest writing matters remain tense standoff whats behind impassioned outpouring part controversy evinces rightwing antipathy federal dictates undercut local control especially local control education ronald reagan example campaign 1976 republican presidential nomination excoriated national education association working toward called national education systemlike one imposed long time ago germany changed academic system suit rule dictator said burn books burned books spirit college board noted new ap framework meant harmonize obama administrations national common core standards republicancontrolled legislature texas considered jettisoning ap history courses altogether consistent 2013 law prohibits teaching materials common core160there also familiar rightwing criticism history allegedly slights great white males favor emphasizing history women minorities even crucial factor play american conservatisms historic addiction power positive thinking doesnt emphasize positive things said jane robbins fellow something called american principles project history class echoed julie williams leader jefferson county school boards threemember conservative majority predominantly concern present positive aspects united states pushed conservative buttons hardest cult optimism education old impulse right 1967 target eighth grade text land free esteemed africanamerican historian john hope franklin pasadenas land free committee said books negative thought models would give children guilt complex max rafferty california state commissioner education conservative republican candidate us senate said tears country one parent risked legal action rather let daughter room leading edge veritable antigloom movement right two censorship crusaders texas mel gabler norma gabler insisted reporters identify patriarchal fashion mel gablers soon became household names advised fellow 1970s culture warriors lookout liberal secularists dangerous weapon books morbid negative depressing tone one particular target edgar allen poes story cask amontillado acolytes availed clause supreme courts antipornography miller v california decision giving municipalities right ban expression violating contemporary community standards thus armed ridgefield connecticut school board banned mike roykos biography mayor william j daley boss explaining portrays politics unamerican way dont want kids know things corrupt politicsa particularly neat example rightwing tendency confuse patriotism burying head sand north dakota short story anthology dark selections faulker hemingway james dickeys deliverance fed bonfire teacher assigned thrown jail kurt vonneguts satire americas firebombing dresden bête noire nationwide made cameo 1984 movie footloose parent approaches fundamentalist minister played jon lithgow reverend little problem heard english teacher planning teach book slaughterhouse five isnt awful name liberalsincluding might even selfidentify since vision patriotism insists civic selfcriticism indeed ineluctably liberal conservatives chargecounter civic value history provides full measure truth promises problems americans president california council social studies speaking 1967 asking questions like mean going eliminate slavery class discussions wasnt particularly positive time history jefferson countys pta president last month well sounded like good idea last year mother fairfax county virginia laura murphy whose son took home novel called disgusting gross hard handle gave book nobel prize winner toni morrisons beloved discomfiting text concludes escaped slave murdering twoyearold daughter rather allow recaptured schools english department responded eloquently discomfort whole point reading studying books expose us imaginatively safely trouble steels souls pull us hard times leads us greater empathy plight fellow human beings liberals prevailed particular battle beloved stayed curriculum underlying war continue whistling past graveyard become much part right wings political religion well religion funny thought conservatives supposed believe america dont believe strong enough teach kids think like grownups like youve read subscribe times magazine make taxdeductible donation fund reporting rick perlstein author invisible bridge fall nixon rise reagan 2014 nixonland rise president fracturing america 2008 new york times bestseller picked one best nonfiction books year dozen publications storm barry goldwater unmaking american consensus winner 2001 los angeles times book award history | 679 |
<p>President Trump announced yesterday the United States’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Even the specter of withdrawal, which emerged last week, had already done much to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/following-trumps-trip-merkel-says-europe-cant-rely-on-us-anymore/2017/05/28/4c6b92cc-43c1-11e7-8de1-cec59a9bf4b1_story.html" type="external">damage</a> U.S. standing on the international stage. It motivated <a href="http://mashable.com/2017/05/10/paris-climate-agreement-elon-musk-trump/#3ZrRrCni_qqE" type="external">chief executives of the world’s largest companies</a>, including the head of Exxon Mobil, to lobby President Trump in hopes that he would stay in the deal. These businesses have argued, along with a growing chorus of Washington commentators, that exiting the accord would harm the United States not just diplomatically, but economically, by undermining U.S. competitiveness in global markets, and by destroying the stability required for long-term investment.</p>
<p>But, in the broader context of a world that has largely committed itself to a clean energy future, President Trump’s decision may represent the opening for an alternative window for American climate leadership—in particular, American leadership from the state of California.</p>
<p>Last November, a week after Donald Trump’s election, I traveled to the U.N. Climate Conference in Marrakech. I was there to export and endorse California’s <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-climate-deal-inside-look-20160902-snap-htmlstory.html" type="external">new climate policy model</a>, which I had helped enact two months earlier. California’s new laws represented the most ambitious climate policy on the planet. Through legislation known as <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB32" type="external">SB 32</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB197" type="external">AB 197</a>, we set a 2030 deadline for cutting our climate pollution levels to 40 percent below 1990 levels, and we bound the state to a set of climate justice guidelines that required much greater transparency, accountability, and social equity.</p>
<p>SB 32, the climate bill endorsed by the environmental establishment, and AB 197, authored by an emergent social justice community, were procedurally joined together, in a symbolic leap of faith. The respective constituencies behind each bill recognized that an agenda focused on climate could only succeed if it ultimately accrued to the benefit of everyday Californians. Yet this coalition didn’t come together overnight. It coalesced over many months of long nights, constant, and at times difficult, communication amongst a small working group including parties from both camps. But with hard work, we developed strong relationships. And, together, we outlined a set of broad policy principles prioritizing not just the environment, but also public health, social justice, and economic equity. From there, our little working group ultimately spawned an alliance between coastal liberals and Central Valley moderates—an unconventional, Californian partnership that fastened an effort to improve health and economic outcomes in local communities to one aimed at preventing global warming.</p>
<p>For the international audience gathered in Marrakech for the 2016 Climate Conference, long split by deep divisions between the “global north” and “global south,” California’s state-level compromise, which had helped bridge fissures along lines of race and economic status, was powerfully on point. Telling this story in Marrakech was important because leaders at the UNFCCC (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) had perennially struggled to bridge a similar gap. They’d enticed poor, developing nations poised to emit more in the future, into a deal with rich, developed nations that had historically contributed more to global warming, by offering technical assistance and funding. But an outcomes-focused California model linking climate pollution reduction with local programs that deliver access to new technology and cleaner air could have sparked a new, and meaningful, alignment.</p>
<p>But after Trump’s election, California’s success seemed quaint. The President had campaigned on a platform that included a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which, in 2016, was widely viewed as the world’s last, best hope for surviving climate change. After yesterday’s announcement of a formal withdrawal, however, California’s leadership has never been so critical.</p>
<p>Before Trump even announced a formal decision on the Paris Agreement, his Administration had already achieved a constructive withdrawal through domestic policy.</p>
<p>Under an “America First” banner, the Administration has hit “undo” on just about every pillar of the Obama Administration’s climate edifice.&#160;Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao&#160; <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-reexamine-emission-standards-cars-and-light-duty-trucks-model-years-2022-2025" type="external">have announced</a>&#160;that their agencies will revisit the&#160; <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/28/obama-administration-finalizes-historic-545-mpg-fuel-efficiency-standard" type="external">historic “car deal”</a>&#160;that integrated California’s greenhouse gas emissions standards with federal fuel economy standards, and promised to deliver more than $1.7 trillion in savings at the pump, as well as billions of barrels fewer in imported foreign oil.&#160;Through other executive action and other acts of Congress since Trump’s inauguration, a host of regulations that aimed to evaluate the impacts of carbon on our economy and public health have been&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/02/climate/environmental-rules-reversed-trump-100-days.html" type="external">withdrawn, revoked, rejected, reviewed, reopened, or delayed</a>.&#160;And two weeks ago we learned that the&#160; <a href="http://www.utilitydive.com/news/report-epa-has-early-draft-of-clean-power-plan-rollback/443585/" type="external">EPA has circulated an early draft</a>&#160;of a rule that will dismantle the Clean Power Plan (CPP), President Obama’s signature carbon policy designed to reduce emissions from the electricity sector.</p>
<p>Together, these rules constituted the lion’s share of the U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreement.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2017-05-22/paris-isnt-burning?cid=otr-prerelease-paris_isnt_burning-052417" type="external">consensus view</a> had emerged that a formal U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement would accomplish three additional things: First, it would demoralize, and then embolden, major foreign emitters like India and China—already reticent to commit to a global reductions regime—to pare down their contributions; second, it would weaken our diplomatic standing in the world; and third, it would position our economic competitors to win the race for domination of the clean energy economy. This consensus is undoubtedly accurate with the following revision: While the U.S. withdrawal has already diminished our diplomatic standing (for example, Angela Merkel’s comments this week about Europe and American leadership) and <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2017/05/31/u-s-china-climate-summit-wont-happen-in-boston.html" type="external">ceded ground</a> on the international economic front, it has had the inverse effect of motivating foreign actors to do <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/585f1946-45e2-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996" type="external">more to reduce their emissions</a>.</p>
<p>President Trump’s abdication of responsibility on climate opens the door for California to chart a new global leadership, as it has for other nation-states as well. This is more than a silver lining. It is a golden opportunity. This year alone, the state is considering action in the following areas: a <a href="http://sd24.senate.ca.gov/news/2017-05-02-california-senate-leader-introduces-100-percent-clean-energy-measure" type="external">100 percent renewable energy portfolio</a>; a statewide <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB700" type="external">energy-storage initiative</a> that would catalyze the nascent industry; and a <a href="https://www.arb.ca.gov/board/books/2017/032317/17-3-8pres.pdf" type="external">renewed zeal for zero-emission transportation</a> in the state. Next week, Governor Brown will travel to China to discuss progress on a series of climate partnerships, as well as his <a href="http://under2mou.org/the-mou/" type="external">Under 2 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)</a>, effectively a Paris Agreement for sub-national governments, which has garnered climate policy commitments from 170 jurisdictions in 33 countries.</p>
<p>As the state moves forward on these initiatives, it is worth remembering that the foundation for U.S. climate policy actually found its first footing in California.&#160;Dating back to the 1960s, Congress expressly granted California the authority—through the “California Waiver”—to implement automobile pollution standards that exceeded federal rules. The Waiver has done a lot of good: In the 1970s, it bred technology-forcing regulations like the one that produced the catalytic converter, which transforms dangerous smog-forming pollutants into innocuous gases; later, these regulations accelerated the development of electric vehicles; and, in 2002, it allowed for California’s “Pavley Standards,” the nation’s first-ever tailpipe standards for climate pollution. By 2009, because enough states had adopted California’s vehicle standards—representing more than 40 percent of the U.S. population—President Obama was able to broker a deal with automakers to harmonize federal and California standards into one uniform, national rule, which, for the first time ever, regulated climate pollution from cars and trucks.</p>
<p>But it was when greenhouse gases (GHGs) became “regulated pollutants” under the Clean Air Act that things got interesting. As soon as the EPA sets binding standards for a pollutant under one section of the Act, that pollutant becomes <a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/freeman/HLE209-2.pdf" type="external">ripe for regulation under other parts of the Act</a>. This meant that the “car deal,” which set GHG emissions standards, triggered the EPA’s ability to do so from stationary sources, like power plants and refineries. The President now had before him a legal case for regulating climate pollution from across the U.S. economy. And, voilà: the Clean Power Plan. The reach of the California Waiver had gone national.</p>
<p>Administrator Pruitt is now scrambling, retroactively, to unravel each of these authorities. It may be too late to matter because California’s clean energy economy is already around the bend, at escape velocity.</p>
<p>The state is truly building the grid of the future. In recent years, solar and wind power have become at least competitive with, and in some cases less expensive than, natural gas and coal. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2014/09/19/the-coming-era-of-unlimited-and-free-clean-energy/?utm_term=.e34dabcf4558" type="external">A futurist vision of free energy</a>&#160;seems increasingly doable.&#160;After recently deciding to decommission the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear power plants, the state’s plan to replace those massive resources with cheap renewables, battery storage, and energy efficiency is not unfathomable.&#160;(Although it’s an idea that would not have passed the laugh test just a decade ago.) When the Aliso Canyon gas leak, last year, threatened the Los Angeles Basin with blackouts, policymakers enlisted Tesla and independent power producer AES Energy Storage to install new battery storage rather than re-up on natural gas. And for a <a href="https://twitter.com/California_ISO/status/864182820364730368/photo/1" type="external">moment in May</a>, more than two-thirds of the electricity conveyed on the grid came from renewable resources.</p>
<p>More advanced, clean cars are also making their way into the mainstream. California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle regulations have resulted in more than two-dozen different models of electric or low-emission vehicles coming on the market in the state. (Tesla’s success speaks for itself, but it’s worth reminding the world of the over 300,000 Model 3 pre-orders it received in just one weekend.) General Motors has now invested $500 million in Lyft, as part of a plan to deploy thousands of self-driving, all-electric Bolts. Volkswagen, albeit by court order, is investing nearly a billion dollars in California for electric vehicle infrastructure. And utility companies are getting into the game, too. The state’s three investor-owned utilities have allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to build vehicle-charging stations throughout the state. California’s electric transportation market also represents a rare business opportunity for the utilities industry, which has been struggling to create revenues in an industry plagued by stagnant growth.</p>
<p>Despite the important advances the state has made, the conditions that initially gave rise to California’s exceptional status under the Clean Air Act, while much improved, remain stubbornly pervasive. California is still home to <a href="https://qz.com/963089/california-is-home-to-eight-of-the-10-cities-in-america-where-air-pollution-is-worst/" type="external">eight of the ten most polluted cities in America</a>. The California Air Resources Board blames thousands of premature deaths, sick days, and school absences on the emissions of smog-forming gases, and particulate matter associated with the transportation of goods. One corner of Los Angeles is now referred to by locals as <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-air-pollution24-2009sep24-story.html" type="external">“cancer alley,”</a> sitting at the intersection of a congested highway, the nation’s busiest port, and a rail depot. And this is to say nothing of the record drought and debilitating heat that has become commonplace in our agricultural heartland, from Coachella to Chowchilla, or of the wildfires, floods, and creeping seashores.</p>
<p>Yet the people of California understand that a cleaner grid, and less polluting cars and trucks, help turn the tide of both climate pollution and local air contaminants. They see their neighbors employed in new jobs that are part of this growing economy. (Last year, with California leading the pack, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/25/u-s-solar-energy-employs-more-people-than-oil-coal-and-gas-combined-infographic/#6ca0fbd32800" type="external">solar industry employed more workers</a> than coal and natural gas combined.) And organizing around this issue has only grown stronger as a consequence. It’s no wonder that addressing climate change <a href="http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1172" type="external">perennially registers</a> as one of the most popular matters for voters in the state—including a majority of voters who believe the state should tackle global warming, even if doing so means increased costs.</p>
<p>So while many of us mourn President Trump’s decision, let us not forget that California continues to present an opportunity the international climate community can relish. When I traveled with President Obama to the same U.N. Climate Conference in 2009, I remember feeling struck by the audacity of California’s leadership there. What was California doing there, scheduling press conferences, and making various state policy announcements? But I’d missed the point. The parties to the conference, as I later came to understand, were only as good as their subordinate regional governments. Which meant we were only as good as California. Right now, the world could use more of California’s innovation, and more of its pluck. We need to follow the leadership of those there who are proving that economic dynamism and carbon emissions are <a href="http://calenergycommission.blogspot.com/2017/01/greenhouse-gas-emissions-decline.html" type="external">not inextricably linked</a>. We need a little of California’s courage to rub off on the rest of the world, so that the international community can finally bridge its divides and shine a light on historic and long-ignored environmental and economic injustices, rather just placating and papering over them.</p>
<p>During President Trump’s announcement today, he returned to a familiar trope: a campaign-style crusade on behalf of ordinary Americans—“I represent the citizens&#160;of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Evidently, President Trump is not aware that the people of Pittsburgh have benefited from California’s environmental ingenuity, too. When Pennsylvania adopted California’s auto emissions standards in 2008—long before they became part of a national rule, or an international accord—it did so because scientific studies had shown that California’s program provided significantly higher levels of pollution reduction than the existing federal standard. Ironically, the truly populist policy option was California’s, which ensured healthier lungs and safer communities than any amount of presidential bluster can pretend to deliver.</p>
<p>There is no escaping the fact that yesterday&#160;was a bad day. But there’s work to do. California has lit the way forward and now it’s time to follow.</p> | true | 4 | president trump announced yesterday united statess withdrawal paris agreement even specter withdrawal emerged last week already done much damage us standing international stage motivated chief executives worlds largest companies including head exxon mobil lobby president trump hopes would stay deal businesses argued along growing chorus washington commentators exiting accord would harm united states diplomatically economically undermining us competitiveness global markets destroying stability required longterm investment broader context world largely committed clean energy future president trumps decision may represent opening alternative window american climate leadershipin particular american leadership state california last november week donald trumps election traveled un climate conference marrakech export endorse californias new climate policy model helped enact two months earlier californias new laws represented ambitious climate policy planet legislation known sb 32160and160 ab 197 set 2030 deadline cutting climate pollution levels 40 percent 1990 levels bound state set climate justice guidelines required much greater transparency accountability social equity sb 32 climate bill endorsed environmental establishment ab 197 authored emergent social justice community procedurally joined together symbolic leap faith respective constituencies behind bill recognized agenda focused climate could succeed ultimately accrued benefit everyday californians yet coalition didnt come together overnight coalesced many months long nights constant times difficult communication amongst small working group including parties camps hard work developed strong relationships together outlined set broad policy principles prioritizing environment also public health social justice economic equity little working group ultimately spawned alliance coastal liberals central valley moderatesan unconventional californian partnership fastened effort improve health economic outcomes local communities one aimed preventing global warming international audience gathered marrakech 2016 climate conference long split deep divisions global north global south californias statelevel compromise helped bridge fissures along lines race economic status powerfully point telling story marrakech important leaders unfccc united nations framework convention climate change perennially struggled bridge similar gap theyd enticed poor developing nations poised emit future deal rich developed nations historically contributed global warming offering technical assistance funding outcomesfocused california model linking climate pollution reduction local programs deliver access new technology cleaner air could sparked new meaningful alignment trumps election californias success seemed quaint president campaigned platform included withdrawal paris agreement 2016 widely viewed worlds last best hope surviving climate change yesterdays announcement formal withdrawal however californias leadership never critical trump even announced formal decision paris agreement administration already achieved constructive withdrawal domestic policy america first banner administration hit undo every pillar obama administrations climate edifice160environmental protection agency epa administrator scott pruitt department transportation dot secretary elaine chao160 announced160that agencies revisit the160 historic car deal160that integrated californias greenhouse gas emissions standards federal fuel economy standards promised deliver 17 trillion savings pump well billions barrels fewer imported foreign oil160through executive action acts congress since trumps inauguration host regulations aimed evaluate impacts carbon economy public health been160 withdrawn revoked rejected reviewed reopened delayed160and two weeks ago learned the160 epa circulated early draft160of rule dismantle clean power plan cpp president obamas signature carbon policy designed reduce emissions electricity sector together rules constituted lions share us commitment paris agreement consensus view emerged formal us withdrawal paris agreement would accomplish three additional things first would demoralize embolden major foreign emitters like india chinaalready reticent commit global reductions regimeto pare contributions second would weaken diplomatic standing world third would position economic competitors win race domination clean energy economy consensus undoubtedly accurate following revision us withdrawal already diminished diplomatic standing example angela merkels comments week europe american leadership ceded ground international economic front inverse effect motivating foreign actors reduce emissions president trumps abdication responsibility climate opens door california chart new global leadership nationstates well silver lining golden opportunity year alone state considering action following areas 100 percent renewable energy portfolio statewide energystorage initiative would catalyze nascent industry renewed zeal zeroemission transportation state next week governor brown travel china discuss progress series climate partnerships well 2 memorandum understanding mou effectively paris agreement subnational governments garnered climate policy commitments 170 jurisdictions 33 countries state moves forward initiatives worth remembering foundation us climate policy actually found first footing california160dating back 1960s congress expressly granted california authoritythrough california waiverto implement automobile pollution standards exceeded federal rules waiver done lot good 1970s bred technologyforcing regulations like one produced catalytic converter transforms dangerous smogforming pollutants innocuous gases later regulations accelerated development electric vehicles 2002 allowed californias pavley standards nations firstever tailpipe standards climate pollution 2009 enough states adopted californias vehicle standardsrepresenting 40 percent us populationpresident obama able broker deal automakers harmonize federal california standards one uniform national rule first time ever regulated climate pollution cars trucks greenhouse gases ghgs became regulated pollutants clean air act things got interesting soon epa sets binding standards pollutant one section act pollutant becomes ripe regulation parts act meant car deal set ghg emissions standards triggered epas ability stationary sources like power plants refineries president legal case regulating climate pollution across us economy voilà clean power plan reach california waiver gone national administrator pruitt scrambling retroactively unravel authorities may late matter californias clean energy economy already around bend escape velocity state truly building grid future recent years solar wind power become least competitive cases less expensive natural gas coal futurist vision free energy160seems increasingly doable160after recently deciding decommission san onofre diablo canyon nuclear power plants states plan replace massive resources cheap renewables battery storage energy efficiency unfathomable160although idea would passed laugh test decade ago aliso canyon gas leak last year threatened los angeles basin blackouts policymakers enlisted tesla independent power producer aes energy storage install new battery storage rather reup natural gas moment may twothirds electricity conveyed grid came renewable resources advanced clean cars also making way mainstream californias zeroemission vehicle regulations resulted twodozen different models electric lowemission vehicles coming market state teslas success speaks worth reminding world 300000 model 3 preorders received one weekend general motors invested 500 million lyft part plan deploy thousands selfdriving allelectric bolts volkswagen albeit court order investing nearly billion dollars california electric vehicle infrastructure utility companies getting game states three investorowned utilities allocated hundreds millions dollars build vehiclecharging stations throughout state californias electric transportation market also represents rare business opportunity utilities industry struggling create revenues industry plagued stagnant growth despite important advances state made conditions initially gave rise californias exceptional status clean air act much improved remain stubbornly pervasive california still home eight ten polluted cities america california air resources board blames thousands premature deaths sick days school absences emissions smogforming gases particulate matter associated transportation goods one corner los angeles referred locals cancer alley sitting intersection congested highway nations busiest port rail depot say nothing record drought debilitating heat become commonplace agricultural heartland coachella chowchilla wildfires floods creeping seashores yet people california understand cleaner grid less polluting cars trucks help turn tide climate pollution local air contaminants see neighbors employed new jobs part growing economy last year california leading pack solar industry employed workers coal natural gas combined organizing around issue grown stronger consequence wonder addressing climate change perennially registers one popular matters voters stateincluding majority voters believe state tackle global warming even means increased costs many us mourn president trumps decision let us forget california continues present opportunity international climate community relish traveled president obama un climate conference 2009 remember feeling struck audacity californias leadership california scheduling press conferences making various state policy announcements id missed point parties conference later came understand good subordinate regional governments meant good california right world could use californias innovation pluck need follow leadership proving economic dynamism carbon emissions inextricably linked need little californias courage rub rest world international community finally bridge divides shine light historic longignored environmental economic injustices rather placating papering president trumps announcement today returned familiar trope campaignstyle crusade behalf ordinary americansi represent citizens160of pittsburgh paris evidently president trump aware people pittsburgh benefited californias environmental ingenuity pennsylvania adopted californias auto emissions standards 2008long became part national rule international accordit scientific studies shown californias program provided significantly higher levels pollution reduction existing federal standard ironically truly populist policy option californias ensured healthier lungs safer communities amount presidential bluster pretend deliver escaping fact yesterday160was bad day theres work california lit way forward time follow | 1,331 |
<p>Elections in Kenya are characterised by elite corruption, electoral fraud, and repression of the people. They grow out of a politics of rapacious elites who concentrate their energies on looting state resources in well-nigh flagrant fashion, using violence and intimidation to avoid any possible accountability. This occurs from the highest levels of society. Both President Uhuru Kenyatta, and his deputy, William Ruto, were indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity (for organising and supporting the huge violence during elections in 2007-08) but the cases collapsed as witnesses declined to come forward or mysteriously died.</p>
<p>Impunity accompanies looting of the state and, according to a 2008 <a href="" type="internal">Human Rights Watch</a> report, lies at the heart of Kenya’s governance. Impunity for politicians suspected of state plunder has become a “national tradition” which has not only raised the stakes but, since transgressors are not punished, also allows the uses of violence and murder to continue. Politicians who have been publicly named for their role in political violence have remained in parliament and were appointed to cabinet, among them, George Saitori and William Ole Ntimama in the cabinet of President Mwai Kibaki. Some of those named for fomenting violence through the 1990s and in 2002 continued in parliament in 2007-08.</p>
<p>Aside from supposed spontaneous tribalism, violence has taken three main forms. First is manipulation of the poor and unemployed. As <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-kenyan-election-frontrunner-whos-wanted-in-the-hague-and-running-for-the-presidency-8517431.html" type="external">Daniel Howden</a> instanced in 2013, “political barons marshalled armies drawn from the young and unemployed” and set them against their rivals with guns and machetes. The Human Rights Watch reports that, in one district in Central province, politicians incited militias to attack supporters of rivals and populations unlikely to vote for them. Another method was assassination of prominent or key figures. Pio Gama Pinto and Tom Mboya were killed in the early years of independence and, at the end of July this year, <a href="" type="internal">Chris Msando</a> was brutally tortured and murdered, together with a young woman, Carol Ngumbu, who was with him at the time, ten days before the August election. Msando was in charge of the electronic system for transmitting results from polling stations, and had reportedly been complaining to police of death threats for weeks before he was murdered. His gruesome fate was a clear warning to other such personnel to stay in line. Kenya is now ranked top in Africa for <a href="" type="internal">extrajudicial killings</a>, with 122 out of 177 for the whole of Africa. <a href="https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/kenyadeathsquads/" type="external">Al Jazeera</a> reports that both Great Britain and Israel train death squads in “how to eliminate”. Then there is arbitrary—creating a sense of total—violence. In 2013 police killed some 1,300 people when they targeted even individuals who had not been involved in demonstrations, and fired live rounds and gas canisters into the flimsy shacks of the poor at night, well after the unrest had ceased. Today, this premeditated, direct brutality is still being practised by police who killed at least 28 people just after the voting in August.</p>
<p>Revealingly, the costs of presidential elections in Kenya are outstandingly high. The country’s treasury estimated the polling in August would cost $480 million, in one of the most expensive elections ever held in Africa. In these conditions, wealth is almost a form of violence in itself. President Uhuru Kenyatta stands at the system’s pinnacle. He had acquired what was termed the <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21573596-uhuru-kenyatta-must-convince-kenyans-he-his-own-man-chip-old" type="external">fabulous wealth</a> of his father, President Jomo Kenyatta, and regularly features on the lists of the wealthiest Africans. His family was said to own half a million acres of land, and has interests in banking, property, an airline and a television network.</p>
<p>After independence, the Kikuyu whistleblower and, from 2002 to 2005, President Mwai Kibaki’s anti-corruption tsar, <a href="" type="internal">John Githongo</a>, documented how Jomo Kenyatta and his Kikuyu inner circle steadily plundered the country, ensuring that they and neighbouring communities, like the Meru and Embu, kept acquiring land. It was not just Kenyatta. One particular financial scam of the late 1990s, known as <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/13176864" type="external">Anglo-Leasing</a> “creamed-off some $750 million mainly by overcharging the state.” After his death in 1978 Jomo Kenyatta was followed by Daniel Arap Moi, who declared that his philosophy was walking in the “Footsteps”, so the big things remained in place. A system of “authorised looting” cost taxpayers approximately $10 billion.</p>
<p>The ruling elite protects its interests by extending the spoils system to all MPs. The 500 or so parliamentarians (National Assembly and Senate) are among the highest paid in the world, obtaining a monthly salary at the time of the last electoral cataclysm in 2013 of about $10,000, with generous perks and benefits on top of that (including the provision of an armed guard). For the employed at the time, average incomes in Kenya were below $2,000 a year.</p>
<p>Pork-barrelling, elitist tribalism, and electoral fraud are interlinked, and 2017 had its precursors. John Githongo reported that when, late in the 2007-08 election, which began at the end of December and stretched into the New Year, it seemed that Raila Odinga, a populist Luo candidate, was winning, the old guard around President Kibaki set about fiddling the result. By December 30 glaring disparities were evident in the voting figures released at constituency level and those presented by the electoral commission in Nairobi. Kibaki was declared winner by just 232,000 votes, and hastily sworn in. The group known as the Mount Kenya Mafia had, Githongo noted, a massive network of civil servants, intelligence agents, generals and police chiefs to do their bidding: the bidding of Kibaki then, and of Uhuru Kenyatta now.</p>
<p>The August presidential election of 2017 appeared to go well. Donors had spent some $24 million on an electronic vote-tallying system, intended to prevent interference. On August 11 the electoral commission announced that Kenyatta had won another five-year term with over 54 per cent of the vote. Various observer groups, including the Carter Center, led by former Secretary of State John Kerry, announced that they had no evidence of significant fraud. Congratulations poured in. Departing Kenya, Kerry praised the electoral commission for doing “an extraordinary job”, and even admonished the opposition to “get over it and move on.”</p>
<p>Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA), thought differently. On August 18 he submitted a petition asking the Supreme Court to annul the vote, claiming that nearly half of all votes cast had been tampered with; that secret, unofficial polling stations had transmitted false votes to Nairobi; and that NASA’s official observers had been expelled from polling stations in Kenyatta’s strongholds. On August 29, the registrar of the Supreme Court reported that some <a href="" type="internal">five million votes were not verified</a>.</p>
<p>Shortly afterwards, in a four-two decision, the six-judge bench of the <a href="" type="internal">Supreme Court</a> nullified the presidential election, ruling that the voting had been hacked and manipulated in favour of the incumbent. The commission had “failed or neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution.” The electoral commission, in particular, had committed “illegalities and irregularities”. The election was therefore invalid and the judges ordered a new vote within 60 days.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Kenyatta said</a> he “respect[ed]” the decision, but regretted that “six people have decided they will go against the will of the people”. Many noted that the courts in Kenya had long been subservient to the president. Odinga hailed an “exceptional example for all of Africa.” There were many “fundamental decisions” that now had to be made, including “who will conduct the next election?” It was clear that “the entire electoral commission is rotten.”</p>
<p>The Past and the Future</p>
<p>It will be difficult for Odinga, NASA and poor Kenyans to follow Kerry’s glib “time to move on”. The roots of the present conflict lie some 60 years deep in Kenyan society, going back to the ascendancy of the Kikuyu “Loyalist” landed elite in the last years of settler-colonial Kenya. From the 1940s to 1963, a rising rich peasantry and aspirant rural capitalist class were assisted by colonialism to act as a sociopolitical bulwark against a poor, landless peasantry in the central highlands. Not for the first or last time, colonialism badly misread the situation. By no means what the last governor histrionically called “the leader to darkness and death”, Jomo Kenyatta was far from leading but, rather, trying to fend off the poor peasant uprising he had correctly anticipated. In their deeply inequitable struggle for land and freedom they constituted the losing side in the undeclared civil war in the highlands.</p>
<p>The struggle became overt when the British declared a state of emergency in October 1952 and attacked the peasant freedom movement on various fronts. One was psychological, with the name <a href="" type="internal">Mau Mau</a>, intended to besmirch and weaken the 20,000 men and women fighting wars against well-equipped colonial forces. Appeals to supposed civilised values were also intended to isolate the approximately 1.5 million people thought to have proclaimed allegiance to the movement, that is, nearly the entire Kikuyu population. The struggle also went on in a system of detention camps—or what <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Britains-Gulag-Brutal-Empire-Kenya/dp/1844135489" type="external">Caroline Elkins</a> calls “Britain’s Gulag”—where barbaric torture took place. Elkins estimates that “perhaps hundreds of thousands” were killed, for which, despite overwhelming evidence in the colonial documents themselves, she was lambasted by historians for committing <a href="" type="internal">“blood libels</a>”·against Great Britain.</p>
<p>Jomo Kenyatta was released from banishment to become extremely rich, and his son Uhuru is now his inheritor. Oginga Odinga, the country’s first vice-president (and, incidentally, author of an autobiography called Not Yet Uhuru), was widely seen as his likely successor but the prize went instead, in an intense Cold War environment, to Moi. Nevertheless, memories of the Land and Freedom army remain: thousands of survivors are pressing claims for compensation from Britain. 5,000 of them were given 20 million British pounds in 2013, and 40,000 more are claiming some 200 million. Kenyatta and Odinga represent the poles in Kenya’s conflict. A lot more than a re-run of the August poll will be necessary to end the violence that has lasted so long and runs so deep.</p>
<p>Kenneth Good is&#160;professor of political studies, University of Botswana, 1990-2005, and honorary fellow, global studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.</p> | true | 4 | elections kenya characterised elite corruption electoral fraud repression people grow politics rapacious elites concentrate energies looting state resources wellnigh flagrant fashion using violence intimidation avoid possible accountability occurs highest levels society president uhuru kenyatta deputy william ruto indicted international criminal court crimes humanity organising supporting huge violence elections 200708 cases collapsed witnesses declined come forward mysteriously died impunity accompanies looting state according 2008 human rights watch report lies heart kenyas governance impunity politicians suspected state plunder become national tradition raised stakes since transgressors punished also allows uses violence murder continue politicians publicly named role political violence remained parliament appointed cabinet among george saitori william ole ntimama cabinet president mwai kibaki named fomenting violence 1990s 2002 continued parliament 200708 aside supposed spontaneous tribalism violence taken three main forms first manipulation poor unemployed daniel howden instanced 2013 political barons marshalled armies drawn young unemployed set rivals guns machetes human rights watch reports one district central province politicians incited militias attack supporters rivals populations unlikely vote another method assassination prominent key figures pio gama pinto tom mboya killed early years independence end july year chris msando brutally tortured murdered together young woman carol ngumbu time ten days august election msando charge electronic system transmitting results polling stations reportedly complaining police death threats weeks murdered gruesome fate clear warning personnel stay line kenya ranked top africa extrajudicial killings 122 177 whole africa al jazeera reports great britain israel train death squads eliminate arbitrarycreating sense totalviolence 2013 police killed 1300 people targeted even individuals involved demonstrations fired live rounds gas canisters flimsy shacks poor night well unrest ceased today premeditated direct brutality still practised police killed least 28 people voting august revealingly costs presidential elections kenya outstandingly high countrys treasury estimated polling august would cost 480 million one expensive elections ever held africa conditions wealth almost form violence president uhuru kenyatta stands systems pinnacle acquired termed fabulous wealth father president jomo kenyatta regularly features lists wealthiest africans family said half million acres land interests banking property airline television network independence kikuyu whistleblower 2002 2005 president mwai kibakis anticorruption tsar john githongo documented jomo kenyatta kikuyu inner circle steadily plundered country ensuring neighbouring communities like meru embu kept acquiring land kenyatta one particular financial scam late 1990s known angloleasing creamedoff 750 million mainly overcharging state death 1978 jomo kenyatta followed daniel arap moi declared philosophy walking footsteps big things remained place system authorised looting cost taxpayers approximately 10 billion ruling elite protects interests extending spoils system mps 500 parliamentarians national assembly senate among highest paid world obtaining monthly salary time last electoral cataclysm 2013 10000 generous perks benefits top including provision armed guard employed time average incomes kenya 2000 year porkbarrelling elitist tribalism electoral fraud interlinked 2017 precursors john githongo reported late 200708 election began end december stretched new year seemed raila odinga populist luo candidate winning old guard around president kibaki set fiddling result december 30 glaring disparities evident voting figures released constituency level presented electoral commission nairobi kibaki declared winner 232000 votes hastily sworn group known mount kenya mafia githongo noted massive network civil servants intelligence agents generals police chiefs bidding bidding kibaki uhuru kenyatta august presidential election 2017 appeared go well donors spent 24 million electronic votetallying system intended prevent interference august 11 electoral commission announced kenyatta another fiveyear term 54 per cent vote various observer groups including carter center led former secretary state john kerry announced evidence significant fraud congratulations poured departing kenya kerry praised electoral commission extraordinary job even admonished opposition get move raila odinga leader opposition national super alliance nasa thought differently august 18 submitted petition asking supreme court annul vote claiming nearly half votes cast tampered secret unofficial polling stations transmitted false votes nairobi nasas official observers expelled polling stations kenyattas strongholds august 29 registrar supreme court reported five million votes verified shortly afterwards fourtwo decision sixjudge bench supreme court nullified presidential election ruling voting hacked manipulated favour incumbent commission failed neglected refused conduct presidential election manner consistent dictates constitution electoral commission particular committed illegalities irregularities election therefore invalid judges ordered new vote within 60 days kenyatta said respected decision regretted six people decided go people many noted courts kenya long subservient president odinga hailed exceptional example africa many fundamental decisions made including conduct next election clear entire electoral commission rotten past future difficult odinga nasa poor kenyans follow kerrys glib time move roots present conflict lie 60 years deep kenyan society going back ascendancy kikuyu loyalist landed elite last years settlercolonial kenya 1940s 1963 rising rich peasantry aspirant rural capitalist class assisted colonialism act sociopolitical bulwark poor landless peasantry central highlands first last time colonialism badly misread situation means last governor histrionically called leader darkness death jomo kenyatta far leading rather trying fend poor peasant uprising correctly anticipated deeply inequitable struggle land freedom constituted losing side undeclared civil war highlands struggle became overt british declared state emergency october 1952 attacked peasant freedom movement various fronts one psychological name mau mau intended besmirch weaken 20000 men women fighting wars wellequipped colonial forces appeals supposed civilised values also intended isolate approximately 15 million people thought proclaimed allegiance movement nearly entire kikuyu population struggle also went system detention campsor caroline elkins calls britains gulagwhere barbaric torture took place elkins estimates perhaps hundreds thousands killed despite overwhelming evidence colonial documents lambasted historians committing blood libelsagainst great britain jomo kenyatta released banishment become extremely rich son uhuru inheritor oginga odinga countrys first vicepresident incidentally author autobiography called yet uhuru widely seen likely successor prize went instead intense cold war environment moi nevertheless memories land freedom army remain thousands survivors pressing claims compensation britain 5000 given 20 million british pounds 2013 40000 claiming 200 million kenyatta odinga represent poles kenyas conflict lot rerun august poll necessary end violence lasted long runs deep kenneth good is160professor political studies university botswana 19902005 honorary fellow global studies rmit university melbourne australia | 974 |
<p>Another North African country is in the throes of revolution, causing yet more confusion and consternation among western leaders. One can only imagine the chagrin these Europeans and U.S. American progenitors of universal morals feel as they woke up only to see another despotic investment (this time in the form of odd-ball dictator Muammar Qaddafi) fall to the wrath of his people. Money at risk, investments troubled, and cultivated relationships strained all under the hue and cry of popular uprisings that challenge the very foundations of neo-liberal capitalism. There is a clear and protracted state of confusion going on amongst these leaders. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (again) tries in vain to find the safest words to meet the moment of fury in the streets of Libya while not straying too far from the corporate demands for stability at any cost. Her boss, President Obama, hides away on Presidents’ Day perhaps hoping that by tomorrow all this will have gone away and he can get back to soaring speeches and mesmerized crowds.</p>
<p>Alas, that is unlikely. The violence unleashed upon the people of Libya, in the streets of Benghazi, Tripoli, al Baida and beyond, could very well make Libya a long-term dilemma for Washington. The people who have suffered through four decades of psychotically messianic rule are not likely to forget the meek (and in some instances downright offensive) statements of the U.S.A. and Europe calling for restraint while fighter jets were dropping bombs on their heads.</p>
<p>But the stakes are high at this point and go well beyond the shores of Tripoli. Firstly, key member states of the European Union have made hefty investments in Libya in the last few years and there isn’t a strong desire to have these investments disturbed. With moves over the last decade to be re-admitted into the so-called global community, Qaddafi’s Libya has caught the attention of nations and business. The 2004 application to the World Trade Organization, odd diplomatic feints such as suggesting a combined Jewish-Palestinian state called Isratine, and political posturing calling for a unified African nation are Qaddafi’s attempts to move Libya away from its revolutionary image of the 1970s and 1980s.</p>
<p>Secondly, natural resources have facilitated these rebranding attempts. Libya’s vast oil reserves make it a critical player globally simply because any interruption in supply would have a dramatic ripple effect on economies worldwide. Indeed, we are already beginning to see this at the gas-pump. And lastly, though he may be a disdainful bed partner, to send Qaddafi out the door now would simply add confidence to popular movements in more acceptable client states, thereby leading to the instability (also known as representative rule) that our Secretary of State so clearly dreads. This, at any rate, was the logic that seemed to guiding the brooding diplomats of the United States and Europe until a few days ago. There is likely to be a significant change of course simply because the level of carnage has exceeded the level of acceptability and could prove to be a far more destabilizing factor. That aside, let’s now take a look at some key examples that highlight the once enviable position of Muammar Qaddafi in the geopolitical arena.</p>
<p>Italy currently receives 20% of its total oil imports from their former North African colony. This fact alone explains the despicable action of the Italian government over the last three days, as well as its willingness to be as evasive in condemning Qaddafi’s violence as their prime minister is in letting the world know why he has a penchant for paying underage prostitutes for sex. Just days ago, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, echoing the words of comfort given by his Prime Minister to Qaddafi, stated, “We should not give the wrong impression of wanting to interfere, of wanting to export our democracy. We have to help, we have to support the peaceful reconciliation.”</p>
<p>Perhaps, hearkening back to the brutal days of Italian colonial expeditions in Libya, he forgot that people rarely seek peaceful reconciliation with those who are comfortable with mowing down fellow citizens with 50 caliber machine gun rounds. Now granted, the Italians are apt to take a not-too-terribly-clever passive stance if for no other reason than they have a lot of money riding on the survival of Qaddafi. Oil imports at that scale make a brutal strongman an asset, if he is able to keep the oil flowing. That, though, is the ultimate unknown and we may well see Signor Frattini change his song before long as tribes in the oil-rich south of Libya begin to side with anti-government protesters, thereby threatening oil production.</p>
<p>Now to Britain. First on the list of Britain’s new love affair with the Qaddafi regime is the central role of oil. In recent times, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has become something of a Qaddafi fan, with multiple visits with the Madman of North Africa over the past few years, including one that was splashed all over the British headlines in June of last year. What Blair has been up to hasn’t fully come to light, but his moves vis a vis the Libyan regime were certainly pleasing to the Board of British Petroleum. Lest we forget, Libya has some of the largest oil reserves on the African continent and the prospect of untethered access to them made the mouths of Big Oil water. For four decades, Qaddafi maintained a nationalized oil extraction and production industry, filling the coffers of the leader and his acolytes. But with the 21st Century came an attempted neo-liberal regime facelift. Three years ago, BP signed a substantial exploration deal with the Qaddafi regime, totaling 900 million USD. This was one of the first of many corporate deals that made western liberal democracies giddy with excitement. The flamboyant defender of the Palestinian cause was shedding the clothes of barbarism and coming to the light of free markets. Big oil now had access to huge reserves; lots and lots of money was to be had. This rapture has come to a screeching halt in the past few days. Odds are that BP executives have joined western leaders and diplomats in sweating bullets over the Libyan events. Strongman Qaddafi was a dream for them. His odd, cultish ways aside, he was meant to be a man who knew how to hold his people in check and did so quite well for 42 years.</p>
<p>These are the characteristics of a leader well suited for the rapacious bottom-feeders of global capital. But they also demand that the ugliness of business be kept tightly under wraps. In this regard, Qaddafi has failed spectacularly.</p>
<p>And then, of course, there are the arms traders. Since its formation, the Cameron government has had an arms dealers’ version of a tupper-ware party with the Middle East’s less savory dictators, including the selling of crowd control weapons to Libya. Here is the list of some lethal toys sold to Libya by the British, as reported by The Independent on February 18th: tear gas; crowd control and small arms ammunition; ammunition for wall- and door-breaching projectile launchers. Also included in the list was military infrared and thermal imaging equipment, which one may suspect have been used by mercenary snipers to target unarmed protesters over the past five nights. Qaddafi’s brutality towards his subject may have sealed his fate, though.</p>
<p>Recent history has shown that Big Oil and western governments have a strong stomach for mercenaries, violence, and cruelty for the preservation of profits. But Heaven forefend that these acts come to light. Reports of fighter jets unleashed on the people of Libya and mercenaries roaming the capital expose the mockery that is European values. As these stories find their way to the webpages of Al Jazeera, the BBC, and CNN, we may see considerably stronger rhetoric and action coming from the houses of power in the west, all signs that Qaddafi has become bad for business. This, of course, doesn’t mean that the struggle for justice in Libya is close to being over. Instead, they may have to fend off attempts to replace the Madman of North Africa with a slightly more constrained and manageable strongman.</p>
<p>TARECQ AMER is a doctoral candidate in geography at the University of California, Davis and can be reached at <a href="mailto:tmamer@ucdavis.edu" type="external">tmamer@ucdavis.edu</a>.</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | another north african country throes revolution causing yet confusion consternation among western leaders one imagine chagrin europeans us american progenitors universal morals feel woke see another despotic investment time form oddball dictator muammar qaddafi fall wrath people money risk investments troubled cultivated relationships strained hue cry popular uprisings challenge foundations neoliberal capitalism clear protracted state confusion going amongst leaders secretary state hillary clinton tries vain find safest words meet moment fury streets libya straying far corporate demands stability cost boss president obama hides away presidents day perhaps hoping tomorrow gone away get back soaring speeches mesmerized crowds alas unlikely violence unleashed upon people libya streets benghazi tripoli al baida beyond could well make libya longterm dilemma washington people suffered four decades psychotically messianic rule likely forget meek instances downright offensive statements usa europe calling restraint fighter jets dropping bombs heads stakes high point go well beyond shores tripoli firstly key member states european union made hefty investments libya last years isnt strong desire investments disturbed moves last decade readmitted socalled global community qaddafis libya caught attention nations business 2004 application world trade organization odd diplomatic feints suggesting combined jewishpalestinian state called isratine political posturing calling unified african nation qaddafis attempts move libya away revolutionary image 1970s 1980s secondly natural resources facilitated rebranding attempts libyas vast oil reserves make critical player globally simply interruption supply would dramatic ripple effect economies worldwide indeed already beginning see gaspump lastly though may disdainful bed partner send qaddafi door would simply add confidence popular movements acceptable client states thereby leading instability also known representative rule secretary state clearly dreads rate logic seemed guiding brooding diplomats united states europe days ago likely significant change course simply level carnage exceeded level acceptability could prove far destabilizing factor aside lets take look key examples highlight enviable position muammar qaddafi geopolitical arena italy currently receives 20 total oil imports former north african colony fact alone explains despicable action italian government last three days well willingness evasive condemning qaddafis violence prime minister letting world know penchant paying underage prostitutes sex days ago italian foreign minister franco frattini echoing words comfort given prime minister qaddafi stated give wrong impression wanting interfere wanting export democracy help support peaceful reconciliation perhaps hearkening back brutal days italian colonial expeditions libya forgot people rarely seek peaceful reconciliation comfortable mowing fellow citizens 50 caliber machine gun rounds granted italians apt take nottooterriblyclever passive stance reason lot money riding survival qaddafi oil imports scale make brutal strongman asset able keep oil flowing though ultimate unknown may well see signor frattini change song long tribes oilrich south libya begin side antigovernment protesters thereby threatening oil production britain first list britains new love affair qaddafi regime central role oil recent times former prime minister tony blair become something qaddafi fan multiple visits madman north africa past years including one splashed british headlines june last year blair hasnt fully come light moves vis vis libyan regime certainly pleasing board british petroleum lest forget libya largest oil reserves african continent prospect untethered access made mouths big oil water four decades qaddafi maintained nationalized oil extraction production industry filling coffers leader acolytes 21st century came attempted neoliberal regime facelift three years ago bp signed substantial exploration deal qaddafi regime totaling 900 million usd one first many corporate deals made western liberal democracies giddy excitement flamboyant defender palestinian cause shedding clothes barbarism coming light free markets big oil access huge reserves lots lots money rapture come screeching halt past days odds bp executives joined western leaders diplomats sweating bullets libyan events strongman qaddafi dream odd cultish ways aside meant man knew hold people check quite well 42 years characteristics leader well suited rapacious bottomfeeders global capital also demand ugliness business kept tightly wraps regard qaddafi failed spectacularly course arms traders since formation cameron government arms dealers version tupperware party middle easts less savory dictators including selling crowd control weapons libya list lethal toys sold libya british reported independent february 18th tear gas crowd control small arms ammunition ammunition wall doorbreaching projectile launchers also included list military infrared thermal imaging equipment one may suspect used mercenary snipers target unarmed protesters past five nights qaddafis brutality towards subject may sealed fate though recent history shown big oil western governments strong stomach mercenaries violence cruelty preservation profits heaven forefend acts come light reports fighter jets unleashed people libya mercenaries roaming capital expose mockery european values stories find way webpages al jazeera bbc cnn may see considerably stronger rhetoric action coming houses power west signs qaddafi become bad business course doesnt mean struggle justice libya close instead may fend attempts replace madman north africa slightly constrained manageable strongman tarecq amer doctoral candidate geography university california davis reached tmamerucdavisedu 160 160 | 783 |
<p>Jumping out of high-flying aircraft isn’t how most 19-year-old women get their kicks, but for Morganne McBeth that was one of the joyous things in her young life. “She loved it. She’d tell us, ‘You are in a totally different universe,’ and this was fun for her,” her step mother, Sylvia McBeth of Fredericksburg, Va., said of the Army paratrooper. Morganne’s brother, Army Sgt. Christopher McBeth, 28, who has completed two tours in Iraq, added, “She lived for this.”</p>
<p>Morganne had always been patriotic — once she colored strands of her long black hair red, white and blue — and she was smart, friendly, gregarious and popular, so it wasn’t a surprise when she ended up in the 82nd Airborne as a paramedic and quickly made friends throughout her military company.</p>
<p>The thrill of training as a paratrooper ended when McBeth’s 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 82nd Airborne of Fort Bragg, N.C., was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2009. These specialty troops — paramedics, drivers, secretaries — suddenly found themselves enclosed within the desolate Al-Asad air base in northwestern Iraq.</p>
<p>The battalion made it through its 12-month tour relatively unscathed, and some of its soldiers, including McBeth, were scheduled to be sent home. Energized and relieved, she posted this on her Facebook page:</p>
<p />
<p>“Back to the land where we are surrounded by people we love and love us the same. Enjoying the sweet smell of rain and the relaxing sounds of birds chirping in the morning. Vast lands to explore — it’s going be great and it’s going be soon.” As people her age sometimes do, McBeth ended the note with a smiley face.</p>
<p>Within seven days of writing that post, and just a handful of days before she was to come home, she was dead.</p>
<p>She died on the early morning of July 2, 2010, on an operating table as military doctors tried desperately to save her from a stab wound that started just below her right collarbone and went down into a lung and her heart.</p>
<p>Soon, the Army declared the death “noncombat related” and essentially closed the case, saying it was the result of an accident. But for the McBeths, there was no closure. They pressed for justice, and eventually arrests were made. However, those arrests did little to satisfy the family, which believes that the Army has been covering up a more serious crime by undertaking prosecutions of lesser charges. The killing of Spc. Morganne McBeth was no accident, her relatives say. On the basis of the limited evidence that they have, they see the Army’s version of what happened as farfetched, and some familiar with the case — even some Army people — agree with that conclusion.</p>
<p>Relatives say that trying to answer the question of what, exactly, happened to McBeth has become a guessing game that gnaws at them day and night because military investigators from the Army’s Criminal Investigative Command, known as the CID, which investigates all noncombat deaths, have offered so little information. And in the course of revealing those few facts, the investigators have managed to increasingly confuse and anger the family.</p>
<p>The family says the military has turned its back on them, a complaint often heard from those coping with the noncombat death of a military member. “The military told us they were going to do right by Morganne; they told us this many times,” lamented Sylvia McBeth. The McBeths say that an Army casualty assistance officer, a woman, tried to pry more information out of the CID but after several months suddenly said she could no longer help them.</p>
<p>McBeth was a female soldier during a decade of war when more and more women were joining the military, and the military embraced and promoted her. The Army selected her to appear on an Armed Forces Network “Faces of Freedom” broadcast just weeks before she died. Fighting back tears as she addressed family and friends, she said: “Can’t wait to get back to you guys, I miss you.”</p>
<p>Morganne McBeth spent her last night alive in the company of two friends — Army Spc. Tyler Cain, 22, a truck driver, and Spc. Nicholas Bailey, 24, a military police officer.</p>
<p>Nearly a dozen soldiers from their unit told this writer that McBeth, Cain and Bailey were good friends, and that McBeth and Cain had become a romantic couple, their feelings for each other expressed for all to see on Facebook. The McBeth family, however, says Morganne told them in the weeks before she was to return home that she intended to distance herself from Cain because he “was not right.”</p>
<p>“The relationship [was] off — she wanted it off,” said Sylvia McBeth.</p>
<p>Over the months, the Army allegedly presented a series of differing explanations of what happened in Spc. McBeth’s final hours of life. Initially, the McBeths say, the Army CID claimed Morganne had accidentally stabbed herself and then, the family says, it shifted to suggesting she had committed suicide. Sylvia McBeth believes that Morganne was not a person who would have killed herself, and certainly would not have put herself in a position to be stabbed with a knife during horseplay with comrades, as the Army later claimed: “She attended a Christian school. We live our life to ourselves. She wasn’t allowed to play with knives and she wasn’t brought up to play with knives.”</p>
<p>The Army’s ever-changing story did nothing to bring the McBeths to reconcile themselves to the loss of a loved one and then move on. They sought help outside the military last November, <a href="http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/family-seeking-answers-on-soldiers-received-help-from-va-congressman-120210" type="external">turning to their congressman</a>, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. Within seven days of meeting with Wittman — and five long months after the death — the two soldiers who had been with Morganne at the time of the stabbing were arrested and <a href="http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/army-2-soldiers-charged-in-morganne-mcbeths-death-in-iraq-120110%20" type="external">criminally charged</a>.This development was a surprise to the family. <a href="http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/army-2-soldiers-charged-in-morganne-mcbeths-death-in-iraq-120110%20" type="external">Sylvia said</a> the McBeths learned of the arrests and charges through the media, not through the Army. “To me, this is playing out like from some movie scene or something. It’s crazy,” she told a reporter in late 2010. She went on to say the family was still in the dark about the facts of Morganne’s death, adding, “We are kind of happy that they are being charged, but we are still disappointed.”</p>
<p>At that point, Bailey was charged with involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice, conspiring to obstruct justice by giving false statements and making a false official statement. Cain was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by giving false statements and giving false statements. Later the Army made one of the charges against Bailey more severe after Cain admitted that his first account of the fatal night was not accurate.</p>
<p>Cain and Bailey <a href="http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/hearing-held-for-soldier-charged-in-morganne-mcbeths-death-121510%20" type="external">first told investigators</a> that the three were hanging out in a vacant tent throwing four-inch knives at a poster pinned to the tent’s thin synthetic fabric and foam lining and when Bailey yanked a knife out of the tent he pulled so hard he accidentally spun around and plunged it into McBeth. But, according to prosecutors, in a fourth statement that Cain gave, the specialist <a href="http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9173771/%20" type="external">changed his story</a>: He claimed that Bailey, instead of losing control of his motion when yanking the knife from the tent, had been wildly brandishing the knife, struck a wall and then accidentally stuck the blade into McBeth when he turned around. The Army <a href="http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/042011/04032011/617391%20" type="external">elevated the main charge</a> against Bailey from involuntary manslaughter to negligent homicide. Even so, that more serious charge, like the first one, carries the possibility of a far lighter sentence than murder, which would require that the prosecution prove malicious intent.</p>
<p>The McBeth family and Morganne’s friends, especially those outside the military, scoff at the Army’s acceptance of a claim that she was horribly, deeply stabbed by accident as she and two friends were goofing off, and they are repelled by the sentence that Cain received when he was found guilty at Fort Bragg this past spring on charges of obstruction and giving false statements — <a href="http://www.nimjblog.org/2011/04/cain-sentenced-to-confinement-in.html%20" type="external">45 days in the brig</a> and a reduction in rank. Those grieving for McBeth were stunned by what they saw as a slap on the wrist for Cain, and as Bailey’s September court-martial approaches they say the military cannot be trusted to see that justice is done.</p>
<p>The McBeths point to <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/25/1065977" type="external">the report</a> of a paramedic who tried to save Morganne. Louis Vega, an emergency responder and contractor for the Defense Department who helped rush McBeth to the main hospital at Al-Asad, told military investigators that the dying woman, in some of her last words, told him there had been an altercation. There is no published record of Vega ever saying that McBeth told him what had caused the “scuffle” — <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/24/1065666?sac=Home%20" type="external">the word used</a> in the first sentence of one of the articles of a North Carolina newspaper that is following the case. If indeed there was a physical conflict in the moments before the stabbing, doubt is cast on all the accounts by Cain and Bailey.</p>
<p>It stands to reason that Vega would be a key witness in legal proceedings stemming from the death. But after he was scheduled to testify during Cain and Bailey’s Article 32 hearings — hearings that determine whether court-martials go forward — he never showed up. The Army prosecution team told the court that Vega was not available to testify. The Fayetteville, N.C., Observer <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/24/1065666?sac=Home" type="external">reported</a> that Vega “could not be reached … because he was on a Carnival cruise ship.”</p>
<p>Sylvia McBeth said in an interview that when she asked the CID why Vega did not testify, she was told the Army had no power to bring the civilian to the hearings; the Army added that he was on vacation, she said. The writer of this Truthdig article made numerous attempts to reach Vega, but no correspondence was ever returned.</p>
<p>During the Article 32 proceedings, the prosecution’s contention that the stab wound was accidentally inflicted came under a barrage of skepticism from at least one military investigator and at least one Army surgeon.</p>
<p>Army CID Special Agent David Miller, who investigated the case, <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/24/1065666?sac=Home%20" type="external">stated during one</a> of the hearings, “I couldn’t reconcile pulling a knife out of that wall [made of foam and fabric] and losing your balance to the point that you take a knife with a 3½ [to] 4-inch blade literally to stab someone all the way to the hilt of the knife. Those sequences happening, they didn’t make sense.”</p>
<p>McBeth’s wound also didn’t appear accidental to someone who had a firsthand look at it — the surgeon who tried to save McBeth’s life. Maj. <a href="http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/25/1065977%20" type="external">David Lynn told</a> the military courtroom that he worked for several hours fighting “overwhelming blood loss,” adding that the wound was much deeper than a typical accidental stabbing. “In accidental stab wound, the moment a person [holding a knife] feels resistance, human nature is to back off, and that reflex is lightning quick,” he said.</p>
<p>This reporter tried to interview Lynn, but the colonel of Lynn’s unit, the 21st Combat Support Hospital of Fort Hood, Texas, said he would not allow the doctor to talk about the matter. Morganne McBeth’s family and friends have only memories these days. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Morganne-M-McBeth-fallen-solider-in-iraq/100415646680409?sk=photos" type="external">On Facebook</a>, they share pictures and videos of the girl they knew as uncomplicated and selfless. “She was very artistic with her looks and she was always upbeat,” said one Virginia friend, Chelsea Ruffin. “If you were feeling down and she was in the room, she would take whatever she was doing in her life and put it aside, and try to help you get through what you needed to get through. I don’t remember a single day without seeing a smile on her face. There was not a mean bone in her body. She was a really good girl. No drugs, no drinking. She wasn’t the partying type. The only thing that made her crazy [manic] was sugar. When she had some sweets she would make people laugh until their stomach hurt.”</p>
<p>Struggling under what she sees as a blanket of resistance from the Army, Sylvia McBeth remains among the countless parents who have lost children in the military and must live with a never-ending question: Just what happened to my kid?</p>
<p>She doubts the truth will ever come out if that depends on the word of Morganne’s friend Tyler Cain, who has admitted he initially did not give an honest account of what happened that night in the tent.</p>
<p>“He lied. … This boy lied to us, and this is not right by Morganne,” she says.</p> | true | 4 | jumping highflying aircraft isnt 19yearold women get kicks morganne mcbeth one joyous things young life loved shed tell us totally different universe fun step mother sylvia mcbeth fredericksburg va said army paratrooper morgannes brother army sgt christopher mcbeth 28 completed two tours iraq added lived morganne always patriotic colored strands long black hair red white blue smart friendly gregarious popular wasnt surprise ended 82nd airborne paramedic quickly made friends throughout military company thrill training paratrooper ended mcbeths 1st brigade special troops battalion 82nd airborne fort bragg nc deployed iraq summer 2009 specialty troops paramedics drivers secretaries suddenly found enclosed within desolate alasad air base northwestern iraq battalion made 12month tour relatively unscathed soldiers including mcbeth scheduled sent home energized relieved posted facebook page back land surrounded people love love us enjoying sweet smell rain relaxing sounds birds chirping morning vast lands explore going great going soon people age sometimes mcbeth ended note smiley face within seven days writing post handful days come home dead died early morning july 2 2010 operating table military doctors tried desperately save stab wound started right collarbone went lung heart soon army declared death noncombat related essentially closed case saying result accident mcbeths closure pressed justice eventually arrests made however arrests little satisfy family believes army covering serious crime undertaking prosecutions lesser charges killing spc morganne mcbeth accident relatives say basis limited evidence see armys version happened farfetched familiar case even army people agree conclusion relatives say trying answer question exactly happened mcbeth become guessing game gnaws day night military investigators armys criminal investigative command known cid investigates noncombat deaths offered little information course revealing facts investigators managed increasingly confuse anger family family says military turned back complaint often heard coping noncombat death military member military told us going right morganne told us many times lamented sylvia mcbeth mcbeths say army casualty assistance officer woman tried pry information cid several months suddenly said could longer help mcbeth female soldier decade war women joining military military embraced promoted army selected appear armed forces network faces freedom broadcast weeks died fighting back tears addressed family friends said cant wait get back guys miss morganne mcbeth spent last night alive company two friends army spc tyler cain 22 truck driver spc nicholas bailey 24 military police officer nearly dozen soldiers unit told writer mcbeth cain bailey good friends mcbeth cain become romantic couple feelings expressed see facebook mcbeth family however says morganne told weeks return home intended distance cain right relationship wanted said sylvia mcbeth months army allegedly presented series differing explanations happened spc mcbeths final hours life initially mcbeths say army cid claimed morganne accidentally stabbed family says shifted suggesting committed suicide sylvia mcbeth believes morganne person would killed certainly would put position stabbed knife horseplay comrades army later claimed attended christian school live life wasnt allowed play knives wasnt brought play knives armys everchanging story nothing bring mcbeths reconcile loss loved one move sought help outside military last november turning congressman rep rob wittman rva within seven days meeting wittman five long months death two soldiers morganne time stabbing arrested criminally chargedthis development surprise family sylvia said mcbeths learned arrests charges media army playing like movie scene something crazy told reporter late 2010 went say family still dark facts morgannes death adding kind happy charged still disappointed point bailey charged involuntary manslaughter obstruction justice conspiring obstruct justice giving false statements making false official statement cain charged conspiring obstruct justice giving false statements giving false statements later army made one charges bailey severe cain admitted first account fatal night accurate cain bailey first told investigators three hanging vacant tent throwing fourinch knives poster pinned tents thin synthetic fabric foam lining bailey yanked knife tent pulled hard accidentally spun around plunged mcbeth according prosecutors fourth statement cain gave specialist changed story claimed bailey instead losing control motion yanking knife tent wildly brandishing knife struck wall accidentally stuck blade mcbeth turned around army elevated main charge bailey involuntary manslaughter negligent homicide even serious charge like first one carries possibility far lighter sentence murder would require prosecution prove malicious intent mcbeth family morgannes friends especially outside military scoff armys acceptance claim horribly deeply stabbed accident two friends goofing repelled sentence cain received found guilty fort bragg past spring charges obstruction giving false statements 45 days brig reduction rank grieving mcbeth stunned saw slap wrist cain baileys september courtmartial approaches say military trusted see justice done mcbeths point report paramedic tried save morganne louis vega emergency responder contractor defense department helped rush mcbeth main hospital alasad told military investigators dying woman last words told altercation published record vega ever saying mcbeth told caused scuffle word used first sentence one articles north carolina newspaper following case indeed physical conflict moments stabbing doubt cast accounts cain bailey stands reason vega would key witness legal proceedings stemming death scheduled testify cain baileys article 32 hearings hearings determine whether courtmartials go forward never showed army prosecution team told court vega available testify fayetteville nc observer reported vega could reached carnival cruise ship sylvia mcbeth said interview asked cid vega testify told army power bring civilian hearings army added vacation said writer truthdig article made numerous attempts reach vega correspondence ever returned article 32 proceedings prosecutions contention stab wound accidentally inflicted came barrage skepticism least one military investigator least one army surgeon army cid special agent david miller investigated case stated one hearings couldnt reconcile pulling knife wall made foam fabric losing balance point take knife 3½ 4inch blade literally stab someone way hilt knife sequences happening didnt make sense mcbeths wound also didnt appear accidental someone firsthand look surgeon tried save mcbeths life maj david lynn told military courtroom worked several hours fighting overwhelming blood loss adding wound much deeper typical accidental stabbing accidental stab wound moment person holding knife feels resistance human nature back reflex lightning quick said reporter tried interview lynn colonel lynns unit 21st combat support hospital fort hood texas said would allow doctor talk matter morganne mcbeths family friends memories days facebook share pictures videos girl knew uncomplicated selfless artistic looks always upbeat said one virginia friend chelsea ruffin feeling room would take whatever life put aside try help get needed get dont remember single day without seeing smile face mean bone body really good girl drugs drinking wasnt partying type thing made crazy manic sugar sweets would make people laugh stomach hurt struggling sees blanket resistance army sylvia mcbeth remains among countless parents lost children military must live neverending question happened kid doubts truth ever come depends word morgannes friend tyler cain admitted initially give honest account happened night tent lied boy lied us right morganne says | 1,107 |
<p>Texas Governor Rick PerrySteven Morton/Zuma</p>
<p />
<p>Update (5:24 pm): The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/223862388/Campbell-Opinion-Granting-Stay-Authorizing" type="external">has stayed Robert Campbell’s execution</a> on the grounds that the new evidence of his intellectual disability was “more than sufficient” to warrant a closer look by the courts. His lawyer, Robert C. Owen, said in a statement, “Given the state’s own role in creating the regrettable circumstances that led to the Fifth Circuit’s decision today, the time is right for the State of Texas to let go of its efforts to execute Mr. Campbell, and resolve this case by reducing his sentence to life imprisonment. State officials should choose the path of resolution rather than pursuing months or years of further proceedings.“</p>
<p>Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has presided over more executions than any other governor in American history. He’s ignored pleas for clemency for people who committed crimes as juveniles, who were mentally disabled, or who were obvious victims of systemic racism. He even signed off on the execution of <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann" type="external">a likely innocent man</a>. So the odds don’t seem good for Robert Campbell, a man set to be executed in Texas tonight. This is despite the fact that new evidence has surfaced showing that the state withheld information documenting an intellectual disability that should make him ineligible for the death penalty.</p>
<p>Unlike Clayton Lockett, the Oklahoma murderer whose <a href="" type="internal">botched execution last month</a> has become a rallying cry for abolishing the death penalty, Campbell is actually something of a poster child for all that’s wrong with capital punishment in this country.&#160;</p>
<p>Four months after his 18th birthday, Campbell commit three armed car jackings. In one of those, a 20-year-old bank employee, Alexandra Rendon, was kidnapped at a gas station, sexually assaulted and shot to death. Campbell was quickly arrested, largely because he drove Rendon’s car around his neighborhood, gave her coat to his mother and her jewelry to his girlfriend as gifts, and basically blabbed to everyone that he’d been involved in the crime. He wasn’t alone during the commission of the crime. But his co-defendant, Leroy Lewis, was allowed to plead guilty and is already out on parole.</p>
<p>But Campbell, who is black, went to trial in 1992 in Houston during a time when prosecutors there were <a href="" type="internal">three times more likely</a>to pursue a capital case against African-American men than against white men. He had an incompetent lawyer whose many missteps included failing to either investigate his case or to present evidence that would have mitigated his sentence, notably the fact that Campbell was mentally retarded. (This term generally isn’t used anymore to describe people with intellectual disabilities—except with regard to the death penalty, where it has a specific definition in the law.)</p>
<p>More <a href="" type="internal">bad lawyering</a>over the years, along with hostile Texas courts, left Campbell without many avenues to appeal, even though in 2002, the US Supreme Court banned the execution of the mentally disabled. What’s more, Campbell’s lawyers only recently discovered that prosecutors and other state officials long had substantial evidence of his limited cognitive functioning—including school records and test results placing his IQ at 68—that should have spared him from the death penalty. Yet they failed to turn it over to defense counsel until just days before his scheduled execution. Last week, the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxR5nee8pBYQTXk5c1l1VGQzSHc/edit" type="external">Texas Court of Criminal Appeals nonetheless denied Campbell’s request</a> to stay the execution, despite clear concerns from several judges on the court that his claims of mental retardation were compelling and justified further review.</p>
<p>“It is an outrage that the State of Texas itself has worked to frustrate Mr. Campbell’s attempts to obtain any fair consideration of evidence of his intellectual disability,” said Robert C. Owen, an attorney for Mr. Campbell. “State officials affirmatively misled Mr. Campbell’s lawyers when they said they had no records of IQ testing of Mr. Campbell from his time on death row. That was a lie. They had such test results, and those results placed Mr. Campbell squarely in the range for a diagnosis of mental retardation. Mr. Campbell now faces execution as a direct result of such shameful gamesmanship.”</p>
<p>Campbell’s attorneys have filed an emergency request for relief with the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where his odds also seem relatively slim. The Fifth Circuit is notoriously hostile to death penalty appeals. One of its judges, <a href="http://www.texasobserver.org/2132-the-worst-judges-in-texas-in-these-courtrooms-justice-comes-to-a-screeching-halt/" type="external">Edith Jones,</a> is famous for reinstating a death sentence for a man whose lawyer slept through his trial. She has said publicly that the death penalty provides criminals with a “positive service” because it gives them an opportunity to get right with God right before the state kills them. She’s also facing an unusual <a href="http://media.nola.com/crime_impact/other/Judge%20Edith%20Jones%20complaint.pdf" type="external">ethics complaint</a> over allegedly racist remarks she made at a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania last year, where she reportedly claimed that blacks and Hispanics were predisposed to crime and “prone” to violence. Notably, too, she insisted that defendants who raise claims of mental retardation “abuse the system” and she criticized the Supreme Court’s decision prohibiting the execution of the mentally disabled. (She’s said that anyone who can plan a crime can’t be mentally retarded.)</p>
<p>If Campbell can’t make any headway with the Fifth Circuit, his next appeal goes to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who reviews emergency death penalty appeals for the Fifth Circuit and is on the record as opposing the ban on executing the mentally retarded. (He also objected to the ban on executing juveniles.) So Campbell’s best hope, at least in the short run, is Perry, the three-term GOP governor with presidential aspirations. Perry has the authority to issue a 30-day stay of execution, and if the parole board recommends clemency, as Campbell’s lawyers are requesting, he could commute Campbell’s sentence to life in prison.</p>
<p>Execution <a href="" type="internal">politics aren’t</a>pretty. As governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton left the campaign trail in 1992 to personally oversee the execution of a brain-damaged man, Ricky Ray Rector, and prove his tough-on-crime bona fides. Perry, though, has long and documented track record of executing hundreds of people already, and the politics of the death penalty have unexpectedly and quickly started to change. A vote for clemency isn’t likely to affect Perry’s future political prospects. In this case, it might even help them. He has a few hours more to decide.</p>
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<p /> | true | 4 | texas governor rick perrysteven mortonzuma update 524 pm fifth circuit court appeals stayed robert campbells execution grounds new evidence intellectual disability sufficient warrant closer look courts lawyer robert c owen said statement given states role creating regrettable circumstances led fifth circuits decision today time right state texas let go efforts execute mr campbell resolve case reducing sentence life imprisonment state officials choose path resolution rather pursuing months years proceedings texas gov rick perry r presided executions governor american history hes ignored pleas clemency people committed crimes juveniles mentally disabled obvious victims systemic racism even signed execution likely innocent man odds dont seem good robert campbell man set executed texas tonight despite fact new evidence surfaced showing state withheld information documenting intellectual disability make ineligible death penalty unlike clayton lockett oklahoma murderer whose botched execution last month become rallying cry abolishing death penalty campbell actually something poster child thats wrong capital punishment country160 four months 18th birthday campbell commit three armed car jackings one 20yearold bank employee alexandra rendon kidnapped gas station sexually assaulted shot death campbell quickly arrested largely drove rendons car around neighborhood gave coat mother jewelry girlfriend gifts basically blabbed everyone hed involved crime wasnt alone commission crime codefendant leroy lewis allowed plead guilty already parole campbell black went trial 1992 houston time prosecutors three times likelyto pursue capital case africanamerican men white men incompetent lawyer whose many missteps included failing either investigate case present evidence would mitigated sentence notably fact campbell mentally retarded term generally isnt used anymore describe people intellectual disabilitiesexcept regard death penalty specific definition law bad lawyeringover years along hostile texas courts left campbell without many avenues appeal even though 2002 us supreme court banned execution mentally disabled whats campbells lawyers recently discovered prosecutors state officials long substantial evidence limited cognitive functioningincluding school records test results placing iq 68that spared death penalty yet failed turn defense counsel days scheduled execution last week texas court criminal appeals nonetheless denied campbells request stay execution despite clear concerns several judges court claims mental retardation compelling justified review outrage state texas worked frustrate mr campbells attempts obtain fair consideration evidence intellectual disability said robert c owen attorney mr campbell state officials affirmatively misled mr campbells lawyers said records iq testing mr campbell time death row lie test results results placed mr campbell squarely range diagnosis mental retardation mr campbell faces execution direct result shameful gamesmanship campbells attorneys filed emergency request relief us fifth circuit court appeals odds also seem relatively slim fifth circuit notoriously hostile death penalty appeals one judges edith jones famous reinstating death sentence man whose lawyer slept trial said publicly death penalty provides criminals positive service gives opportunity get right god right state kills shes also facing unusual ethics complaint allegedly racist remarks made lecture university pennsylvania last year reportedly claimed blacks hispanics predisposed crime prone violence notably insisted defendants raise claims mental retardation abuse system criticized supreme courts decision prohibiting execution mentally disabled shes said anyone plan crime cant mentally retarded campbell cant make headway fifth circuit next appeal goes supreme court justice antonin scalia reviews emergency death penalty appeals fifth circuit record opposing ban executing mentally retarded also objected ban executing juveniles campbells best hope least short run perry threeterm gop governor presidential aspirations perry authority issue 30day stay execution parole board recommends clemency campbells lawyers requesting could commute campbells sentence life prison execution politics arentpretty governor arkansas bill clinton left campaign trail 1992 personally oversee execution braindamaged man ricky ray rector prove toughoncrime bona fides perry though long documented track record executing hundreds people already politics death penalty unexpectedly quickly started change vote clemency isnt likely affect perrys future political prospects case might even help hours decide 160 160 | 617 |
<p>Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t talking. The Hollywood action film star and California’s GOP gubernatorial candidate in the state’s recall election has been unusually silent about his plans for running the Golden State. He hasn’t yet offered up a solution for the state’s $38 billion budget deficit, an issue that largely got more than one million people to sign a petition to recall Gov. Gray Davis.</p>
<p>More important, however, Schwarzenegger still won’t respond to questions about why he was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills two years ago where he, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk bond king Michael Milken, met secretly with former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay who was touting a plan for solving the state’s energy crisis. Other luminaries who were invited but didn’t attend the May 24, 2001 meeting included former Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.</p>
<p>While Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken listened to Lay’s pitch, Gov. Davis pleaded with President George Bush to enact much needed price controls on electricity sold in the state, which skyrocketed to more than $200 per megawatt-hour. Davis said that Texas-based energy companies were manipulating California’s power market, charging obscene prices for power and holding consumers hostage. Bush agreed to meet with Davis at the Century Plaza Hotel in West Los Angeles on May 29, 2001, five days after Lay met with Schwarzenegger, to discuss the California power crisis.</p>
<p>At the meeting, Davis asked Bush for federal assistance, such as imposing federally mandated price caps, to rein in soaring energy prices. But Bush refused saying California legislators designed an electricity market that left too many regulatory restrictions in place and that’s what caused electricity prices in the state to skyrocket. It was up to the governor to fix the problem, Bush said. However, Bush’s response appears to be part of a coordinated effort launched by Lay to have Davis shoulder the blame for the crisis. It worked. According to recent polls, a majority of voters grew increasingly frustrated with the way Davis handled the power crisis. Schwarzenegger has used the energy crisis and missteps by Davis to bolster his standing with potential voters. While Davis took a beating in the press (some energy companies ran attack ads against the governor), Lay used his political clout to gather support for deregulation.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks before Lay met with Schwarzenegger in May 2001, the PBS news program “Frontline” interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney, whom Lay met with privately a month earlier. Cheney was asked by a correspondent from Frontline whether energy companies were acting like a cartel and using manipulative tactics to cause electricity prices to spike in California.</p>
<p>“No,” Cheney said during the Frontline interview. “The problem you had in California was caused by a combination of things–an unwise regulatory scheme, because they didn’t really deregulate. Now they’re trapped from unwise regulatory schemes, plus not having addressed the supply side of the issue. They’ve obviously created major problems for themselves and bankrupted PG&amp;E in the process.”</p>
<p>A month before the Frontline interview and Bush’s meeting with Davis, Cheney, who chairs Bush’s energy task force, met with Lay to discuss Bush’s National Energy Policy. Lay, whose company was the largest contributor to Bush’s presidential campaign, made some recommendations that would financially benefit his company. Lay gave Cheney a memo that included eight recommendations for the energy policy. Of the eight, seven were included in the final draft. The energy policy was released in late May 2001, after Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken met with Lay and after the meeting between Bush and Davis and Cheney’s Frontline interview.</p>
<p>The policy made only scant references to California’s energy crisis, which Enron was accused of igniting, and did not indicate what should be done to provide the state some relief. Cheney said the policy focused on long-term solutions to the country’s energy needs, such as opening up drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and freeing up transmission lines. That’s why California was ignored in the report, Cheney said.</p>
<p>What’s unknown to many of the voters who will decide Davis’s fate on Oct. 7, the day of the recall election, is that while Cheney dismissed Davis’s accusations that power companies were withholding electricity supplies from the state, one company engaged in exactly the type of behavior that Davis described. But Davis would never be told about the manipulative tactics the energy company engaged.</p>
<p>In a confidential settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose chairman was appointed by Bush a year earlier, Tulsa, Okla., based-Williams Companies agreed to refund California $8 million in profits it reaped by deliberately shutting down one of its power plants in the state in the spring of 2000 to drive up the wholesale price of electricity in California.</p>
<p>The evidence, a transcript of a tape-recorded telephone conversation between an employee at Williams and an employee at a Southern California power plant operated by Williams, shows how the two conspired to jack up power prices and create an artificial electricity shortage by keeping the power plant out of service for two weeks.</p>
<p>Details of the settlement had been under seal by FERC for more than a year and were released in November after the Wall Street Journal sued the commission to obtain the full copy of its report. Similarly, FERC also found that Reliant Energy engaged in identical behavior around the same time as Williams and in February the commission ordered Reliant to pay California a $13.8 million settlement.</p>
<p>Had the evidence been released in 2001 when Davis accused energy companies of fraud it would have helped California’s case and voters may have viewed the governor more positively. But if FERC were to publicly release the details of the Williams settlement it wouldn’t have jibed with Bush’s energy policy, which was made public instead in May 2001. It’s highly unlikely that Bush, Cheney and members of the energy task force were kept in the dark about the Williams scam, especially since the findings of the investigation by FERC took place around the same time the policy was being drafted.</p>
<p>But Davis was still causing problems for Lay. California’s power woes had a ripple effect, forcing other states to cancel plans to open up their electricity markets to competition fearing deregulation would lead to widespread blackouts and price gouging. For Enron, a company that generated most of its revenue from buying and selling power and natural gas on the open market, such a move would paralyze the company.</p>
<p>Fearing that Davis would take steps to re-regulate California’s power market that Lay spent years lobbying California lawmakers to open up to competition, Lay recruited Schwarzenegger, Riordan, Milken, and other powerful business leaders like Bruce Karatz, chief executive of home builder Kaufman &amp; Broad; Ray Irani, chief executive of Occidental Petroleum; and Kevin Sharer, chief executive of biotech giant Amgen.</p>
<p>The 90-minute secret meeting Lay convened took place inside a conference room at the Peninsula Hotel. Lay, and other Enron representatives at the meeting, handed out a four-page document to Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken titled “Comprehensive Solution for California,” which called for an end to federal and state investigations into Enron’s role in the California energy crisis and said consumers should pay for the state’s disastrous experiment with deregulation through multibillion rate increases. Another bullet point in the four-page document said “Get deregulation right this time — California needs a real electricity market, not government takeovers.”</p>
<p>The irony of that statement is that California’s flawed power market design helped Enron earn more than $500 million in one year, a tenfold increase in profits from a previous year and it’s coordinated effort in manipulating the price of electricity in California, which other power companies mimicked, cost the state close to $70 billion and led to the beginning of what is now the state’s $38 billion budget deficit. The power crisis forced dozens of businesses to close down or move to other states, where cheaper electricity was in abundant supply, and greatly reduced the revenue California relied heavily upon.</p>
<p>Lay asked the participants to support his plan and lobby the state Legislature to make it a law. It’s unclear whether Schwarzenegger held a stake in Enron at the time or if he followed through on Lay’s request. His spokesman, Rob Stutzman, hasn’t returned numerous calls for comment about the meeting. For Schwarzenegger and the others who attended the meeting, associating with Enron, particularly Ken Lay, the disgraced chairman of the high-flying energy company, during the peak of California’s power crisis in May 2001 could be compared to meeting with Osama bin Laden after 9-11 to understand why terrorism isn’t necessarily such a heinous act.</p>
<p>A person who attended the meeting at the Peninsula, which this reporter wrote about two years ago, said Lay invited Schwarzenegger and Riordan because the two were being courted in 2001 as GOP gubernatorial candidates. A week before the meeting, Davis signed legislation to create a state power authority that would buy, operate and build power plants in lieu of out-of-state energy companies, such as Enron, that the governor alleged was ripping off the state.</p>
<p>For Enron’s Lay, the timing of the meeting was crucial. His company was just five months away from disintegrating and he was doing everything in his power to keep his company afloat and the profits rolling in.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until Enron collapsed in October 2001 and evidence of the company’s manipulative trading tactics emerged that FERC began to take a look at the company’s role in California’s electricity crisis. Since then, memos written by former Enron traders were uncovered, with colorful names like “Fat Boy” and “Death Star,” that contained the blueprint for ripping off California.</p>
<p>Enron’s top trader on the West Coast, Timothy Belden, the mastermind behind the scheme, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators who are still trying to get to the bottom of the crisis.</p>
<p>California is still demanding that FERC order the energy companies to refund the state $8.9 billion for overcharging the state for electricity during its yearlong energy crisis. But FERC says California is due no more than $1.2 billion in refunds because the state still owes the energy companies $1.8 billion in unpaid power bills.</p>
<p>Davis, who refused to cave in to the demands of companies like Enron even while Democrats, Republicans and the public criticized him, was right all along. Maybe Californians ought to cut Davis some slack.</p>
<p>JASON LEOPOLD spent two years covering California’s energy crisis as bureau chief of Dow Jones Newswires. He is currently working on a book about the crisis. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:jasonleopold@hotmail.com" type="external">jasonleopold@hotmail.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | arnold schwarzenegger isnt talking hollywood action film star californias gop gubernatorial candidate states recall election unusually silent plans running golden state hasnt yet offered solution states 38 billion budget deficit issue largely got one million people sign petition recall gov gray davis important however schwarzenegger still wont respond questions peninsula hotel beverly hills two years ago former los angeles mayor richard riordan junk bond king michael milken met secretly former enron chairman kenneth lay touting plan solving states energy crisis luminaries invited didnt attend may 24 2001 meeting included former los angeles laker earvin magic johnson supermarket magnate ron burkle schwarzenegger riordan milken listened lays pitch gov davis pleaded president george bush enact much needed price controls electricity sold state skyrocketed 200 per megawatthour davis said texasbased energy companies manipulating californias power market charging obscene prices power holding consumers hostage bush agreed meet davis century plaza hotel west los angeles may 29 2001 five days lay met schwarzenegger discuss california power crisis meeting davis asked bush federal assistance imposing federally mandated price caps rein soaring energy prices bush refused saying california legislators designed electricity market left many regulatory restrictions place thats caused electricity prices state skyrocket governor fix problem bush said however bushs response appears part coordinated effort launched lay davis shoulder blame crisis worked according recent polls majority voters grew increasingly frustrated way davis handled power crisis schwarzenegger used energy crisis missteps davis bolster standing potential voters davis took beating press energy companies ran attack ads governor lay used political clout gather support deregulation couple weeks lay met schwarzenegger may 2001 pbs news program frontline interviewed vice president dick cheney lay met privately month earlier cheney asked correspondent frontline whether energy companies acting like cartel using manipulative tactics cause electricity prices spike california cheney said frontline interview problem california caused combination thingsan unwise regulatory scheme didnt really deregulate theyre trapped unwise regulatory schemes plus addressed supply side issue theyve obviously created major problems bankrupted pgampe process month frontline interview bushs meeting davis cheney chairs bushs energy task force met lay discuss bushs national energy policy lay whose company largest contributor bushs presidential campaign made recommendations would financially benefit company lay gave cheney memo included eight recommendations energy policy eight seven included final draft energy policy released late may 2001 schwarzenegger riordan milken met lay meeting bush davis cheneys frontline interview policy made scant references californias energy crisis enron accused igniting indicate done provide state relief cheney said policy focused longterm solutions countrys energy needs opening drilling arctic national wildlife refuge freeing transmission lines thats california ignored report cheney said whats unknown many voters decide daviss fate oct 7 day recall election cheney dismissed daviss accusations power companies withholding electricity supplies state one company engaged exactly type behavior davis described davis would never told manipulative tactics energy company engaged confidential settlement federal energy regulatory commission whose chairman appointed bush year earlier tulsa okla basedwilliams companies agreed refund california 8 million profits reaped deliberately shutting one power plants state spring 2000 drive wholesale price electricity california evidence transcript taperecorded telephone conversation employee williams employee southern california power plant operated williams shows two conspired jack power prices create artificial electricity shortage keeping power plant service two weeks details settlement seal ferc year released november wall street journal sued commission obtain full copy report similarly ferc also found reliant energy engaged identical behavior around time williams february commission ordered reliant pay california 138 million settlement evidence released 2001 davis accused energy companies fraud would helped californias case voters may viewed governor positively ferc publicly release details williams settlement wouldnt jibed bushs energy policy made public instead may 2001 highly unlikely bush cheney members energy task force kept dark williams scam especially since findings investigation ferc took place around time policy drafted davis still causing problems lay californias power woes ripple effect forcing states cancel plans open electricity markets competition fearing deregulation would lead widespread blackouts price gouging enron company generated revenue buying selling power natural gas open market move would paralyze company fearing davis would take steps reregulate californias power market lay spent years lobbying california lawmakers open competition lay recruited schwarzenegger riordan milken powerful business leaders like bruce karatz chief executive home builder kaufman amp broad ray irani chief executive occidental petroleum kevin sharer chief executive biotech giant amgen 90minute secret meeting lay convened took place inside conference room peninsula hotel lay enron representatives meeting handed fourpage document schwarzenegger riordan milken titled comprehensive solution california called end federal state investigations enrons role california energy crisis said consumers pay states disastrous experiment deregulation multibillion rate increases another bullet point fourpage document said get deregulation right time california needs real electricity market government takeovers irony statement californias flawed power market design helped enron earn 500 million one year tenfold increase profits previous year coordinated effort manipulating price electricity california power companies mimicked cost state close 70 billion led beginning states 38 billion budget deficit power crisis forced dozens businesses close move states cheaper electricity abundant supply greatly reduced revenue california relied heavily upon lay asked participants support plan lobby state legislature make law unclear whether schwarzenegger held stake enron time followed lays request spokesman rob stutzman hasnt returned numerous calls comment meeting schwarzenegger others attended meeting associating enron particularly ken lay disgraced chairman highflying energy company peak californias power crisis may 2001 could compared meeting osama bin laden 911 understand terrorism isnt necessarily heinous act person attended meeting peninsula reporter wrote two years ago said lay invited schwarzenegger riordan two courted 2001 gop gubernatorial candidates week meeting davis signed legislation create state power authority would buy operate build power plants lieu outofstate energy companies enron governor alleged ripping state enrons lay timing meeting crucial company five months away disintegrating everything power keep company afloat profits rolling wasnt enron collapsed october 2001 evidence companys manipulative trading tactics emerged ferc began take look companys role californias electricity crisis since memos written former enron traders uncovered colorful names like fat boy death star contained blueprint ripping california enrons top trader west coast timothy belden mastermind behind scheme pleaded guilty december conspiracy commit wire fraud agreed cooperate federal investigators still trying get bottom crisis california still demanding ferc order energy companies refund state 89 billion overcharging state electricity yearlong energy crisis ferc says california due 12 billion refunds state still owes energy companies 18 billion unpaid power bills davis refused cave demands companies like enron even democrats republicans public criticized right along maybe californians ought cut davis slack jason leopold spent two years covering californias energy crisis bureau chief dow jones newswires currently working book crisis reached jasonleopoldhotmailcom 160 | 1,101 |
<p>Charles Rex Arbogast/AP</p>
<p />
<p>Throughout his presidential campaign, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has played the angry populist, railing against fat-cat donors, influence peddlers, and Washington establishment insiders who rig the system to the detriment of the American people. “These people have hundreds of millions of dollars that they’ve given to these politicians, and these politicians are puppets for them,” he exclaimed recently. “With me, I’m going to do what’s right for the country.”</p>
<p>Yet when Trump needed a political operative to oversee his campaign’s crucial delegate strategy—which could determine whether he wins the nomination at the Republican convention in July—he hired one of the most prominent Washington insiders: Paul Manafort, a veteran Republican lobbyist and consultant who has made millions of dollars working the system on behalf of corporations seeking government favors as well as Third World strongmen and kleptocrats.</p>
<p>Manafort has been honing his skills as a delegate wrangler for four decades, starting with Gerald Ford’s 1976 campaign, when the sitting but unelected president faced a stiff challenge in the Republican primary from Ronald Reagan. Manafort subsequently handled this function for other GOP presidential candidates, from Reagan in 1980 to John McCain in 2008. The Chamber of Commerce’s Scott Reed, who worked with Manafort during Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign, <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/04/01/delegate_hunter_manafort_brings_savvy_to_trump_camp_130167.html" type="external">described</a> him as “a proven vote counter [who] knows how to strategically move a campaign.” Manafort, who was the Dole campaign’s convention manager, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/30/us/politics-convention-buchanan-angrily-rejects-party-s-offer-15-second-videotaped.html" type="external">led the effort</a> to minimize the role at the convention of Patrick Buchanan, the right-wing commentator who placed second in the GOP nominating contest, so that Dole would not be burdened in the general election with Buchanan’s controversial conservative positions.</p>
<p>Hunting delegates was a side job for Manafort, who focused on lucrative work as a lobbyist for under-fire corporations and reviled political figures. In 1985, for example, Manafort and an aide flew to Angola, which was then in the middle of a bloody civil war, to woo Jonas Savimbi, a onetime Maoist and brutal warlord who <a href="http://www.africadaily.net/reports/Jonas_Savimbis_charisma_brutality_still_haunt_10_years_on_999.html" type="external">allegedly relied</a> on blood diamonds to fuel his army. According to the Washington Post, Manafort’s pitch to Savimbi <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5ZMpAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=bioEAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=3781%2C1948292" type="external">was almost derailed by a furious outbreak in fighting</a>, but he managed to land a $600,000-a-year contract to represent Savimbi and his UNITA party in Washington, DC, and to try to help Savimbi win US funding. Spy magazine <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qnVC8yS4N_AC&amp;lpg=PA58&amp;ots=XRID1LgWuE&amp;dq=spy%20paul%20manafort&amp;pg=PA62#v=onepage&amp;q=spy%20paul%20manafort&amp;f=false" type="external">noted</a> that Manafort’s firm at the time—Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly—did well by Savimbi:</p>
<p>For $600,000 a year since 1985, the firm has represented Angola’s thuggish Jonas Savimbi, an alleged witch burner, and his guerilla group UNITA, helping promulgate his “freedom fighter” image and persuading Congress to approve more than $230 million in covert aid to Savimbi’s rebel forces.</p>
<p>Savimbi was merely one of a rogue’s gallery of strongmen and despots Manafort’s firm represented. The company also worked for Ferdinand Marcos, the Filipino dictator who looted billions of dollars from his country, and Somali dictator Said Barre, whose violent autocratic rule left the African nation in ruins. The firm helped both leaders collect hundreds of millions of dollars in US funding.</p>
<p>Though Trump has talked tough about confronting Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Manafort has links to the darkest corners of Putin’s foreign policy world. In the mid-2000s, Manafort went to work for former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, a Putin ally who was deposed in 2014 following mass protests over his administration’s corruption and vote-rigging. A 2011 lawsuit against Manafort and other Yanukovych aides, filed in New York by former Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/lawsuit-trump-aide-ukraine/" type="external">accused</a> the lobbyist of assisting in a complicated scheme to launder money for a Yanukovych ally, a Ukrainian oligarch named Dmitry Firtash who was accused of having ties to organized crime. Manafort fought the claims, and the lawsuit was later dismissed when the New York judge hearing the case ruled that his court didn’t have jurisdiction and that Tymoshenko couldn’t prove “that Manafort’s business dealings with Firtash constituted a conscious effort to abet intimidation and harassment against his political critics in Ukraine.” Emails revealed in the case showed Manafort trying to help arrange investments in the United States for Firtash. The US government is <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2014/ukrainian-businessman-arrested-in-austria-on-u.s.-international-corruption-conspiracy-charges" type="external">currently seeking</a> Firtash’s extradition on bribery charges.</p>
<p>In another chapter of Manafort’s long career, he pulled off a feat that epitomizes the kind of inside-the-Beltway cronyism that Trump rails against. In 1986, Manafort was paid more than $326,000 by a developer to lobby a Reagan administration official to approve a $43 million taxpayer-funded grant for a housing project in New Jersey that local officials didn’t even want. His role in the deal became the subject of a congressional hearing, where Manfort <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-06-21/news/mn-2408_1_hud-housing-authority-housing-for-low-income-people" type="external">told</a> members of Congress that he shouldn’t be faulted for knowing how to game Washington. In one telling exchange, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) challenged Manafort’s involvement, calling it a “very smelly, sleazy business…I feel it wasn’t a meritorious project. People who knew how the system worked were able to get their project approved, even if it wasn’t meritorious.”</p>
<p>Manafort shrugged the complaint off. “We worked the system as it existed,” he said. “I don’t think we did anything illegal or improper.”</p>
<p>When asked about his purported $1,000-an-hour fee to pull strings inside Washington, Manafort dismissed the question, responding, “By Washington standards, that is not very high.”</p>
<p>How serious is Trump about his crusade to rid Washington of high-paid, system-rigging influence peddlers? By putting Manafort on his campaign payroll, the tycoon has demonstrated he certainly isn’t against using these insiders if it benefits his own special interest.&#160;</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | charles rex arbogastap throughout presidential campaign republican frontrunner donald trump played angry populist railing fatcat donors influence peddlers washington establishment insiders rig system detriment american people people hundreds millions dollars theyve given politicians politicians puppets exclaimed recently im going whats right country yet trump needed political operative oversee campaigns crucial delegate strategywhich could determine whether wins nomination republican convention julyhe hired one prominent washington insiders paul manafort veteran republican lobbyist consultant made millions dollars working system behalf corporations seeking government favors well third world strongmen kleptocrats manafort honing skills delegate wrangler four decades starting gerald fords 1976 campaign sitting unelected president faced stiff challenge republican primary ronald reagan manafort subsequently handled function gop presidential candidates reagan 1980 john mccain 2008 chamber commerces scott reed worked manafort bob doles 1996 presidential campaign described proven vote counter knows strategically move campaign manafort dole campaigns convention manager led effort minimize role convention patrick buchanan rightwing commentator placed second gop nominating contest dole would burdened general election buchanans controversial conservative positions hunting delegates side job manafort focused lucrative work lobbyist underfire corporations reviled political figures 1985 example manafort aide flew angola middle bloody civil war woo jonas savimbi onetime maoist brutal warlord allegedly relied blood diamonds fuel army according washington post manaforts pitch savimbi almost derailed furious outbreak fighting managed land 600000ayear contract represent savimbi unita party washington dc try help savimbi win us funding spy magazine noted manaforts firm timeblack manafort stone kellydid well savimbi 600000 year since 1985 firm represented angolas thuggish jonas savimbi alleged witch burner guerilla group unita helping promulgate freedom fighter image persuading congress approve 230 million covert aid savimbis rebel forces savimbi merely one rogues gallery strongmen despots manaforts firm represented company also worked ferdinand marcos filipino dictator looted billions dollars country somali dictator said barre whose violent autocratic rule left african nation ruins firm helped leaders collect hundreds millions dollars us funding though trump talked tough confronting russian leader vladimir putin manafort links darkest corners putins foreign policy world mid2000s manafort went work former ukrainian president victor yanukovych putin ally deposed 2014 following mass protests administrations corruption voterigging 2011 lawsuit manafort yanukovych aides filed new york former ukranian prime minister yulia tymoshenko accused lobbyist assisting complicated scheme launder money yanukovych ally ukrainian oligarch named dmitry firtash accused ties organized crime manafort fought claims lawsuit later dismissed new york judge hearing case ruled court didnt jurisdiction tymoshenko couldnt prove manaforts business dealings firtash constituted conscious effort abet intimidation harassment political critics ukraine emails revealed case showed manafort trying help arrange investments united states firtash us government currently seeking firtashs extradition bribery charges another chapter manaforts long career pulled feat epitomizes kind insidethebeltway cronyism trump rails 1986 manafort paid 326000 developer lobby reagan administration official approve 43 million taxpayerfunded grant housing project new jersey local officials didnt even want role deal became subject congressional hearing manfort told members congress shouldnt faulted knowing game washington one telling exchange rep christopher shays rconn challenged manaforts involvement calling smelly sleazy businessi feel wasnt meritorious project people knew system worked able get project approved even wasnt meritorious manafort shrugged complaint worked system existed said dont think anything illegal improper asked purported 1000anhour fee pull strings inside washington manafort dismissed question responding washington standards high serious trump crusade rid washington highpaid systemrigging influence peddlers putting manafort campaign payroll tycoon demonstrated certainly isnt using insiders benefits special interest160 | 563 |
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<p /> PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore.
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<p />On May&#160;1, President Barack Obama named Tom Wheeler, a venture capitalist and former leader of cable and wireless trade groups, to head the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
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<p />Now joining us to give us his view on this nomination is Nicholas Johnson. He was a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, appointed by Lyndon Johnson. He was there from 1966 to 1973. He's been codirector of a public health public policy institute, a network TV host, a congressional candidate. He's the author of many books. He law clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court. And he now joins us from Iowa City.
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<p />Thanks very much for joining us, Nicholas.
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<p />NICHOLAS JOHNSON, FMR. FCC COMMISSIONER: Well, thank you, Paul.
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<p />JAY: So what do you make of this appointment of Tom Wheeler?
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, I think it's somewhere between bizarre and outrageous. And there are three things that we can start with that are wrong with it, and then we'll come to a couple more.
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<p />So let's start with why is this guy important to Obama. He is what we call a major donor, not just of his own money, but a bundler. This is somebody who goes around and gets checks from folks who couldn't give it in the old days before corporations became people. They couldn't give it as a corporation, so you'd get checks from all the vice presidents, and you literally bundle them and hand them over to the presidential candidate. And this fellow, this Tom Wheeler, he pulled together some $700,000 to $1&#160;million (there's some difference as to how much) and contributed that to Obama's campaign. So we start off with the fact that we've got somebody who's sort of bought this appointment.
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<p />Number two, this is a really serious position. I mean, normally these large donors, you know, they let them sleep a night in the Lincoln bedroom in the White House or they give him an ambassadorship to a country that even the new ambassador has never heard of where they can't do too much harm. So in this case, they've handed this fellow what I think is the single most important independent regulatory commission in the lives of Americans--parents, children, minorities, working class, you name it, for reasons that we can describe later.
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<p />So (A) he's a big donor. (B) They've given him one of the most important jobs in Washington, D.C.
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<p />Now, third, as some of those presidential candidates would count, (A), (B), and third, he's a fellow who is from this industry. The president of the United States has appointed a lobbyist to regulate lobbyists who lobby on behalf of the corporations that he lobbied on behalf of. He was a trade association president. He was a lobbyist for all those hundreds of companies, plus more, lobbied the FCC , lobbied the Congress, in and out of the White House seeking influence there. And finally, as if all of this was not enough, he's a venture capitalist who has money in some of these companies.
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<p />JAY: Just to be clear for people that don't know, we're talking about the Federal Communications Commission, and this commission regulates anything--tell me if I'm right--everything from cell phones to television to cable TV to satellite TV, radio. I mean, you know, as you say, it's hard to think of something that people interact with more than the communications industry.
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<p />JOHNSON: That's right. Plus under-ocean cables, and police and taxi cab radios, and amateur radio operators. And it used to be the telegraph and the telephone company when AT&amp;T was a monopoly on top of that, when I was on the commission. And so if those who are watching this will turn over their little handheld device or look in the back of their computer or TV screen or whatever, they'll see that it's been type accepted by the FCC. So this equipment itself is approved.
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<p />JAY: So, Nicholas, what are some of the big issues that are going to come before the FCC that one might worry about having an industry rep running the FCC?
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<p />JOHNSON: Oh my goodness. You--how much time you got? I mean, you've got questions of monopoly ownership, permitting firms to merge in ways that end up driving up prices and limiting competition and consumer choice. You have issues like net neutrality, where the question is whether or not your internet service provider can write the software so the only web pages you can get to are the ones that they own, which is the way cable television works instead of being open to anybody who wants to put their programming on the cable.
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<p />Contrast that with AT&amp;T. So, I mean, there were a lot of jokes about AT&amp;T, and Lily Tomlin's routine--we don't care, we don't have to, we're the telephone company. But one thing AT&amp;T did do was it had to provide everybody that wanted a phone a phone, and once you got the phone you could say anything you wanted to say. And it didn't mean that somebody else might not arrest you, but AT&amp;T wasn't going to control content, they were not going to control who you can talk to. They were not going to raise the price on you if you talked to people they didn't think you ought to be talking to. So for all the criticism of AT&amp;T, it was in many ways superior in terms of consumer choice and freedom and price regulation and so forth than what we have now.
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<p />Now, the thing is, about appointing a lobbyist to this job, we should remind folks that when this was created by Congress in the 1920s as the Radio Commission and then in 1934 became the Federal Communications Commission, the whole mission and purpose of this agency was not to further enrich corporate executives, to drive up shareholder value, to increase the cash flow. The purpose of the agency was to represent the people. The standard was you must operate in the public interest. And that meant that broadcast licensees, for example, did not own their frequencies. They had a license that was good initially for 18 months, then for three years. When I was on the commission it was still three years.
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<p />And in exchange for getting this right to make private profit from public property, they were obliged to serve the interests of their community. They were to deal with the controversial issues confronting that community, to provide a range of points of view. They were not to be an instrument of propaganda for one particular ideology or another. And they provided all kinds of service--lost dogs, newborn babies, you know, whatever.
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<p />So of all the agencies where you would not want to appoint a lobbyist or somebody out of the industry, the FCC is number one on the list of the agencies that ought not to have it. It's bad enough elsewhere. You know this outfit that was supposed to be regulating the offshore drilling rigs and it turned out that the regulators were literally sleeping with people in the industry, and then the drilling rig blew up. We have an agency that's supposed to regulate coal mine safety. They've given hundreds of violation notices to the Massey Coal Company, but they never closed them down. And what was it? Twenty-seven guys died down there. So it's significant.
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<p />When you appoint people out of the industry, when you listen to businesses saying, oh, get the government off our backs, we don't want regulation, well, that's when you have salmonella outbreaks and that's when elevators fall and kill people, and that's when interstate highway bridges fall into rivers. There's a reason why we have these regulations.
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<p />JAY: And the FCC, if--remind me how many members there are. It's not very many. It's five?
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<p />JOHNSON: There are five now. There were seven when I was there. We had seven-year terms. And the Senate committee wanted you to serve out your full seven years.
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<p />JAY: Right. And during the 2000s, when you had--essentially you had three Republicans and two Democrats--the two Democrats, you know, were not bad in the 2000s and this concept of fighting for the public interest. But everyone was waiting when there would be this Democratic appointment, so then in theory you'd have three Democrats and you'd have more of a pushback on the industry, except now the chairman is now essentially an industry representative. I don't know how the Republicans could have appointed anyone, you know, more connected to those corporate interests.
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, that's why I don't expect any problem getting approval of this, because the same people who pay the senators--. You realize, if you're--you know, these guys, they go across the street for about a half a day every day to make phone calls trying to raise money 'cause they're not supposed to make those calls from their office. Now, I calculated once, years ago--and it's probably much worse today--if you're a United States senator wanting to be reelected, every morning, you wake up, you see the sun, you realize when that sun sets you've got to have found somewhere $10,000 cash, $10,000 dollars a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for six years. Now, you and I might be able to raise $10,000 that first day if you've got more wealthy friends than I do, but the second day it's going to be a real struggle. And for the other 363 days that year, I think you and I are going to be out of luck. These guys have got to raise $10,000 every day. Well, the same people who were paying them money are the same people that Tom Wheeler's been working for. So I think it's highly unlikely that he's not going to be approved.
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<p />JAY: Okay. Well--.
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<p />JOHNSON: [incompr.] another problem. You want another problem? I mean, I gave you three.
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<p />JAY: Yeah, go ahead.
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<p />JOHNSON: No, but another thing is, in addition to all this lobbying and representing trade associations and investing in these companies--. Well, let me just comment about that. You've got two problems here. One is an actual conflict of interest, that somebody like that will simply, like a colleague of mine on the commission--I ask him during a hearing, I say, hey, how are you going to vote on this one? He'd say, well, Nick, I don't know. He said, some of my friends are for this and some of my friends are against it, and, well, I'm for my friends. And so one problem is that a fellow like Wheeler gets in there and he votes for his friends--the people he's represented, the people he's got investments in, and so forth. I'd like to believe that he's an honorable enough guy that he wouldn't do that, but that's always a risk.
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<p />But whether he does it or he doesn't do it, there is the appearance of this conflict. If you're on the losing side and half of the people who appear in court or appear before the FCC end up being on the losing side, what are you going to think?
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<p />JAY: Well, isn't part of what's happened here, Nick--Nicholas, isn't part of what's happened here is this underlying principle or idea that the airways are public and the FCC's role is to allow private companies access to them, but always reinforce the public interest, tThat seems to have been so pushed to the side now, that essentially really what the FCC's role is is to manage the relations between the big monopolies to allow, you know, in theory a certain kind of equal playing ground that the one monopoly doesn't get the advantage over the other monopoly, and it's all about those intermonopoly relations? The public interest doesn't seem to have all that much more to--much to do with it anymore.
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, but the law hasn't changed. I mean, that's still what they're supposed to be doing.
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<p />JAY: Well, we're going to keep following this story, and we're going to come back to Nicholas as Wheeler's term begins, and we'll start looking at some--.
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, I've got my fourth thing. You want to hear that?
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<p />JAY: Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Finish off. Yeah.
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, he's on the president's intelligence advisory board. Now, one of the major issues in all this digitization, internet computerization stuff is our personal privacy, because if somebody's following you around as a private detective or something, you're probably going to figure out that they're always walking behind you or driving behind you or whatever. But on the internet, there's no way you can know who's tracking you, who's getting what, how much they're getting on you, who they're selling that data to, and so forth. And one of the worst offenders is United States government that thinks it's necessary to spy on all American citizens on the off chance they might catch a terrorist or two. And the job of this intelligence board is to think about the interests of the government in this regard, rather than to think about the privacy interests of us. So that's just one more bit of baggage that he takes into the commission.
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<p />JAY: Right. And that's pertinent, because the FCC has a lot to say about to what extent these media monopolies have to safeguard people's privacy.
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<p />JOHNSON: That's right. So if folks want to know more, the website is NicholasJohnson.org, and they can find out how to send me an email, and I'm happy to answer questions and stuff.
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<p />JAY: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, please, I encourage people to go there. And we'll be back with Nicholas as things develop at the FCC. Thanks for joining us.
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<p />JOHNSON: Well, thank you.
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<p />JAY: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
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<p />End
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<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | true | 4 | paul jay senior editor trnn welcome real news network im paul jay baltimore may1601 president barack obama named tom wheeler venture capitalist former leader cable wireless trade groups head us federal communications commission joining us give us view nomination nicholas johnson commissioner federal communications commission appointed lyndon johnson 1966 1973 hes codirector public health public policy institute network tv host congressional candidate hes author many books law clerked us supreme court joins us iowa city thanks much joining us nicholas nicholas johnson fmr fcc commissioner well thank paul jay make appointment tom wheeler johnson well think somewhere bizarre outrageous three things start wrong well come couple lets start guy important obama call major donor money bundler somebody goes around gets checks folks couldnt give old days corporations became people couldnt give corporation youd get checks vice presidents literally bundle hand presidential candidate fellow tom wheeler pulled together 700000 1160million theres difference much contributed obamas campaign start fact weve got somebody whos sort bought appointment number two really serious position mean normally large donors know let sleep night lincoln bedroom white house give ambassadorship country even new ambassador never heard cant much harm case theyve handed fellow think single important independent regulatory commission lives americansparents children minorities working class name reasons describe later hes big donor b theyve given one important jobs washington dc third presidential candidates would count b third hes fellow industry president united states appointed lobbyist regulate lobbyists lobby behalf corporations lobbied behalf trade association president lobbyist hundreds companies plus lobbied fcc lobbied congress white house seeking influence finally enough hes venture capitalist money companies jay clear people dont know talking federal communications commission commission regulates anythingtell im righteverything cell phones television cable tv satellite tv radio mean know say hard think something people interact communications industry johnson thats right plus underocean cables police taxi cab radios amateur radio operators used telegraph telephone company atampt monopoly top commission watching turn little handheld device look back computer tv screen whatever theyll see type accepted fcc equipment approved jay nicholas big issues going come fcc one might worry industry rep running fcc johnson oh goodness youhow much time got mean youve got questions monopoly ownership permitting firms merge ways end driving prices limiting competition consumer choice issues like net neutrality question whether internet service provider write software web pages get ones way cable television works instead open anybody wants put programming cable contrast atampt mean lot jokes atampt lily tomlins routinewe dont care dont telephone company one thing atampt provide everybody wanted phone phone got phone could say anything wanted say didnt mean somebody else might arrest atampt wasnt going control content going control talk going raise price talked people didnt think ought talking criticism atampt many ways superior terms consumer choice freedom price regulation forth thing appointing lobbyist job remind folks created congress 1920s radio commission 1934 became federal communications commission whole mission purpose agency enrich corporate executives drive shareholder value increase cash flow purpose agency represent people standard must operate public interest meant broadcast licensees example frequencies license good initially 18 months three years commission still three years exchange getting right make private profit public property obliged serve interests community deal controversial issues confronting community provide range points view instrument propaganda one particular ideology another provided kinds servicelost dogs newborn babies know whatever agencies would want appoint lobbyist somebody industry fcc number one list agencies ought bad enough elsewhere know outfit supposed regulating offshore drilling rigs turned regulators literally sleeping people industry drilling rig blew agency thats supposed regulate coal mine safety theyve given hundreds violation notices massey coal company never closed twentyseven guys died significant appoint people industry listen businesses saying oh get government backs dont want regulation well thats salmonella outbreaks thats elevators fall kill people thats interstate highway bridges fall rivers theres reason regulations jay fcc ifremind many members many five johnson five seven sevenyear terms senate committee wanted serve full seven years jay right 2000s hadessentially three republicans two democratsthe two democrats know bad 2000s concept fighting public interest everyone waiting would democratic appointment theory youd three democrats youd pushback industry except chairman essentially industry representative dont know republicans could appointed anyone know connected corporate interests johnson well thats dont expect problem getting approval people pay senators realize youreyou know guys go across street half day every day make phone calls trying raise money cause theyre supposed make calls office calculated years agoand probably much worse todayif youre united states senator wanting reelected every morning wake see sun realize sun sets youve got found somewhere 10000 cash 10000 dollars day seven days week 365 days year six years might able raise 10000 first day youve got wealthy friends second day going real struggle 363 days year think going luck guys got raise 10000 every day well people paying money people tom wheelers working think highly unlikely hes going approved jay okay well johnson incompr another problem want another problem mean gave three jay yeah go ahead johnson another thing addition lobbying representing trade associations investing companies well let comment youve got two problems one actual conflict interest somebody like simply like colleague mine commissioni ask hearing say hey going vote one hed say well nick dont know said friends friends well im friends one problem fellow like wheeler gets votes friendsthe people hes represented people hes got investments forth id like believe hes honorable enough guy wouldnt thats always risk whether doesnt appearance conflict youre losing side half people appear court appear fcc end losing side going think jay well isnt part whats happened nicknicholas isnt part whats happened underlying principle idea airways public fccs role allow private companies access always reinforce public interest tthat seems pushed side essentially really fccs role manage relations big monopolies allow know theory certain kind equal playing ground one monopoly doesnt get advantage monopoly intermonopoly relations public interest doesnt seem much tomuch anymore johnson well law hasnt changed mean thats still theyre supposed jay well going keep following story going come back nicholas wheelers term begins well start looking johnson well ive got fourth thing want hear jay oh yeah go ahead finish yeah johnson well hes presidents intelligence advisory board one major issues digitization internet computerization stuff personal privacy somebodys following around private detective something youre probably going figure theyre always walking behind driving behind whatever internet theres way know whos tracking whos getting much theyre getting theyre selling data forth one worst offenders united states government thinks necessary spy american citizens chance might catch terrorist two job intelligence board think interests government regard rather think privacy interests us thats one bit baggage takes commission jay right thats pertinent fcc lot say extent media monopolies safeguard peoples privacy johnson thats right folks want know website nicholasjohnsonorg find send email im happy answer questions stuff jay yeah thats good yeah please encourage people go well back nicholas things develop fcc thanks joining us johnson well thank jay thank joining us real news network end disclaimer please note transcripts real news network typed recording program trnn guarantee complete accuracy | 1,180 |
<p>Photo Credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com</p>
<p>Alan Dershowitz, an emeritus law professor at Harvard University known for levying baseless accusations of anti-Semitism and bigotry at critics of Israeli human rights abuses, took to the media circuit this week to defend the white nationalist Trump appointee Stephen Bannon.</p>
<p><a href="//www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/11/15/alan-dershowitz-steve-bannon-smears-not-legitimate-call-somebody-anti-semite-disagree-policies/" type="external">Speaking</a> with Aaron Klein, a writer for the Jerusalem bureau of the white nationalist publication Breitbart, Dershowitz said, “I think we have to be very careful before we accuse any particular individual of being an anti-Semite. The evidence certainly suggests that Mr. Bannon has very good relationships with individual Jews... So, I haven’t seen any evidence of personal anti-Semitism on the part of Bannon.” He added, “it is not legitimate to call somebody an anti-Semite because you might disagree with their policies.”</p>
<p>While declaring that "I just don't think you should toss that phrase&#160;[anti-Semitism] around casually, unless there's overwhelming evidence," Dershowitz proceeded to equate the "hard left" with the white supremacist far-right: "They hate Jews," he claimed. "They generally hate Israel. They generally hate America."</p>
<p>Before he was appointed as the chief strategist and senior counselor of Trump's White House and the manager of Trump's presidential campaign, Bannon was the head of Breitbart media. In an interview with Mother Jones reporter Sarah Posner at the Republican National Convention, Bannon <a href="//www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news" type="external">boasted</a>, “We're the platform for the alt-right.”</p>
<p>The Southern Poverty Law Center <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alternative-right" type="external">describes</a> the alt-right as “a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and 'social justice' to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”</p>
<p>A safe space for racism</p>
<p>Throughout his career, Bannon has developed the outlet into a home for anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, white nationalist, misogynist and anti-gay rhetoric. He published the work of extremists including Islamophobes Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who were <a href="//www.bbc.com/news/uk-23064355" type="external">banned</a> in 2013 from entering the United Kingdom because, according to the British government, their presence is “not conducive to the public good.”</p>
<p>Just weeks after a massacre of African-American parisioners at the the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by an avowed white supremacist, Breitbart <a href="//www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/01/hoist-it-high-and-proud-the-confederate-flag-proclaims-a-glorious-heritage/" type="external">published</a> an article calling to “hoist [the Confederate flag] high and fly it with pride.” The outlet has published articles titled, " <a href="//www.breitbart.com/video/2016/02/19/would-you-rather-your-child-had-feminism-or-cancer/" type="external">Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?</a>" and “ <a href="//www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/02/political-correctness-protects-muslim-rape-culture/" type="external">Political Correctness Protects Muslim Rape Culture</a>.”&#160;</p>
<p>Under Bannon's tenure, Breitbart fervently <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/04/28/breitbartcom-becoming-media-arm-alt-right" type="external">defended</a> the white nationalist movement known as the "alt-right." It has referred to infamous white supremacists Jared Taylor and Richard Spencer as "intellectuals," and said that they are merely "accused" of racism. Noting that Breitbart has been a key factor in spreading the extremist trope of rising black racial hate crimes against whites, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that the outlet "has been openly promoting the core issues of the Alt-Right, introducing these racist ideas to its readership."</p>
<p>Breitbart editor Katie McHugh, who was hired by Bannon, has frequently busied herself with <a href="//www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2015/09/18/breitbart-editor-is-a-horrible-human-being/" type="external">racist, xenophobic Twitter rants</a>. "Funny how Europeans assimilated, unlike Third Worlders demanding welfare while raping, killing Americans," McHugh tweeted during the second presidential debate this year.&#160;</p>
<p>Another Breitbart editor who gained infamy under Bannon's watch, Milo Yiannopoulos, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/07/21/what-it-takes-to-get-banned-from-twitter/" type="external">banned</a> from Twitter this June for orchestrating an online campaign of racist and sexist abuse directed at "Ghostbusters" actor Leslie Jones. In a speech following Trump's victory at a conference of far-right provocateur David Horowitz, Yiannopolous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyH789neAgI" type="external">urged</a> fellow rightists to "wade into the bastions of the enemy like universities, black neighborhoods, and Silicon Valley to engage."&#160;</p>
<p>Rocky J. Suhayda, Chairman of the American Nazi Party, <a href="//www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/white-nationalists-on-bannon/" type="external">told</a> CNN of Bannon’s appointment: "Perhaps The Donald IS for 'REAL' and is not going to be another controlled puppet directed by the usual 'Wire Pullers,' and does indeed intend to ROCK the BOAT?”</p>
<p>An endless record of false anti-Semitism smears</p>
<p>In a separate <a href="//www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/11/15/dershowitz_hard_left_is_very_anti-semitic_keith_ellison_black_lives_matter.html" type="external">conversation</a> with Steve Kornacki of MSNBC on Tuesday, Dershowitz deflected from allegations of Bannon's racism by smearing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress. The veteran <a href="//www.thedp.com:8080/article/2012/02/max_blumenthal_torture_violence_advocate_to_keynote_antibds_event" type="external">torture defender</a> and former counsel to OJ Simpson said of Ellison: “Many of his supporters hate Jews -- many people who applaud his nomination.”&#160;</p>
<p>He then attacked racial justice organizers, falsely stating: “I love the concept of Black Lives Matter, but they are an anti-Semitic group.” (Kornacki did not challenge Dershowitz's slanderous characterization.)&#160;</p>
<p>Dershowitz has <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/columns/2016/08/12/black-lives-matter-must-rescind-anti-israel-declaration/EHDYV3gNLwrTTwfp0JA8QN/story.html" type="external">accused</a> the Movement for Black Lives of “blood libel” for criticizing Israeli genocide and&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ux4JU_sbB0" type="external">compared</a>&#160;Judge Richard Goldstone to the Nazi Joseph Mengele for his 2009 report on Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip.&#160;</p>
<p>Here are a few others Dershowitz has accused of anti-Semitism or smeared:</p>
<p>--Former President Jimmy Carter, whom he accused of "anti-Judaism." (Activist Omar Baddar has produced a comprehensive&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZTai2w8x9Y" type="external">video compilation</a>&#160;detailing Dershowitz's lengthy history of slandering Carter and other ideological foes).</p>
<p>--Noam Chomsky, whom Dershowitz falsely described in his book, "The Case Against Israel's Enemies" as a Holocaust denier.</p>
<p>--Academic and author <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/the-lobby-jews-and-antise_b_18998.html" type="external">Norman Finkelstein</a>. Dershowitz played an influential role in denying Finkelstein tenure&#160;at De Paul University, largely on the grounds of his writings about Israel, and (as Baddar demonstrated in his video) falsely accused him of seeking to participate in a Holocaust denial conference Finkestein actually denounced and refused to attend.</p>
<p>--The liberal pro-Israel organization J Street, which Dershowitz <a href="//www.tabletmag.com/scroll/193050/a-conversation-with-alan-dershowitz" type="external">called</a> "a major anti-Israel organization"</p>
<p>--President Barack Obama, <a href="//www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211467" type="external">accusing him</a> of "hypocrisy" and demanding he apologize to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.</p>
<p>--Jews who supported Obama's passage of the Iran deal, <a href="//www.timesofisrael.com/pro-israel-campus-groups-worry-iran-deal-debate-will-end-in-anti-semitic-hatefest/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&amp;utm_campaign=9f1b5a3fef-2015_09_10&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_adb46cec92-9f1b5a3fef-54623881" type="external">accusing</a> them of a "ghetto mentality."</p>
<p>--International relations professors and "The Israel Lobby" co-authors <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/the-lobby-jews-and-antise_b_18998.html" type="external">Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer</a>.</p>
<p>--Palestinians, whom he <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/palestines-selfinflicted-_b_48751.html" type="external">accused</a> of "celebrating" their own "self-inflicted wound." Dershowitz was referring to their mass expulsion in 1948 at the hands of Zionist militias.</p>
<p>--Tel Aviv University academics who denounced their government's official discrimination against Palestinians. Dershowitz <a href="//www.thedp.com:8080/article/2012/02/max_blumenthal_torture_violence_advocate_to_keynote_antibds_event" type="external">urged</a>&#160;"patriotic students" to "stand up to propagandizing professors." He was later condemned by Tel Aviv University faculty for statements "bordering on incitement."</p>
<p>The pro-Israel right rallies for Bannon</p>
<p>Dershowitz is far from the only prominent pro-Israel campaigner or organization defending Bannon against charges of anti-Semitism. Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein <a href="//zoa.org/2016/11/10342353-zoa-criticizes-adl-for-falsely-alleging-trump-advisor-bannon-is-anti-semitic/" type="external">proclaimed</a> this week that his group’s “own experience and analysis of Breitbart articles confirms Mr. Bannon’s and Breitbart’s friendship and fair-mindedness towards Israel and the Jewish people.”&#160;Klein criticized the Anti-Defamation League, which has <a href="//www.adl.org/sp/stephen-bannon-backgrounder/bannon-backgrounder.html" type="external">spoken</a> out against Bannon.&#160;</p>
<p>Dershowitz was joined by "Rabbi" Shmuley Boteach in his defense of Bannon. Writing in The Hill, Boteach <a href="https://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/306035-letter-to-anti-defamation-leagues-jonathan" type="external">claimed</a>, "I don't quite know what the alt-right is." He then pronounced Bannon free of any extremist taint, writing, "I don’t think even the most hostile media can point to a single reason to consider him anti-Semitic."</p>
<p>As Rob Bryan <a href="" type="internal">reported</a> for Alternet, Boteach's first charitable venture was shut down for fraud. The "rabbi," who was formally castigated by his original rabbinical teachers, now pays himself exorbitants sums through a non-profit that he promotes as a charity, but which appears to be a personal fundraising and public relations vehicle. Boteach's primary donor is Sheldon Adelson, the Republican casino kingpin who has used his fortune to support the political careers of Netanyahu and Trump.</p>
<p>Bannon is <a href="//www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.753413" type="external">reportedly</a> slated to attend the annual ZOA’s awards gala on Sunday, where Dershowitz will be honored alongside Adelson and Congressman Ed Royce.</p>
<p>Sarah Lazare&#160;is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for Common Dreams, she coedited the book&#160;About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. Follow her on Twitter at&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahlazare" type="external">@sarahlazare</a>.</p>
<p>Max Blumenthal is&#160;the award-winning author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345" type="external">Goliath</a>,&#160; <a href="http://republicangomorrah.com/" type="external">Republican Gomorrah</a>, and&#160; <a href="https://www.amazon.com/51-Day-War-Ruin-Resistance/dp/156858511X" type="external">The 51 Day War</a>. He is also the co-host of the podcast, <a href="http://moderaterebelsradio.com/" type="external">Moderate Rebels</a>.&#160;Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/maxblumenthal" type="external">@MaxBlumenthal</a>.</p> | true | 4 | photo credit katz shutterstockcom alan dershowitz emeritus law professor harvard university known levying baseless accusations antisemitism bigotry critics israeli human rights abuses took media circuit week defend white nationalist trump appointee stephen bannon speaking aaron klein writer jerusalem bureau white nationalist publication breitbart dershowitz said think careful accuse particular individual antisemite evidence certainly suggests mr bannon good relationships individual jews havent seen evidence personal antisemitism part bannon added legitimate call somebody antisemite might disagree policies declaring dont think toss phrase160antisemitism around casually unless theres overwhelming evidence dershowitz proceeded equate hard left white supremacist farright hate jews claimed generally hate israel generally hate america appointed chief strategist senior counselor trumps white house manager trumps presidential campaign bannon head breitbart media interview mother jones reporter sarah posner republican national convention bannon boasted platform altright southern poverty law center describes altright set farright ideologies groups individuals whose core belief white identity attack multicultural forces using political correctness social justice undermine white people civilization safe space racism throughout career bannon developed outlet home antimuslim antisemitic white nationalist misogynist antigay rhetoric published work extremists including islamophobes pamela geller robert spencer banned 2013 entering united kingdom according british government presence conducive public good weeks massacre africanamerican parisioners emanuel african methodist episcopal church charleston avowed white supremacist breitbart published article calling hoist confederate flag high fly pride outlet published articles titled would rather child feminism cancer political correctness protects muslim rape culture160 bannons tenure breitbart fervently defended white nationalist movement known altright referred infamous white supremacists jared taylor richard spencer intellectuals said merely accused racism noting breitbart key factor spreading extremist trope rising black racial hate crimes whites southern poverty law center noted outlet openly promoting core issues altright introducing racist ideas readership breitbart editor katie mchugh hired bannon frequently busied racist xenophobic twitter rants funny europeans assimilated unlike third worlders demanding welfare raping killing americans mchugh tweeted second presidential debate year160 another breitbart editor gained infamy bannons watch milo yiannopoulos banned twitter june orchestrating online campaign racist sexist abuse directed ghostbusters actor leslie jones speech following trumps victory conference farright provocateur david horowitz yiannopolous urged fellow rightists wade bastions enemy like universities black neighborhoods silicon valley engage160 rocky j suhayda chairman american nazi party told cnn bannons appointment perhaps donald real going another controlled puppet directed usual wire pullers indeed intend rock boat endless record false antisemitism smears separate conversation steve kornacki msnbc tuesday dershowitz deflected allegations bannons racism smearing rep keith ellison dmn first muslim elected congress veteran torture defender former counsel oj simpson said ellison many supporters hate jews many people applaud nomination160 attacked racial justice organizers falsely stating love concept black lives matter antisemitic group kornacki challenge dershowitzs slanderous characterization160 dershowitz accused movement black lives blood libel criticizing israeli genocide and160 compared160judge richard goldstone nazi joseph mengele 2009 report israeli atrocities gaza strip160 others dershowitz accused antisemitism smeared former president jimmy carter accused antijudaism activist omar baddar produced comprehensive160 video compilation160detailing dershowitzs lengthy history slandering carter ideological foes noam chomsky dershowitz falsely described book case israels enemies holocaust denier academic author norman finkelstein dershowitz played influential role denying finkelstein tenure160at de paul university largely grounds writings israel baddar demonstrated video falsely accused seeking participate holocaust denial conference finkestein actually denounced refused attend liberal proisrael organization j street dershowitz called major antiisrael organization president barack obama accusing hypocrisy demanding apologize israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu jews supported obamas passage iran deal accusing ghetto mentality international relations professors israel lobby coauthors stephen walt john mearsheimer palestinians accused celebrating selfinflicted wound dershowitz referring mass expulsion 1948 hands zionist militias tel aviv university academics denounced governments official discrimination palestinians dershowitz urged160patriotic students stand propagandizing professors later condemned tel aviv university faculty statements bordering incitement proisrael right rallies bannon dershowitz far prominent proisrael campaigner organization defending bannon charges antisemitism zionist organization america zoa president morton klein proclaimed week groups experience analysis breitbart articles confirms mr bannons breitbarts friendship fairmindedness towards israel jewish people160klein criticized antidefamation league spoken bannon160 dershowitz joined rabbi shmuley boteach defense bannon writing hill boteach claimed dont quite know altright pronounced bannon free extremist taint writing dont think even hostile media point single reason consider antisemitic rob bryan reported alternet boteachs first charitable venture shut fraud rabbi formally castigated original rabbinical teachers pays exorbitants sums nonprofit promotes charity appears personal fundraising public relations vehicle boteachs primary donor sheldon adelson republican casino kingpin used fortune support political careers netanyahu trump bannon reportedly slated attend annual zoas awards gala sunday dershowitz honored alongside adelson congressman ed royce sarah lazare160is staff writer alternet former staff writer common dreams coedited book160about face military resisters turn war follow twitter at160 sarahlazare max blumenthal is160the awardwinning author goliath160 republican gomorrah and160 51 day war also cohost podcast moderate rebels160follow twitter maxblumenthal | 790 |
<p>The unexpected and shocking election of Donald Trump is one which requires deep analysis and reflection. Much energy should be spent examining the class, race, and gender dynamics of this question. Yet one key element to grasp, perhaps greater than any other, is tied to an understanding of The Civil War, the multi-hour documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns and shown on PBS in fall 1990. I would argue that there was a definite and clear trajectory from the broadcast of the Burns film to the broadcast of Trump’s victory speech.</p>
<p>To begin with, it should be stated that the Civil War as an event is understood within American culture to a significant degree as a result of multimedia representations of those events. The first motion picture epic, Birth of a Nation, directed by DW Griffith, portrayed the war. The entire Western genre is loaded with cowboy veterans of the Union and Confederate armies. Mathew Brady’s famous images of the battlefields and soldiers are some of these earliest multimedia representations. Telegraphy and a mass distribution press combined with rudimentary photography to create the first modern media warfare representation. Indeed, the success and proliferation of photography as a form of communication is wholly indebted to the Civil War. Prior to its outbreak, photography was a tabooed form due to a variety of legitimate issues, including time expediency, cost, and the cumbersome nature of the technology. But as soon as mothers and wives realized there was a technology that would allow them to hold onto a small portrait of their dearly beloved soldiers that was not as costly or time consuming as the commissioning of a painter for such a task, an art form was born.</p>
<p>This context is vital because of how Burns tells his story in narrating the events. He does not rely on staged reenactments, although a vibrant reenactment subculture did exist in America when the series was in production, and instead uses celebrity voice-overs narrating words written by both famous and everyday participants in the war while panning over vistas he has filmed and still imagery. Burns introduces the “peculiar institution” with a quotation from “Alexis de Tocqueville, who described socialists in his Souvenirs as ‘rabble’ (canailles) but remained a loyal friend and intellectual accomplice of Gobineau, the founder of modem racism, throughout his life”, to borrow wording from an Enzo Traverso essay.</p>
<p>Peppered throughout are commentaries by several historians, most prominently being the southern historian Shelby Foote, author of a three volume “narrative” history of the war. In 1997, Foote said “I am what is called a narrative historian. Narrative history is getting more popular all the time but it’s not a question of twisting the facts into a narrative. It’s not a question of anything like that. What it is, is discovering the plot that’s there just as the painter discovered the colors in shadows or Renoir discovered these children. I maintain that anything you can possibly learn about putting words together in a narrative form by writing novels is especially valuable to you when you write history.”</p>
<p>“There is no great difference between writing novels and writing histories other than this: If you have a character named Lincoln in a novel that’s not Abraham Lincoln, you can give him any color eyes you want to. But if you want to describe the color of Abraham Lincoln’s, President Lincoln’s eyes, you have to know what color they were. They were gray. So you’re working with facts that came out of documents, just like in a novel you are working with facts that came out of your head or most likely out of your memory. Once you have control of those facts, once you possess them, you can handle them exactly as a novelist handles his facts,” said Foote.</p>
<p>“No good novelist would be false to his facts, and certainly no historian is allowed to be false to his facts under any circumstances. I’ve never known, at least a modern historical instance, where the truth wasn’t superior to distortion in every way.” That’s a good point worth keeping in mind.</p>
<p>It would be a mistake to say that Burns owes his entire narrative to the Foote volumes, it is quite obvious that he has created his own work here through the inclusion of other historians. Yet Foote does steal the show in terms of talking heads, taking up the most screen time and providing some of the best-remembered commentary with 89 appearances as opposed to 9 to 11 made by African American historian Barbara Fields. For all intents and purposes, the show could have been titled The Civil War with Shelby Foote. His voice-over closes out the series, which ends with a tender embrace between elder Confederate comrades-at-arms against the signature theme of the series, Jay Ungar’s haunting and notably Scotch-Irish sounding Ashokan Farewell, a tune played primarily on a rustic fiddle accompanied by guitar. This flavoring of the proceedings makes it subtle yet obvious that Burns is telling a Euro-American story, an epic one featuring a pageant of characters but a Euro-centric one nevertheless.</p>
<p>While I have by no means engaged in a the thorough analysis of timing each segment, it is rather obvious to me that Fredrick Douglass is a minor supporting actor in this epic and that Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, William Sherman, Ulysses Grant, George McClellan, and Abraham Lincoln dominate the screen time allotted to historical personages. Obviously there is some merit to such allocation, these men were the major leaders of the military conflagration. But the American Civil War was much more than just the events on the battlefields, it was a massive social, cultural, political, and spiritual uprising that redefined the meaning of America forever. The reduced presence of the abolitionists in this uprising that they were entirely responsible for creating despite the best efforts of these military leaders is nothing less than the equivalent of producing a documentary about the Soviet Union and making Lenin an incidental character or a series about Nazism that does not prominently feature Adolf Hitler. For heaven’s sake the abolitionists get less screen time than a lowly Rhode Island corporal named Elisha Hunt Rhodes!</p>
<p>This would merit an obvious question, what does Foote think of the Confederacy, a state founded to preserve the slave economy after the election of Abraham Lincoln made it seem the system was nearing death’s door?</p>
<p>In 2000, Foote offered some remarks regarding the flying of the Confederate flag in South Carolina that are quite informative for these purposes. “The flag is a symbol my great grandfather fought under and in defense of. I am for flying it anywhere anybody wants to fly it. I do know perfectly well what pain it causes my black friends, but I think that pain is not necessary if they would read the Confederate constitution and knew what the Confederacy really stood for. This country has two grievous sins on its hands. One of them is slavery – whether we’ll ever be cured of it, I don’t know. The other one is emancipation – they told 4 million people, you’re free, hit the road, and they drifted back into a form of peonage that in some ways is worse than slavery. These things have got to be understood before they’re condemned. They’re condemned on the face of it because they take that flag to represent what those yahoos represent as – in their protest against civil rights things. But the people who knew what that flag really stood for should have stopped those yahoos from using it as a symbol of what they stood for. But we didn’t – and now you had this problem of the Confederate flag being identified as sort of a roughneck thing, which it is not.” In another interview, Foote said the flag “represents many good things.” So much for no historian being allowed to be false to his facts under any circumstances.</p>
<p>In another interview, this given to NPR in 1994, Foote said he felt he personally had lost that war and said “You go with your people.” He goes as far as saying in another part of the interview that Reconstruction, a revolutionary moment akin to any other over the next century, was the complete opposite of the Marshall Plan and that he could identify with the Southern cause as being a revolutionary one. In yet another interview he says “The Confederacy respected law above all things.”</p>
<p>This is a common ideological detail shared with many Euro-Americans today. They insist that there was something to the Confederacy and its soldiers which was fundamentally different than the white supremacist project of maintaining slavery. From here stems a rather banal nostalgia for the nobility of the soldiers on both sides of the lines, that these were men who found themselves in combat that was over something far-removed from the morality of slavery. Is that so?</p>
<p>A review of the record dictates a strong NO. First, what created the Confederate army which was almost fully-formed prior to secession? Southern men began to form militias across the region just and prepare for future violence following one key event, the John Brown raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. That event galvanized the south and sent a palpable terror through the population, almost akin to the panic following a terrorist attack when people stock up on firearms and emergency supplies. Brown was not making a statement about the Articles of Confederation or the meaning of federalism when he attacked Harper’s Ferry, he was trying to create a nationwide slave rebellion. There had been strains in the relations of the federal to state governments prior to Harper’s Ferry that were tied to issues other than slavery, that cannot be denied in totality. But these issues would have either been resolved amicably or simply diminished to non-issues within a few decades had the Harper’s Ferry raid not taken place. There is simply no way to deny the way that John Brown turned a state of affairs from one emphasis into another. It is the pivotal event that changed historical outcomes forever and irreversibly.</p>
<p>Second, the actions of the British workers are quite instructive. A major pillar of the Victorian economy was the cotton supply from America used in the British textile industry. At one point the Confederacy was seeking to gain diplomatic recognition by the Crown. At the same time, textile workers across the country were out of work due to a dearth of cotton. But in the face of a profound hardship, these workers continued to support the abolitionist efforts amongst their elected officials and within their ranks. The International Workingmen’s Association sent high praise to Lincoln and damned slavery. The opposition to slavery amongst the common men and women worldwide was quite well established and demonstrates that abolitionism was a popular sentiment extending well beyond the boundaries of religious movements like the Quakers or John Brown’s brand of liberation theology.</p>
<p>Yet Shelby Foote and Ken Burns do not seem inclined to this perspective in their collaboration, instead proffering near-legendary soldiers dying for a noble cause. How should we grapple with such proposed yet wholly unmerited moral neutrality?</p>
<p>If I might be so bold, the truth is that Foote and Burns are conflating the morality of the Union cause with the Confederate cause. Abraham Lincoln did not want to end slavery if such would be unnecessary. His was a war effort to preserve the United States as a federalist body politic and nothing more. But, at a key moment, the abolitionist movement, one that was quite powerful and morally certain, wrestled control of the war from him and made it a war against slavery itself. The finest representation of this, to my mind, was formulated by Gore Vidal in his quite excellent (and funny) novel Lincoln.</p>
<p>How did they do this? The answer is again to be found in this modern media warfare representation idea. The abolitionists had significant access to the media of the day and used the opportunity to build their movement during revolutionary times unseen in America prior to these events. The erstwhile Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran for president against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries of 2015-16, saw a similar occurrence take place around his campaign. Very suddenly and despite his own efforts to the contrary, his base turned the campaign into an outright movement not just supporting a New Deal-Great Society Keynesian Democrat but in fact protesting neoliberal austerity measures that stemmed from Clintonism over the past quarter century. Indeed, it was readily apparent to skeptics and seasoned political observers that Sanders was amazed and somewhat flabbergasted to see what he had wrought, much as Lincoln might also have been.</p>
<p>And so in this sense it bears merit to indicate what should actually be appearing on the Burns series and what actually does. By conflating the moral certainty of the Union cause with the Confederate one, we see an ever-so-slight paradigm shift. But these slight shifts are the augury of a much larger occurrence that has taken place with the election of one Donald Trump.</p>
<p>If you start out by saying “oh well the Confederates weren’t all that bad, some of them were actually noble”, quite quickly the ripples of bigotry begin to form. If the Confederates were not so bad, perhaps Reconstruction was not so necessary. Perhaps the evolution of liberalism into socialism amongst the working class at the middle of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, meaning the addition of an economic dimension to the liberal universalism of John Stuart Mill, becomes foolish. And then these rippling effects continue until you find yourself electing a president who has not just toyed with but catered his political campaign to both working people who have no grasp of critical race theory as well as outright white nationalists, perhaps epitomized by the personage of one Steve Bannon, an unrepentant white nationalist whose Breitbart website is the undeniable enclave of every reactionary line of thought. To use an analogy, the Treaty of Versailles did not directly lead to the Nazi death camps, there were a thousand steps between the two. But the cultural, political, and spiritual impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the German people certainly did inform the ideology of Nazism and its cannibal logic.</p>
<p>Ken Burns is rather well-known at this point for his political efforts also, having made short films for various Democratic Party events. Yet this soft-gloves liberal treatment of militant, violent white supremacist tendencies within American history and culture is the sort of enabling that fuels the rise of men like Donald Trump. The violence of the Trump ideology is not a random occurrence, akin to a bolt of lightening that splits a tree in an otherwise verdant landscape. Instead, it is an opportunistic infection that grows, develops, thrives, and finally strikes with painful outcomes much as the staphylococcal bacteria uses a warm, moist environment to develop after some time into a skin boil. The brand of liberalism that Ken Burns trafficked in when he presented his miniseries is such a warm, moist environment. Nothing less than an extremism in the opposite direction of Trump’s brand of ideological poison can properly combat such infection, an ideological antibiotic called “abolition democracy” by W.E.B. Du Bois.</p> | true | 4 | unexpected shocking election donald trump one requires deep analysis reflection much energy spent examining class race gender dynamics question yet one key element grasp perhaps greater tied understanding civil war multihour documentary miniseries directed ken burns shown pbs fall 1990 would argue definite clear trajectory broadcast burns film broadcast trumps victory speech begin stated civil war event understood within american culture significant degree result multimedia representations events first motion picture epic birth nation directed dw griffith portrayed war entire western genre loaded cowboy veterans union confederate armies mathew bradys famous images battlefields soldiers earliest multimedia representations telegraphy mass distribution press combined rudimentary photography create first modern media warfare representation indeed success proliferation photography form communication wholly indebted civil war prior outbreak photography tabooed form due variety legitimate issues including time expediency cost cumbersome nature technology soon mothers wives realized technology would allow hold onto small portrait dearly beloved soldiers costly time consuming commissioning painter task art form born context vital burns tells story narrating events rely staged reenactments although vibrant reenactment subculture exist america series production instead uses celebrity voiceovers narrating words written famous everyday participants war panning vistas filmed still imagery burns introduces peculiar institution quotation alexis de tocqueville described socialists souvenirs rabble canailles remained loyal friend intellectual accomplice gobineau founder modem racism throughout life borrow wording enzo traverso essay peppered throughout commentaries several historians prominently southern historian shelby foote author three volume narrative history war 1997 foote said called narrative historian narrative history getting popular time question twisting facts narrative question anything like discovering plot thats painter discovered colors shadows renoir discovered children maintain anything possibly learn putting words together narrative form writing novels especially valuable write history great difference writing novels writing histories character named lincoln novel thats abraham lincoln give color eyes want want describe color abraham lincolns president lincolns eyes know color gray youre working facts came documents like novel working facts came head likely memory control facts possess handle exactly novelist handles facts said foote good novelist would false facts certainly historian allowed false facts circumstances ive never known least modern historical instance truth wasnt superior distortion every way thats good point worth keeping mind would mistake say burns owes entire narrative foote volumes quite obvious created work inclusion historians yet foote steal show terms talking heads taking screen time providing bestremembered commentary 89 appearances opposed 9 11 made african american historian barbara fields intents purposes show could titled civil war shelby foote voiceover closes series ends tender embrace elder confederate comradesatarms signature theme series jay ungars haunting notably scotchirish sounding ashokan farewell tune played primarily rustic fiddle accompanied guitar flavoring proceedings makes subtle yet obvious burns telling euroamerican story epic one featuring pageant characters eurocentric one nevertheless means engaged thorough analysis timing segment rather obvious fredrick douglass minor supporting actor epic stonewall jackson robert e lee william sherman ulysses grant george mcclellan abraham lincoln dominate screen time allotted historical personages obviously merit allocation men major leaders military conflagration american civil war much events battlefields massive social cultural political spiritual uprising redefined meaning america forever reduced presence abolitionists uprising entirely responsible creating despite best efforts military leaders nothing less equivalent producing documentary soviet union making lenin incidental character series nazism prominently feature adolf hitler heavens sake abolitionists get less screen time lowly rhode island corporal named elisha hunt rhodes would merit obvious question foote think confederacy state founded preserve slave economy election abraham lincoln made seem system nearing deaths door 2000 foote offered remarks regarding flying confederate flag south carolina quite informative purposes flag symbol great grandfather fought defense flying anywhere anybody wants fly know perfectly well pain causes black friends think pain necessary would read confederate constitution knew confederacy really stood country two grievous sins hands one slavery whether well ever cured dont know one emancipation told 4 million people youre free hit road drifted back form peonage ways worse slavery things got understood theyre condemned theyre condemned face take flag represent yahoos represent protest civil rights things people knew flag really stood stopped yahoos using symbol stood didnt problem confederate flag identified sort roughneck thing another interview foote said flag represents many good things much historian allowed false facts circumstances another interview given npr 1994 foote said felt personally lost war said go people goes far saying another part interview reconstruction revolutionary moment akin next century complete opposite marshall plan could identify southern cause revolutionary one yet another interview says confederacy respected law things common ideological detail shared many euroamericans today insist something confederacy soldiers fundamentally different white supremacist project maintaining slavery stems rather banal nostalgia nobility soldiers sides lines men found combat something farremoved morality slavery review record dictates strong first created confederate army almost fullyformed prior secession southern men began form militias across region prepare future violence following one key event john brown raid harpers ferry virginia event galvanized south sent palpable terror population almost akin panic following terrorist attack people stock firearms emergency supplies brown making statement articles confederation meaning federalism attacked harpers ferry trying create nationwide slave rebellion strains relations federal state governments prior harpers ferry tied issues slavery denied totality issues would either resolved amicably simply diminished nonissues within decades harpers ferry raid taken place simply way deny way john brown turned state affairs one emphasis another pivotal event changed historical outcomes forever irreversibly second actions british workers quite instructive major pillar victorian economy cotton supply america used british textile industry one point confederacy seeking gain diplomatic recognition crown time textile workers across country work due dearth cotton face profound hardship workers continued support abolitionist efforts amongst elected officials within ranks international workingmens association sent high praise lincoln damned slavery opposition slavery amongst common men women worldwide quite well established demonstrates abolitionism popular sentiment extending well beyond boundaries religious movements like quakers john browns brand liberation theology yet shelby foote ken burns seem inclined perspective collaboration instead proffering nearlegendary soldiers dying noble cause grapple proposed yet wholly unmerited moral neutrality might bold truth foote burns conflating morality union cause confederate cause abraham lincoln want end slavery would unnecessary war effort preserve united states federalist body politic nothing key moment abolitionist movement one quite powerful morally certain wrestled control war made war slavery finest representation mind formulated gore vidal quite excellent funny novel lincoln answer found modern media warfare representation idea abolitionists significant access media day used opportunity build movement revolutionary times unseen america prior events erstwhile sen bernie sanders ran president hillary clinton democratic primaries 201516 saw similar occurrence take place around campaign suddenly despite efforts contrary base turned campaign outright movement supporting new dealgreat society keynesian democrat fact protesting neoliberal austerity measures stemmed clintonism past quarter century indeed readily apparent skeptics seasoned political observers sanders amazed somewhat flabbergasted see wrought much lincoln might also sense bears merit indicate actually appearing burns series actually conflating moral certainty union cause confederate one see eversoslight paradigm shift slight shifts augury much larger occurrence taken place election one donald trump start saying oh well confederates werent bad actually noble quite quickly ripples bigotry begin form confederates bad perhaps reconstruction necessary perhaps evolution liberalism socialism amongst working class middle nineteenth century twentieth meaning addition economic dimension liberal universalism john stuart mill becomes foolish rippling effects continue find electing president toyed catered political campaign working people grasp critical race theory well outright white nationalists perhaps epitomized personage one steve bannon unrepentant white nationalist whose breitbart website undeniable enclave every reactionary line thought use analogy treaty versailles directly lead nazi death camps thousand steps two cultural political spiritual impact treaty versailles german people certainly inform ideology nazism cannibal logic ken burns rather wellknown point political efforts also made short films various democratic party events yet softgloves liberal treatment militant violent white supremacist tendencies within american history culture sort enabling fuels rise men like donald trump violence trump ideology random occurrence akin bolt lightening splits tree otherwise verdant landscape instead opportunistic infection grows develops thrives finally strikes painful outcomes much staphylococcal bacteria uses warm moist environment develop time skin boil brand liberalism ken burns trafficked presented miniseries warm moist environment nothing less extremism opposite direction trumps brand ideological poison properly combat infection ideological antibiotic called abolition democracy web du bois | 1,366 |
<p>Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham introduce their bill to repeal Obamacare.Bill Clark/ZUMA</p>
<p>The Republican dream of repealing Obamacare isn’t ready to head to the morgue just yet. After previous efforts died in the Senate earlier this summer, Obamacare repeal receded, only to storm back this week. Republicans are scrambling to pass a last-ditch effort before a September 30 deadline. And they might be close to reaching the 50 votes they need to pass a bill.</p>
<p>But they’re still not quite there. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) were steadfast opponents of the earlier proposals, and there’s nothing in the new bill that would solve the problems they cited in the past. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) hasn’t minced words in discussing his hatred for the bill. And John McCain (R-Ariz.) has still been talking up his desire to stick to standard Senate procedure rather than rush a bill through—although his commitment to regular order might not trump his commitment to his friend Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who co-authored the bill.&#160;</p>
<p>In other words, Republican leaders need to change just one or two minds before they lose their ability to pass a bill without facing a Democratic filibuster&#160;in 10 days.</p>
<p>The newest version of Trumpcare is, in many ways, even more extreme than the previous Republican proposals. The bill, called Graham-Cassidy after the pair of Republicans who introduced it, would allow insurance companies to charge higher rates for people with preexisting conditions. It would bring back junk plans that don’t offer the coverage people expect when they go to the doctor. It would end Medicaid’s open-ended promise to cover low-income and disabled Americans, imposing massive future cuts that would force states either to raise taxes sharply or to kick millions of people off Medicaid. And it would cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood for a year, decimating the country’s largest women’s health provider.</p>
<p>But we still don’t know the bill’s full ramifications, and we won’t know them before the Senate would need to vote on it. The Congressional Budget Office <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/53116" type="external">announced</a> Monday that it will look at how Graham-Cassidy affects the deficit and release a report next week, but it won’t have enough time to analyze how many people would lose insurance and how premiums would change under the plan. If Republicans proceed to a vote next week, they’ll break Senate norms to vote for a bill that no one has had time to properly analyze.</p>
<p>While we can’t say exactly what would happen if Graham-Cassidy becomes law, there are a few things we do know. Allow us to demystify this legislation that Republicans are trying to ram through Congress with scant public attention.</p>
<p>Graham-Cassidy would ditch almost all of Obamacare’s rules and regulations, including the individual mandate, while keeping the taxes from the law and turning that money into block grants to the states. It would continue barring insurance companies from turning people away because of preexisting conditions—but it would <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/cassidy-grahams-waiver-authority-would-gut-protections-for-people-with-pre-existing-conditions" type="external">allow</a> insurers to charge higher rates to people who have current or past medical conditions.&#160;In other words, while it wouldn’t cause sick people to be kicked off their insurance plans, it could make insurance unaffordable for them.</p>
<p>States, meanwhile, could opt out of requiring&#160;insurance companies to cover a full package of essential benefits, allowing them to return to the pre-Obamacare days when they sold plans that didn’t include key categories such as maternity care and mental health. In that sense, the bill&#160;is similar to the one that passed the House earlier this year, which, according to the CBO, would have left half of all Americans living in places where insurers charged higher rates for people with preexisting conditions or excluded essential health benefits from the individual market.</p>
<p>Between 2020 and 2026, the block grants would offer states $239 billion&#160;less than would be spent under the current system,&#160; <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/like-other-aca-repeal-bills-cassidy-graham-plan-would-add-millions-to-uninsured" type="external">according</a> to the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. After that, the money would basically vanish, making the new legislation essentially a full repeal of Obamacare. Republicans have hinted that they wouldn’t want that to happen and they’d just renew the funding at that point. But the decision by the bill’s authors not to make the funding permanent hints at&#160;their true intentions, and Senate rules would force senators to come up with a whole new funding mechanism in 2026 if they wanted to maintain the block grants.</p>
<p>As the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt has <a href="https://twitter.com/larry_levitt/status/908701107806814209" type="external">pointed out</a>, this would cause massive headaches for states. First, states would need to come up with their own plans to using the block-grant funds starting in 2020. But they’d be crafting those ideas with the knowledge that federal funding might drop away in 2026.</p>
<p />
<p>He did indeed! The Republican from Louisiana even coined the “Jimmy Kimmel test” after the late-night host delivered a moving monologue about a recent hospital visit with his young son, who was born with congenital heart disease. To pass Cassidy’s test, any legislation had to&#160;maintain Obamacare’s rules that prohibit insurance companies from capping how much they’ll spend on health care for a person over the course of his or her lifetime, a cap that people with serious medical problems can quickly hit.&#160;Cassidy even went on Kimmel’s show in order to portray himself as more concerned and compassionate toward those with preexisting conditions than some of his conservative colleagues:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Over the past few months, Cassidy has completely abandoned those principles. The new bill wouldn’t come close to passing the Jimmy Kimmel test. Millions of lower-income and middle-class families would likely lose the government subsidies they use to buy insurance. Medicaid would be a shell of its former self. And people, like Kimmel’s son, who were born with health problems would end up having to pay more to buy insurance. Allowing states to toss out essential benefits makes the rules banning lifetime limits largely meaningless, since insurance companies could stop covering procedures and medications that rack up those large charges.&#160;Kimmel himself is no longer a believer in Cassidy:</p>
<p />
<p>The bill wouldn’t just tinker with Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid to more low-income Americans. Graham-Cassidy would fundamentally change a program that provides health insurance to 74 million Americans and has been around for over 50 years. Medicaid is currently an entitlement, meaning that the government promises to reimburse states for the costs they incur for Medicaid, with no cap on spending. If a massive public health outbreak hits a part of the country, the feds will help pay those Medicaid bills, irrespective of cost.</p>
<p>Graham-Cassidy—like earlier GOP proposals—would set a strict limit on how much money the government spends on Medicaid, regardless of whether a state’s health needs change over time. That would start at a specific figure for each state, and then grow each year at the pace of inflation. But, as the CBO has pointed out for past Republican proposals, the cost of Medicaid under current law would outstrip that measure of inflation. As a result, over time the federal government will spend much less on Medicaid under Graham-Cassidy than under current law, with that gap growing larger with each passing year. CBPP expects that this provision would reduce Medicaid spending by 8 percent in 2026—and those reductions would <a href="" type="internal">grow</a> over time.&#160;</p>
<p>One of the key components of Graham-Cassidy is rewarding certain states (especially Republican states) and penalizing others. The senators specifically singled out New York and California for receiving too much money in their view. But there a number of red states that would lose out on tons of money under the plan. Essentially, the bill would penalize states that adopted Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and redirect some of those funds to the places that resisted the Medicaid expansion.&#160;</p>
<p>The CBPP <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/like-other-aca-repeal-bills-cassidy-graham-plan-would-add-millions-to-uninsured" type="external">has numbers</a> on how this would play out. Among the many states that would get less federal money under the plan: Arizona, Kentucky, Alaska, Maine, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, and Florida. Arizona, which McCain represents, would lose out on $1.6 billion in 2026 thanks to the block grant and the cap on Medicaid. In 2027, when the block grant expires, Arizona <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/cassidy-graham-plans-damaging-cuts-to-health-care-funding-would-grow-dramatically-in" type="external">would have</a> $6.9 billion less for health care spending than under current law.</p>
<p>Republicans know that no Senate Democrat will go along with this measure, so they are trying to sidestep the filibuster using a process known as budget reconciliation. But reconciliation comes with a number of restrictions. It was authorized for the Obamacare repeal&#160;when Congress passed the budget for fiscal year 2017, which ends on September 30. The Senate parliamentarian—the umpire who decides if actions fall within the chamber’s rules—ruled that when the fiscal year ends, those reconciliation instructions from the budget evaporate. Republicans&#160;could just put Obamacare repeal back into reconciliation&#160;rules for 2018, but that could complicate the party’s plans to prioritize tax reform and use reconciliation toward that goal.</p>
<p>The Senate parliamentarian could pose other problems for Republicans if they push Graham-Cassidy to a vote next week. Under reconciliation, every aspect of the bill must be directly related to the budget. Under the so-called “Byrd bath” (named for former Sen. Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, a stickler for Senate procedure),&#160;the parliamentarian can decide that provisions of the legislation are unrelated and strike them from the bill. That happened to a number of ideas in the last round of Republican proposals. But since the Senate is now facing an expiring clock, Republicans could be in a jam if the parliamentarian wipes out key provisions from the bill, causing even more uncertainty about what’s in the bill and how it would work.</p>
<p>Past GOP plans have appeared dead, only to roar back to life. So it’s not wise to count this bill out. But its odds look long. Republicans would need 50 votes to pass the bill under reconciliation (with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tiebreaking vote). Paul would have to completely disown everything he’s said for the past week in order to vote for the bill. Collins also looks to be a pretty clear no. Murkowski hasn’t expressed a definitive opinion on Graham-Cassidy, but she also didn’t publicly announce her intentions before she voted down the past versions, and this bill doesn’t solve any of the problems she identified before. And McCain has been all over the place, but if he truly believes in the principles of “regular order,” it’s hard to see how he could vote for this bill.</p>
<p>But never say never. Republicans have scheduled a committee hearing for next&#160;Monday in order to give Graham-Cassidy the slightest semblance of regular order. The CBO’s bare-bones report should get released around the same time, and then the Senate would have to scramble to pass the bill by the end of next week.</p>
<p>Even if it passes, the bill’s fate wouldn’t be certain. It would still have to pass the House, and Speaker Paul Ryan couldn’t make any changes to the bill. If he rewrites so much as a word,&#160;the Senate would have to re-approve it, and after September 30 that would require 60 votes.</p>
<p>Some Republicans in the House are already starting to sound skeptical of Graham-Cassidy. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/18/would-the-house-pass-graham-cassidy-its-not-a-slam-dunk/?utm_term=.eae52ef7f9cc" type="external">talked</a> to some of the more moderate Republicans from New York and California who voted in favor of repealing Obamacare in the spring, but whose states would stand to lose massive sums under the Senate’s bill. “Right now, I don’t see how I could vote for it,” Rep. Peter King of New York&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/18/would-the-house-pass-graham-cassidy-its-not-a-slam-dunk/?utm_term=.eae52ef7f9cc" type="external">told</a> the Post. “It’s extremely damaging to New York.”</p> | true | 4 | sens bill cassidy lindsey graham introduce bill repeal obamacarebill clarkzuma republican dream repealing obamacare isnt ready head morgue yet previous efforts died senate earlier summer obamacare repeal receded storm back week republicans scrambling pass lastditch effort september 30 deadline might close reaching 50 votes need pass bill theyre still quite sens lisa murkowski ralaska susan collins rmaine steadfast opponents earlier proposals theres nothing new bill would solve problems cited past rand paul rky hasnt minced words discussing hatred bill john mccain rariz still talking desire stick standard senate procedure rather rush bill throughalthough commitment regular order might trump commitment friend lindsey graham rsc coauthored bill160 words republican leaders need change one two minds lose ability pass bill without facing democratic filibuster160in 10 days newest version trumpcare many ways even extreme previous republican proposals bill called grahamcassidy pair republicans introduced would allow insurance companies charge higher rates people preexisting conditions would bring back junk plans dont offer coverage people expect go doctor would end medicaids openended promise cover lowincome disabled americans imposing massive future cuts would force states either raise taxes sharply kick millions people medicaid would cut federal funding planned parenthood year decimating countrys largest womens health provider still dont know bills full ramifications wont know senate would need vote congressional budget office announced monday look grahamcassidy affects deficit release report next week wont enough time analyze many people would lose insurance premiums would change plan republicans proceed vote next week theyll break senate norms vote bill one time properly analyze cant say exactly would happen grahamcassidy becomes law things know allow us demystify legislation republicans trying ram congress scant public attention grahamcassidy would ditch almost obamacares rules regulations including individual mandate keeping taxes law turning money block grants states would continue barring insurance companies turning people away preexisting conditionsbut would allow insurers charge higher rates people current past medical conditions160in words wouldnt cause sick people kicked insurance plans could make insurance unaffordable states meanwhile could opt requiring160insurance companies cover full package essential benefits allowing return preobamacare days sold plans didnt include key categories maternity care mental health sense bill160is similar one passed house earlier year according cbo would left half americans living places insurers charged higher rates people preexisting conditions excluded essential health benefits individual market 2020 2026 block grants would offer states 239 billion160less would spent current system160 according leftleaning center budget policy priorities money would basically vanish making new legislation essentially full repeal obamacare republicans hinted wouldnt want happen theyd renew funding point decision bills authors make funding permanent hints at160their true intentions senate rules would force senators come whole new funding mechanism 2026 wanted maintain block grants kaiser family foundations larry levitt pointed would cause massive headaches states first states would need come plans using blockgrant funds starting 2020 theyd crafting ideas knowledge federal funding might drop away 2026 indeed republican louisiana even coined jimmy kimmel test latenight host delivered moving monologue recent hospital visit young son born congenital heart disease pass cassidys test legislation to160maintain obamacares rules prohibit insurance companies capping much theyll spend health care person course lifetime cap people serious medical problems quickly hit160cassidy even went kimmels show order portray concerned compassionate toward preexisting conditions conservative colleagues past months cassidy completely abandoned principles new bill wouldnt come close passing jimmy kimmel test millions lowerincome middleclass families would likely lose government subsidies use buy insurance medicaid would shell former self people like kimmels son born health problems would end pay buy insurance allowing states toss essential benefits makes rules banning lifetime limits largely meaningless since insurance companies could stop covering procedures medications rack large charges160kimmel longer believer cassidy bill wouldnt tinker obamacares expansion medicaid lowincome americans grahamcassidy would fundamentally change program provides health insurance 74 million americans around 50 years medicaid currently entitlement meaning government promises reimburse states costs incur medicaid cap spending massive public health outbreak hits part country feds help pay medicaid bills irrespective cost grahamcassidylike earlier gop proposalswould set strict limit much money government spends medicaid regardless whether states health needs change time would start specific figure state grow year pace inflation cbo pointed past republican proposals cost medicaid current law would outstrip measure inflation result time federal government spend much less medicaid grahamcassidy current law gap growing larger passing year cbpp expects provision would reduce medicaid spending 8 percent 2026and reductions would grow time160 one key components grahamcassidy rewarding certain states especially republican states penalizing others senators specifically singled new york california receiving much money view number red states would lose tons money plan essentially bill would penalize states adopted obamacares medicaid expansion redirect funds places resisted medicaid expansion160 cbpp numbers would play among many states would get less federal money plan arizona kentucky alaska maine west virginia arkansas louisiana ohio florida arizona mccain represents would lose 16 billion 2026 thanks block grant cap medicaid 2027 block grant expires arizona would 69 billion less health care spending current law republicans know senate democrat go along measure trying sidestep filibuster using process known budget reconciliation reconciliation comes number restrictions authorized obamacare repeal160when congress passed budget fiscal year 2017 ends september 30 senate parliamentarianthe umpire decides actions fall within chambers rulesruled fiscal year ends reconciliation instructions budget evaporate republicans160could put obamacare repeal back reconciliation160rules 2018 could complicate partys plans prioritize tax reform use reconciliation toward goal senate parliamentarian could pose problems republicans push grahamcassidy vote next week reconciliation every aspect bill must directly related budget socalled byrd bath named former sen robert byrd democrat west virginia stickler senate procedure160the parliamentarian decide provisions legislation unrelated strike bill happened number ideas last round republican proposals since senate facing expiring clock republicans could jam parliamentarian wipes key provisions bill causing even uncertainty whats bill would work past gop plans appeared dead roar back life wise count bill odds look long republicans would need 50 votes pass bill reconciliation vice president mike pence casting tiebreaking vote paul would completely disown everything hes said past week order vote bill collins also looks pretty clear murkowski hasnt expressed definitive opinion grahamcassidy also didnt publicly announce intentions voted past versions bill doesnt solve problems identified mccain place truly believes principles regular order hard see could vote bill never say never republicans scheduled committee hearing next160monday order give grahamcassidy slightest semblance regular order cbos barebones report get released around time senate would scramble pass bill end next week even passes bills fate wouldnt certain would still pass house speaker paul ryan couldnt make changes bill rewrites much word160the senate would reapprove september 30 would require 60 votes republicans house already starting sound skeptical grahamcassidy washington post talked moderate republicans new york california voted favor repealing obamacare spring whose states would stand lose massive sums senates bill right dont see could vote rep peter king new york160 told post extremely damaging new york | 1,132 |
<p>Frank Kameny,&#160;a co-founder of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattachine_Society#Affiliations" type="external">the Mattachine Society of Washington</a> and one of the leading activists of the modern gay rights movement, died Tuesday night at home, as a result of natural causes.</p>
<p>Kameny passed away on National Coming Out Day, a fitting exit for the courageous trailblazer. He was found in his bed&#160;by Timothy Clark, a roommate, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/10/11/longtime-gay-activist-frank-kameny-passes-on/" type="external">Washington Blade</a>.</p>
<p>A&#160;World War II veteran, Kameny — who possessed&#160;a Harvard&#160;doctorate in astronomy — was discovered to be gay while serving as a civilian&#160;astronomer&#160;in the Army’s Map Service in 1957. Consequently, he was discharged, but&#160;fought back and took his case to the United States Supreme Court.&#160;Although the Court declined to hear his case in March 1961, Kameny was the first gay person to&#160;advance&#160;the cause of&#160;gay rights to the nation’s highest court.</p>
<p>Coining the iconic statement “Gay is Good,” Kameny fought to advance gay rights for the next 50 years.</p>
<p>Kameny’s&#160;work, fearless and persistent, possessed such&#160;audacity in retrospect that his&#160;actions can be defined as&#160;literally breathtaking. Kameny even inspired to provoke&#160;FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and placed Hoover on the Mattachine&#160;Society’s mailing list. Hoover, considered then and now to be one of the most infamous powerful figures&#160;in the closet, sent agents to Kameny’s&#160;apartment,&#160;ordering&#160;him to remove&#160;Hoover from the mailing list, according to Randy Shilts, who&#160;reported Kameny’s audacious&#160;actions extensively in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312342640/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thenewcivrigm-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0312342640" type="external">Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military</a>.</p>
<p>Shilts&#160;wrote that Kameny&#160;had three goals&#160;after founding&#160;the Washington, D.C. Mattachine Society in 1961&#160;and they were, “to&#160;end the federal government’s ban on&#160;gay civil servants, to end discrimination&#160;against homosexuals seeking security clearances for government work and end the ban on gays&#160;serving in the military.”</p>
<p>He would live to&#160;witness most of these&#160;goals realized, and then some.</p>
<p>Kameny&#160;would&#160;organize and lead&#160;many firsts, paving the&#160;way for a new gay America in the post-Stonewall era.&#160;Along with Barbara Gittings, a lesbian activist,&#160;they organized&#160;the&#160;first gay rights&#160;picket&#160;at the White House&#160;in 1965.&#160;Later, Kameny&#160;would also organize the first pickets at the State Department and the Pentagon.&#160; These signs, along with <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/news/pressrelease.cfm?key=29&amp;newskey=404" type="external">more than 70,000 of Kameney’s letters, documents and memorabilia</a>,&#160;now belong to the Smithsonian Museum and have been displayed during recent years.</p>
<p>By the early 1970s Kameny&#160;would&#160;lead the Washington-based&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Activists_Alliance" type="external">Gay Activists Alliance</a>.&#160;He was frequently quoted in the media&#160;on security clearance, employment&#160;and military discrimination practices,&#160;which would precipitate&#160;phone calls from persons in need of assistance. Air Force Sergeant&#160;Leonard Matlovich would make one of those calls&#160;to Kameny&#160;in March, 1974. Matlovich, the first active duty person to openly declare his homosexuality, with Kameny at his side, would tell his story to the country,&#160;achieving the&#160;first wave of national media coverage about discrimination against gay service members in American history.</p>
<p>This writer was under investigation for being a homosexual in the U.S.&#160;in March 1974, while stationed at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. Frank Kameny&#160;would be the first gay activist I would ever speak to and advised my ACLU attorneys on how to handle the Army’s criminal charges against me. In my personal papers, I have written correspondence&#160;between my lawyers and Frank Kameny. Little did I know in 1974, when I thought my entire life was falling apart, that Frank Kameny&#160;was not only an adviser on my case, but had been working on these issues for nearly 20 years. I called Frank Kameny and met with him when I traveled to Washington, D.C. in May 1975 when the Army retaliated against me by assigning me to “cook school,” although I was cleared of all gay-related “crimes.”</p>
<p>Accolades for Kameny and his pioneering gay rights work&#160;have poured forth in the announcement of his passing.</p>
<p>Joe Solmonese, the president of Human Rights Campaign issued the following statement,</p>
<p>“Frank Kameny&#160;led an extraordinary life marked by heroic activism that set a path for the modern LGBT&#160;civil rights movement. From his early days fighting institutionalized&#160;discrimination in the federal workplace Dr. Kameny&#160;taught us that ‘Gay is Good.’&#160; As we say goodbye to this trailblazer on National Coming Out Day, we remember the remarkable power we all have to change the world by living our lives like Frank — openly, honestly and authentically.”</p>
<p>Richard Socarides, the first White House gay and lesbian liaison during the Clinton Administration,&#160;said to&#160; <a href="http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=6651" type="external">Metro Weekly</a>,&#160;“Frank was such a brave person.&#160; To do what he did when he did it.&#160; A shining example for us all.&#160; An amazing, inspirational figure, who stands out among the giants of our movement.”</p>
<p>Bob Witek, who is managing <a href="http://www.kamenypapers.org/" type="external">Kameny’s personal papers</a>&#160;told Metro Weekly,&#160;“Frank…truly, truly, was a lifelong lesson in being principled.&#160; It’s just an amazing&#160;gift — an annoying gift.&#160;All of us have our doubts; Frank didn’t have a&#160;one. If he did, he didn’t tell anyone.”</p>
<p>On June 24, 2009 Kameny&#160;received a formal letter of apology from the federal government&#160;that called his firing for being gay, “a shameful action.” On June 10th a Washington, D.C. street between R and Q on 17th Street was dedicated as “Frank Kameny&#160;Way NW.” Kameny&#160;was in attendance at the White House signing of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) in December 2010.</p>
<p>Witnek&#160;announced that a public memorial for Kameny&#160;will likely be held&#160;in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Washington Mattachine Society on November 15.</p>
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<p>(Image of Frank Kameny courtesy of journalist Rex Wockner.)</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Tanya L. Domi</a> is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/" type="external">Columbia University</a> who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a <a href="http://www.harrimaninstitute.org/" type="external">Harriman Institute</a> affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.</p>
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">american gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Barbara Gittings</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Bob Witek</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Civil Rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">co founder</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Coming out</a>, <a href="" type="internal">D.C.</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Frank Kameny</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay right movement</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">homophobia</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Human Rights Campaign</a>, <a href="" type="internal">J. Edgar Hoover</a>, <a href="" type="internal">leonard matlovich</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt history</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt rights in the united states</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Mattachine Society</a>, <a href="" type="internal">National Coming Out Day</a>, <a href="" type="internal">randy shilts</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Security Clearances</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Sgt. Leonard Matlovich</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the fbi</a>, <a href="" type="internal">The Mattachine Society of Washington</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the white house</a>, <a href="" type="internal">U.S. Army</a>, <a href="" type="internal">U.S. Supreme Court</a>, <a href="" type="internal">united states</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Washington Gay Activists Alliance</a>, <a href="" type="internal">White House</a></p>
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kamenys160work fearless persistent possessed such160audacity retrospect his160actions defined as160literally breathtaking kameny even inspired provoke160fbi director j edgar hoover placed hoover mattachine160societys mailing list hoover considered one infamous powerful figures160in closet sent agents kamenys160apartment160ordering160him remove160hoover mailing list according randy shilts who160reported kamenys audacious160actions extensively conduct unbecoming gays lesbians us military shilts160wrote kameny160had three goals160after founding160the washington dc mattachine society 1961160and to160end federal governments ban on160gay civil servants end discrimination160against homosexuals seeking security clearances government work end ban gays160serving military would live to160witness these160goals realized kameny160would160organize lead160many firsts paving the160way new gay america poststonewall era160along barbara gittings lesbian activist160they organized160the160first gay rights160picket160at white house160in 1965160later kameny160would also organize first pickets state department pentagon160 signs along 70000 kameneys letters documents memorabilia160now belong smithsonian museum displayed recent years early 1970s kameny160would160lead washingtonbased160 gay activists alliance160he frequently quoted media160on security clearance employment160and military discrimination practices160which would precipitate160phone calls persons need assistance air force sergeant160leonard matlovich would make one calls160to kameny160in march 1974 matlovich first active duty person openly declare homosexuality kameny side would tell story country160achieving the160first wave national media coverage discrimination gay service members american history writer investigation homosexual us160in march 1974 stationed ft devens massachusetts frank kameny160would first gay activist would ever speak advised aclu attorneys handle armys criminal charges personal papers written correspondence160between lawyers frank kameny little know 1974 thought entire life falling apart frank kameny160was adviser case working issues nearly 20 years called frank kameny met traveled washington dc may 1975 army retaliated assigning cook school although cleared gayrelated crimes accolades kameny pioneering gay rights work160have poured forth announcement passing joe solmonese president human rights campaign issued following statement frank kameny160led extraordinary life marked heroic activism set path modern lgbt160civil rights movement early days fighting institutionalized160discrimination federal workplace dr kameny160taught us gay good160 say goodbye trailblazer national coming day remember remarkable power change world living lives like frank openly honestly authentically richard socarides first white house gay lesbian liaison clinton administration160said to160 metro weekly160frank brave person160 it160 shining example us all160 amazing inspirational figure stands among giants movement bob witek managing kamenys personal papers160told metro weekly160franktruly truly lifelong lesson principled160 amazing160gift annoying gift160all us doubts frank didnt a160one didnt tell anyone june 24 2009 kameny160received formal letter apology federal government160that called firing gay shameful action june 10th washington dc street r q 17th street dedicated frank kameny160way nw kameny160was attendance white house signing repeal dont ask dont tell dadt december 2010 witnek160announced public memorial kameny160will likely held160in conjunction 50th anniversary washington mattachine society november 15 160 image frank kameny courtesy journalist rex wockner 160 160 tanya l domi adjunct assistant professor international public affairs columbia university teaches human rights eurasia harriman institute affiliated faculty member prior teaching columbia domi worked internationally decade issues related democratic transitional development including political media development human rights gender issues sex trafficking media freedom tagged american gay barbara gittings bob witek civil rights co founder coming dc frank kameny gay gay right movement gay rights homophobia human rights campaign j edgar hoover leonard matlovich lgbt history lgbt rights lgbt rights united states mattachine society national coming day randy shilts security clearances sgt leonard matlovich social issues fbi mattachine society washington white house us army us supreme court united states washington gay activists alliance white house friends invite sign new mailing list and160 subscribe new civil rights movement via email rss also please160 like us facebook follow us twitter | 656 |
<p>Most of environmental/conservation groups in the West are participants in various public land collaboratives. The majority are forest-oriented like the <a href="https://www.conservationnw.org/our-work/wildlands/forest-collaboration/" type="external">Northwest Forestry Collaborative</a>&#160;&#160;or the <a href="http://deschutescollaborativeforest.org/" type="external">Deschutes Forest Collaborative in Oregon</a>&#160;&#160; or the <a href="https://www.swcrown.org/" type="external">Southwest Crown Collaborative</a> in Montana&#160;. Though there are others like the <a href="https://wcca.wygisc.org/wpli/homepage/index.html" type="external">Wyoming Public Lands Initiative</a>&#160;which focuses primarily on BLM and Forest Service Wilderness Study Areas.</p>
<p>Groups participating in collaboratives include the Western Environmental Law Council (WELC), Northwest Conservation, Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC), Montana Wilderness Association (MWA), Oregon Wild, Wyoming Outdoor Council, The Lands Council, The Wilderness Society (TWS), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), and sometimes local Sierra Club chapters, among others.</p>
<p>Most participating collaborative members are made up of people who generally believe in exploiting natural landscapes for human benefit. As a generalization, there is overwhelming representation in such collaboratives by people who speak for the resource extraction industry or their sympathizers like rural county commissioners, ORV enthusiasts, and so forth. Those advocating for Nature are seldom present or only weakly represented by the larger environmental groups.</p>
<p>As a generalization, these environmental organizations have been captured or compromised by those whose intent is for greater access to and greater resource exploitation. They participate they argue because without their input the results would be more skewed and biased towards resource extraction.</p>
<p>But in my experience, the best outcome we often see is a bit of tweaking around the edges, not a substantial acknowledgment and acceptance of the value of ecological processes, wildlands, and natural ecosystems.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, participation blurs the lines for the public. When environmental groups participate in these collaborations, they provide “green cover” and legitimize the destruction of natural landscapes, wildlands, and wildlife habitat.</p>
<p>The above list is not exhaustive, and not all these groups, and certainly not all the employees in these groups, are “captured” by their adversaries.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there is one commonality to all of them. For the most part, they believe spending months and years going to the meeting to change the minds of opponents is a productive and fruitful use of time and money.</p>
<p>I want to acknowledge that many of the people working for conservation groups are doing what they believe will yield the best outcomes.&#160; However, I would suggest they reevaluate their methods and goals.</p>
<p>Though ostensibly all these groups profess to be wildlands advocates–and most are surely to some degree–they have bought into the prevailing myths promoted by the timber industry and forest service that manipulation of our landscape is necessary to “restore” ecological integrity and stability.</p>
<p>Exacerbating the situation is that most of the environmentalists participating in these collaboratives have limited ecological training. With backgrounds as lawyers, journalists, political advisors and so on, they are intelligent, and often well versed in policy, and other areas, but they don’t know the intricacies of ecology, and, the nuances of wildfire/forest ecology, range ecology, and wildlife ecology.</p>
<p>As a result, they are not prepared to go toe to toe with industry and agency specialists if there is any debate about management policy. And due to their limited scientific training, they are more easily beguiled by the “experts” that the agencies and industry use to promote their agenda.</p>
<p>One of the standard assumptions of many of the environmental organizations involved in collaboratives is they can somehow convince the many collaborative participants that protecting wildlands is a good thing.</p>
<p>This is the collaborative trap. You spend your time and money trying to convince people who generally believe natural resources (I dislike that term, but will use for now) are there for human consumption and enjoyment. And that humans have a right, and indeed, even a duty to manage, manipulate, and otherwise exploit the natural world for their direct benefit.</p>
<p>Within this paradigm, the intrinsic value of wildlands has no place.</p>
<p>There are many structural problems with collaboratives that defines the scope of questions, the science that can be reviewed, who gets to play the dominant role in these discussions and by default who has the time and money to attend countless meetings that go for years.</p>
<p>Many people participating in collaboratives have a financial interest in the outcome. If you are a timber company or even a forester with the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, or a rural county commissioner you see logging as a good economic stimulant or directly affecting your employment. Certainly, without logging, there would be no reason for foresters, timber companies and so forth, so that biases most collaboratives from the start.</p>
<p>It seems unethical to me to allow anyone with a direct financial stake in the outcome to participate.&#160; Yet it is very common for a good proportion of the collaborative membership to consist of timber company owners, mill workers, loggers, ranchers, miners, outfitters, and others who might enjoy a financial windfall from collaborative recommendations.</p>
<p>Second, when environmentalists join collaboratives, it guarantees to sink to the lowest common denominator. As a rule, the other people participating in collaboratives are usually hostile to more wildlands protection, so right up front, one acknowledges that there will be fewer wildlands protected.</p>
<p>Third, the people who work for environmental groups on collaboratives sometimes come to identify more with the other collaborative members than with the wildlands proponents of the region. In other words, collaborative representatives from the conservation movement will tend to be more inclined to accept and internalize the collaborative’s values and “science” that suggests active intervention is the way to “cure” the problem—which of course everyone in the collaborative recognizes is that our forests are “sick” or need “active management” to “save” them.</p>
<p>They suffer from the Stockholm Syndrome where the environmental participants in these collaboratives come to identify more with the alleged aggrievances held by rural communities than identifying with promoting the ecological values of the land and wildlife they presumably represent.</p>
<p>Over and over in news accounts of these collaboratives, the environmental participants tend to emphasize how they are “getting along” with former antagonists. How wonderful it is that they can have a “beer” with a timber worker or a rancher-as if that is the measure of true success, rather than whether we get more wildlands protected.</p>
<p>Fourth, and related to the previous problem, is that many of these groups so identify with the people involved in collaboratives that they avoid any conflicts or even speaking out about environmental damage for fear of jeopardizing the “relationship” with resource exploiters.</p>
<p>So, to my knowledge groups like the Montana Wilderness Association has not filed a single lawsuit to protect roadless lands threatened by logging for decades.&#160; Indeed, it supports logging, even in roadless areas.</p>
<p>The contrast between collaborative members from conservation groups and non-paid wilderness advocates is clearly seen in the discussion over the future of the 230,000 acre Gallatin Range Proposed Wilderness by Bozeman. The grassroots Montanans for a Gallatin Wilderness (all non-paid but passionate wilderness supporters) is lobbying for wilderness protection for the <a href="http://www.gallatinwilderness.org/" type="external">entire roadless area</a>.</p>
<p>By contrast, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Wilderness Society and Montana Wilderness Association working as an outgrowth of a collaborative are supporting a 100,000 acre mostly rocks and ice proposal.</p>
<p>Do not misunderstand me. I recognize that one may not get the full acreage of any proposal, but one should start any discussions with the proposal that protects the most land. One has to remember it is not the job of wilderness advocates to compromise their proposal from the on-set. It is the job of Congress to do the compromising. That is what they are paid to do. Wilderness advocates are paid to be advocates for wildlands.</p>
<p>To use another example, currently, domestic sheep grazing in the Gravelly Range of Montana threatens the recovery of wild bighorns as well as expanding grizzly bear populations. But when asked to join a lawsuit to remove the domestic sheep, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition refused.&#160; GYC is participating in a Gravelly Range collaborative that includes many ranchers, so I assume they are unwilling to antagonize the livestock industry, despite the fact, there is well-grounded science showing that domestic sheep can transmit disease to wild bighorn.&#160;&#160;&#160; (I have written them twice to ask why they aren’t in favor of grizzlies and bighorns over domestic sheep with no response).</p>
<p>The fifth and perhaps most insidious aspect of collaboratives there is always the assertion of “win-win” where “everyone” gets something. But the “everyone” usually does not include the wildlife, forest ecosystems, and wildlands. In the end, the “winners” are the collaborative membership not the public and most importantly the land and its diversity of life.</p>
<p>A new twist in the collaborative effort is the Wyoming Public Lands Imitative that is determining which Wilderness Study Areas in that state will remain roadless and wild and which could be developed.</p>
<p>One must wonder why anyone would believe that participating in a collaborative makes any sense at all. For the most part, collaboratives are composed of people who have a resource extraction bias, and as mentioned previously, often have a direct financial stake in the outcome of decisions. Why would you waste your time trying to convince a logging company to stop logging to save spotted owls or a rancher to close an allotment to protect wolves, bighorn sheep or grizzly bears?</p>
<p>As a gay friend of mine said, it’s like a gay person spending their time trying to convince Evangelical Christians that homosexually is acceptable.</p>
<p>This gets to the central part of the problem. All these groups involved in collaboratives are spending huge amounts of staff time and money attending meetings with people who, with few exceptions, have diametrically opposed views on the value wilderness and wildlands. Is this really a productive use of time?</p>
<p>To give one example, the late Tim Lilebo of Oregon Wild spent the greater part of a decade attending collaborative meetings in eastern Oregon. Before collaboratives, Lilebo spent his time (successfully I might add) trying to convince citizens that we needed more wilderness. But once Lilebo became involved in collaboratives, he had no time for any other activities other than attending meetings.</p>
<p>Since his death two years ago, Oregon Wild has continued to participate in these collaboratives. What has been the outcome of all those meetings? Are there any new wilderness proposals on the table? Has Oregon Wild convinced collaborative members that we should protect large portions of Eastern Oregon as designated wilderness? Nope. As far as I tell, there is less support for wilderness in the region than ten years ago.&#160; And all the while there has been significant logging-mostly without objection from Oregon Wild.</p>
<p>Now imagine if Oregon Wild had instead of attending collaborative meetings trying to convince people who have a financial interest in more logging, the group had spent the last ten or twelve years promoting wilderness in eastern Oregon as well as in urban centers like Portland. There are many people in these communities who might not have designating new wilderness as their number one priority, but they might still be supportive.</p>
<p>Instead of trying to convince mill workers, miners, ranchers, and timber company owners to support wilderness, would not a better strategy be to convince all the other people across the country from the teachers to post office workers or the clerks at Safeway or whomever that protecting wilderness is a good idea? Instead of attending collaborative meetings,&#160; if Tim Lilebo and his successors gave numerous powerpoint presentations to sympathetic crowds, field trips, written numerous commentaries and letters to the editor promoting wilderness protection in the region. I believe we might have already gotten new wilderness designated, or at the last acceptance of it.</p>
<p>The trap of collaboratives is that it saps organizational time and money. It’s designed to silence oppositional groups and make them spend their limited time in meetings with people who hold diametrically opposed values instead of advancing the wildlands agenda with the public. And because member organizations are trying to “get along” they are frequently unwilling to actively oppose resource exploitation.</p>
<p>As David Brower once quipped,&#160;“I am not opposed to compromise, but I want to be the last in the room to do so.”</p>
<p>I often regret that Bob Marshall’s admonishment at the founding of the Wilderness Society is not more widely observed in today’s conservation movement. Marshall wrote: “We want no stragglers. For in the past far too much good wilderness has been lost by those whose first instinct is to compromise”.</p> | true | 4 | environmentalconservation groups west participants various public land collaboratives majority forestoriented like northwest forestry collaborative160160or deschutes forest collaborative oregon160160 southwest crown collaborative montana160 though others like wyoming public lands initiative160which focuses primarily blm forest service wilderness study areas groups participating collaboratives include western environmental law council welc northwest conservation greater yellowstone coalition gyc montana wilderness association mwa oregon wild wyoming outdoor council lands council wilderness society tws nature conservancy tnc sometimes local sierra club chapters among others participating collaborative members made people generally believe exploiting natural landscapes human benefit generalization overwhelming representation collaboratives people speak resource extraction industry sympathizers like rural county commissioners orv enthusiasts forth advocating nature seldom present weakly represented larger environmental groups generalization environmental organizations captured compromised whose intent greater access greater resource exploitation participate argue without input results would skewed biased towards resource extraction experience best outcome often see bit tweaking around edges substantial acknowledgment acceptance value ecological processes wildlands natural ecosystems nevertheless participation blurs lines public environmental groups participate collaborations provide green cover legitimize destruction natural landscapes wildlands wildlife habitat list exhaustive groups certainly employees groups captured adversaries nevertheless one commonality part believe spending months years going meeting change minds opponents productive fruitful use time money want acknowledge many people working conservation groups believe yield best outcomes160 however would suggest reevaluate methods goals though ostensibly groups profess wildlands advocatesand surely degreethey bought prevailing myths promoted timber industry forest service manipulation landscape necessary restore ecological integrity stability exacerbating situation environmentalists participating collaboratives limited ecological training backgrounds lawyers journalists political advisors intelligent often well versed policy areas dont know intricacies ecology nuances wildfireforest ecology range ecology wildlife ecology result prepared go toe toe industry agency specialists debate management policy due limited scientific training easily beguiled experts agencies industry use promote agenda one standard assumptions many environmental organizations involved collaboratives somehow convince many collaborative participants protecting wildlands good thing collaborative trap spend time money trying convince people generally believe natural resources dislike term use human consumption enjoyment humans right indeed even duty manage manipulate otherwise exploit natural world direct benefit within paradigm intrinsic value wildlands place many structural problems collaboratives defines scope questions science reviewed gets play dominant role discussions default time money attend countless meetings go years many people participating collaboratives financial interest outcome timber company even forester forest service bureau land management rural county commissioner see logging good economic stimulant directly affecting employment certainly without logging would reason foresters timber companies forth biases collaboratives start seems unethical allow anyone direct financial stake outcome participate160 yet common good proportion collaborative membership consist timber company owners mill workers loggers ranchers miners outfitters others might enjoy financial windfall collaborative recommendations second environmentalists join collaboratives guarantees sink lowest common denominator rule people participating collaboratives usually hostile wildlands protection right front one acknowledges fewer wildlands protected third people work environmental groups collaboratives sometimes come identify collaborative members wildlands proponents region words collaborative representatives conservation movement tend inclined accept internalize collaboratives values science suggests active intervention way cure problemwhich course everyone collaborative recognizes forests sick need active management save suffer stockholm syndrome environmental participants collaboratives come identify alleged aggrievances held rural communities identifying promoting ecological values land wildlife presumably represent news accounts collaboratives environmental participants tend emphasize getting along former antagonists wonderful beer timber worker rancheras measure true success rather whether get wildlands protected fourth related previous problem many groups identify people involved collaboratives avoid conflicts even speaking environmental damage fear jeopardizing relationship resource exploiters knowledge groups like montana wilderness association filed single lawsuit protect roadless lands threatened logging decades160 indeed supports logging even roadless areas contrast collaborative members conservation groups nonpaid wilderness advocates clearly seen discussion future 230000 acre gallatin range proposed wilderness bozeman grassroots montanans gallatin wilderness nonpaid passionate wilderness supporters lobbying wilderness protection entire roadless area contrast greater yellowstone coalition wilderness society montana wilderness association working outgrowth collaborative supporting 100000 acre mostly rocks ice proposal misunderstand recognize one may get full acreage proposal one start discussions proposal protects land one remember job wilderness advocates compromise proposal onset job congress compromising paid wilderness advocates paid advocates wildlands use another example currently domestic sheep grazing gravelly range montana threatens recovery wild bighorns well expanding grizzly bear populations asked join lawsuit remove domestic sheep greater yellowstone coalition refused160 gyc participating gravelly range collaborative includes many ranchers assume unwilling antagonize livestock industry despite fact wellgrounded science showing domestic sheep transmit disease wild bighorn160160160 written twice ask arent favor grizzlies bighorns domestic sheep response fifth perhaps insidious aspect collaboratives always assertion winwin everyone gets something everyone usually include wildlife forest ecosystems wildlands end winners collaborative membership public importantly land diversity life new twist collaborative effort wyoming public lands imitative determining wilderness study areas state remain roadless wild could developed one must wonder anyone would believe participating collaborative makes sense part collaboratives composed people resource extraction bias mentioned previously often direct financial stake outcome decisions would waste time trying convince logging company stop logging save spotted owls rancher close allotment protect wolves bighorn sheep grizzly bears gay friend mine said like gay person spending time trying convince evangelical christians homosexually acceptable gets central part problem groups involved collaboratives spending huge amounts staff time money attending meetings people exceptions diametrically opposed views value wilderness wildlands really productive use time give one example late tim lilebo oregon wild spent greater part decade attending collaborative meetings eastern oregon collaboratives lilebo spent time successfully might add trying convince citizens needed wilderness lilebo became involved collaboratives time activities attending meetings since death two years ago oregon wild continued participate collaboratives outcome meetings new wilderness proposals table oregon wild convinced collaborative members protect large portions eastern oregon designated wilderness nope far tell less support wilderness region ten years ago160 significant loggingmostly without objection oregon wild imagine oregon wild instead attending collaborative meetings trying convince people financial interest logging group spent last ten twelve years promoting wilderness eastern oregon well urban centers like portland many people communities might designating new wilderness number one priority might still supportive instead trying convince mill workers miners ranchers timber company owners support wilderness would better strategy convince people across country teachers post office workers clerks safeway whomever protecting wilderness good idea instead attending collaborative meetings160 tim lilebo successors gave numerous powerpoint presentations sympathetic crowds field trips written numerous commentaries letters editor promoting wilderness protection region believe might already gotten new wilderness designated last acceptance trap collaboratives saps organizational time money designed silence oppositional groups make spend limited time meetings people hold diametrically opposed values instead advancing wildlands agenda public member organizations trying get along frequently unwilling actively oppose resource exploitation david brower quipped160i opposed compromise want last room often regret bob marshalls admonishment founding wilderness society widely observed todays conservation movement marshall wrote want stragglers past far much good wilderness lost whose first instinct compromise | 1,128 |
<p>Of all the torrent of words that followed House passage of its version of healthcare reform legislation in early November, perhaps the most misleading were those comparing it to enactment of Social Security and Medicare.</p>
<p>Sadly no. Social Security and Medicare were both federal programs guaranteeing respectively pensions and health care for our nation’s seniors, paid for and administered by the federal government with public oversight and public accountability.</p>
<p>While the House bill, and its Senate counterpart, do have several important reform components, along with many weaknesses, neither one comes close to the guarantees and the expansion of health and income security provided by Social Security or Medicare.</p>
<p>By contrast, if the central premise of Social Security and Medicare was a federal guarantee of health and retirement security, the main provision of the bills in Congress is a mandate requiring most Americans without health coverage to buy private insurance.</p>
<p>In other words, the principle beneficiary is not Americans’ health, but the bottom line of the insurance industry which stands to harvest tens of billions of dollars in additional profits ordered by the federal government. Or as Rep. Eric Massa of New York put it on the eve of the House vote, “at the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period.”</p>
<p>Further, while Social Security and Medicare, two of the most important reforms in American history, were both significant expansions of public protection, the House bill actually reduces public protection for a substantial segment of the population, women, with its unconscionable rollback of reproductive rights in the anti-abortion amendment.</p>
<p>Why then so much cheerleading by many progressive and liberal legislators, columnists, and activists?</p>
<p>* Passage of the bill was a clear defeat for the Republican opposition and those on the right who have so mischaracterized what boils down to modest reform that looks more like a “robust” version of the Medicare prescription drug benefit or the state children’s health initiative.</p>
<p>* Proponents of the bill, starting in the White House and running through the Democratic leadership in Congress, with the assistance and support of many in labor and liberal and progressive constituency groups, have so lowered expectations on healthcare reform that with eyes wide shut they can call this a sweeping victory.</p>
<p>To be sure there are commendable provisions in the House bill that bear note. Among the most important are:</p>
<p>Expansion of Medicaid to millions of low income adults.</p>
<p>Reduction of the “doughnut hole” in the Medicare drug coverage law making drug costs more affordable for many seniors.</p>
<p>Increased federal funding for community health programs, such as home visits for nurses and social workers to low income families.</p>
<p>Additional regulation of the insurance industry, mostly targeted to people who are presently without coverage rather than those with existing health plans. Those include limits on insurers ability to drop sick enrollees or refuse to sell policies to people with prior health problems, extending the age that dependent children can be on their parents’ plan, and repeal of the anti-trust exemption for insurers.</p>
<p>Extending the same health benefit tax benefits available to married couples to domestic partners.</p>
<p>A progressive tax to help pay the bill through a surcharge on wealthy earners and required contributions from large employers, in sharp contrast with the Senate proposal to tax health benefits on misnamed “Cadillac” plans, comprehensive coverage available to many union members, for example.</p>
<p>But the acclaim now flowing from some quarters would have been better deserved had these provisions been enacted on their own — not accompanied by the many shortcomings of the legislation. To cite a few:</p>
<p>Healthcare will remain unaffordable for many Americans. The bill does not do nearly enough to control skyrocketing insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital costs. Indeed, by various estimates, with no effective limits on the insurance industry’s price gouging, out-of-pocket costs for premiums, deductibles and other fees by some estimates with eat up from 15 to 19 percent of family incomes by several accounts.</p>
<p>No meaningful reform of the rampant insurance denials of medical treatment the insurers don’t want to pay for.</p>
<p>Little assistance for individuals and families who presently have employer-sponsored health plans and face frequent erosion of their coverage and health security. No help for the healthcare cost-shifting from employers to employees.</p>
<p>Minimal expansion of consumer choice. The much debated public plan option will be available only to about 2 percent of people under age 65, mostly those now not covered who buy insurance on their own (it may or may not be expanded in 2015). Further, no additional plan options for those in the many markets dominated by one or two private plans, and no additional choice of doctor or hospital within existing plans. The new limits on abortion extended to poor women.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the combination of the mandate to buy insurance, federal subsidies to low income families to purchase private plans, failure to adequately control insurance prices or crack down on the abuse of insurance denials make the House bill — and its Senate counterpart — look a lot like a massive bailout for the private insurance industry.</p>
<p>Don’t be misled by the howling from insurance industry which has been spending some $1.4 million a day to steer the direction of legislation. They would have preferred the status quo, but will be more than happy to count the increased revenues coming their way.</p>
<p>As Rep. Dennis Kucinich said on the House floor, “we cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem.”</p>
<p>While some people will have improved access, the final accounting will be an even firmer private insurance grip on our healthcare system, with the U.S. remaining the only industrialized nation which barters our health for private profit.</p>
<p>Months ago, the Obama administration pre-determined this outcome by ruling out the most comprehensive, most cost effective, most humane reform, single payer, or an expanded and improved Medicare for all. Single payer proponents were shut out of White House forums, blocked from most hearings in the Senate, and single payer amendments stripped from the final House bill.&#160; Yet, through grassroots pressure, single-payer advocates forced consideration by the House of an improved Medicare for all until the very end.</p>
<p>But nurses and other single payer proponents who have heroically fought for this reform for years will continue the campaign, next in the Senate, where single payer amendments are expected to be introduced. The scene will also shift to state capitols, where vibrant single payer movements remain active and will escalate.</p>
<p>Proponents of comprehensive reform will never be silent, and never stop working for the real change we most desperately need.</p>
<p>ROSE ANN DeMORO is executive director of the California Nurses Association.</p> | true | 4 | torrent words followed house passage version healthcare reform legislation early november perhaps misleading comparing enactment social security medicare sadly social security medicare federal programs guaranteeing respectively pensions health care nations seniors paid administered federal government public oversight public accountability house bill senate counterpart several important reform components along many weaknesses neither one comes close guarantees expansion health income security provided social security medicare contrast central premise social security medicare federal guarantee health retirement security main provision bills congress mandate requiring americans without health coverage buy private insurance words principle beneficiary americans health bottom line insurance industry stands harvest tens billions dollars additional profits ordered federal government rep eric massa new york put eve house vote highest level bill enshrine law monopolistic powers private health insurance industry period social security medicare two important reforms american history significant expansions public protection house bill actually reduces public protection substantial segment population women unconscionable rollback reproductive rights antiabortion amendment much cheerleading many progressive liberal legislators columnists activists passage bill clear defeat republican opposition right mischaracterized boils modest reform looks like robust version medicare prescription drug benefit state childrens health initiative proponents bill starting white house running democratic leadership congress assistance support many labor liberal progressive constituency groups lowered expectations healthcare reform eyes wide shut call sweeping victory sure commendable provisions house bill bear note among important expansion medicaid millions low income adults reduction doughnut hole medicare drug coverage law making drug costs affordable many seniors increased federal funding community health programs home visits nurses social workers low income families additional regulation insurance industry mostly targeted people presently without coverage rather existing health plans include limits insurers ability drop sick enrollees refuse sell policies people prior health problems extending age dependent children parents plan repeal antitrust exemption insurers extending health benefit tax benefits available married couples domestic partners progressive tax help pay bill surcharge wealthy earners required contributions large employers sharp contrast senate proposal tax health benefits misnamed cadillac plans comprehensive coverage available many union members example acclaim flowing quarters would better deserved provisions enacted accompanied many shortcomings legislation cite healthcare remain unaffordable many americans bill nearly enough control skyrocketing insurance pharmaceutical hospital costs indeed various estimates effective limits insurance industrys price gouging outofpocket costs premiums deductibles fees estimates eat 15 19 percent family incomes several accounts meaningful reform rampant insurance denials medical treatment insurers dont want pay little assistance individuals families presently employersponsored health plans face frequent erosion coverage health security help healthcare costshifting employers employees minimal expansion consumer choice much debated public plan option available 2 percent people age 65 mostly covered buy insurance may may expanded 2015 additional plan options many markets dominated one two private plans additional choice doctor hospital within existing plans new limits abortion extended poor women ultimately combination mandate buy insurance federal subsidies low income families purchase private plans failure adequately control insurance prices crack abuse insurance denials make house bill senate counterpart look lot like massive bailout private insurance industry dont misled howling insurance industry spending 14 million day steer direction legislation would preferred status quo happy count increased revenues coming way rep dennis kucinich said house floor fault insurance companies fault legislation government incentivizes perpetuation indeed strengthening forprofit health insurance industry source problem people improved access final accounting even firmer private insurance grip healthcare system us remaining industrialized nation barters health private profit months ago obama administration predetermined outcome ruling comprehensive cost effective humane reform single payer expanded improved medicare single payer proponents shut white house forums blocked hearings senate single payer amendments stripped final house bill160 yet grassroots pressure singlepayer advocates forced consideration house improved medicare end nurses single payer proponents heroically fought reform years continue campaign next senate single payer amendments expected introduced scene also shift state capitols vibrant single payer movements remain active escalate proponents comprehensive reform never silent never stop working real change desperately need rose ann demoro executive director california nurses association | 651 |
<p>A series of ugly economic dynamics have come together to create a serious shortage of affordable housing in the US.</p>
<p>The rent istoo damn high, and here are some reasons why: Demand for rental properties is way up. Millions of families lost homes in the crash. Others, who might have been able to secure a loan to purchase a home when the banks were handing mortgages out like candy are now unable to meet stricter lending requirements that were put in place after the bubble burst. According to <a href="//www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtab14a.xls" type="external">Census data</a>, today’s home ownership rate is around four percentage points lower than it was before the Great Recession.</p>
<p>Supply isn’t keeping up. The crash brought new housing construction to a screeching halt. Typically, builders add around a million housing units per year to keep up with population growth. But&#160;between 2008 and 2010,&#160;we added only <a href="//www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtab7.xls" type="external">a half million</a> units, and two million more in the three years since then.</p>
<p>So demand for rentals has outpaced supply. Before the crash, 10 percent of rental units were vacant. Today, <a href="//www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtab1.xls" type="external">that figure stands at 7.4 percent</a>. You have to go back almost 20 years, to early 1995, to find a vacancy rate that low.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, incomes for most Americans remain well below what they were before the crash. In fact, when adjusted for inflation, the median income — for the family right in the middle of the pack– <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2014/09/16/97203/what-the-new-census-data-show-about-the-continuing-struggles-of-the-middle-class/" type="external">is below what it was in 1989</a>. So taken together, median income and rental costs look like this graphic from <a href="//www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/rental-affordability-crisis-hud" type="external">Mother Jones</a>:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>That means renters are spending a larger share of their incomes on housing. The federal government defines housing costs as “unaffordable” when they exceed 30 percent of one’s income. The number of households shelling out more than that — and in some cases more than half of their incomes — has been rising, as this graphic reveals:</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>(Those who can afford to own aren’t necessarily doing better. While loan rates remain low and sales prices haven’t fully rebounded since the real estate bubble burst, the latest trend on Wall Street is to buy up distressed properties in bulk, take them off the market for a while and then resell them down the road when prices go up. Financial reporter <a href="//www.newrepublic.com/article/112395/wall-street-hedge-funds-buy-rental-properties" type="external">David Dayen writes</a> that this process is “starting bidding wars that have driven up some prices well above national averages.” According to the real estate tracking firm Zillow, even with today’s low interest rates, the total costs of owning a home are <a href="//www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2013/04/16/high-home-price-to-income-ratios-hiding-behind-low-mortgage-rates/" type="external">above historical norms in 24 of the 30 largest metro areas</a> it covers.)</p>
<p>And these national trends don’t tell the whole story. The real estate markets that were hottest during the growth of the real estate bubble have seen the most painful crashes. So the “affordability gap” is a problem that’s concentrated in select urban areas, and is hitting renters the hardest.</p>
<p>Some cities — and some states — are taking an aggressive approach to their affordability gaps. Others are doing little or nothing to increase the supply of affordable housing.</p>
<p>What’s clear is that at the federal, state and local levels, a lot more could be done.</p>
<p>Stuart Meck, a planning expert at Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, tells BillMoyers.com that the most effective way to increase the supply of affordable housing isn’t necessarily the easiest political lift: “Probably the most effective way to get affordable housing built is through mandatory inclusionary zoning, where any developer who wants to build market-rate housing has to provide a certain amount of housing that’s affordable for a household making up to 80 percent of the area’s median income.”</p>
<p>Some communities have enacted optional programs that incentivize developers who choose to build affordable units, but Meck says that landlords tend to shy away from these incentives because of the added administrative work. “It means that every year you have to income-qualify all of the tenants, which adds significant additional costs,” says Meck.</p>
<p>Another approach is to conduct what the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calls “an analysis of impediments.” That means going through a community’s zoning requirements and eliminating unnecessary restrictions on adding new stock. “You could allow denser housing, or change your public works standards if they’re gold-plated,” says Meck. “You might allow higher buildings — all of these things might loosen up the code and make it easier to build more housing.” That process can be politically fraught — opinions vary as to what codes are “unnecessary” — but Meck says it can be quite effective in cities with dense zoning requirements.</p>
<p>Some metropolitan areas have established “regional housing trust funds” which take developer fees, federal block grants for community development and other sources of funding, then turn those dollars around to give developers an incentive to build affordable housing. These programs have borne fruit in communities like Clark County, Washington; Sacramento, California and Columbus, Ohio.</p>
<p>Forty-seven states have established similar funds, but with varying degrees of effectiveness and a lot of variation in funding levels. In Washington State, a model program called the Housing Trust Fund receives, according to HUD, “steady-stream revenues from various sources, including interest on upfront payments in mortgage transactions, loan repayments, capital bonds, and state legislature funding.” The program was established in 1987, and by 2013, “$5.50 in additional funds had been leveraged for every dollar awarded from the housing trust fund.”</p>
<p>In 2005,&#160;a 10-year MacArthur Foundation grant helped establish Chicago’s Preservation Compact of Cook County. It’s a public-private partnership that brings together housing experts, community organizers and local politicians to identify ways to promote affordable housing through regulation, retrofitting old rundown properties, and reducing landlords’ operating costs with credits to improve energy efficiency and tax breaks. It has generated enough success that four years later, MacArthur put seed money into a similar project, the Ohio Preservation Compact.</p>
<p>The federal government’s primary tool for making housing affordable is the Section 8 voucher program, named after a provision of the Housing Act of 1937. This program makes up the difference between 30 percent of qualified tenants’ incomes and market based rents. It provides tenants with vouchers they can give to their landlords, or guarantees that the government will make up what landlords who choose to build affordable housing projects would lose compared to building market-rate housing.</p>
<p>But the Section 8 housing program has faced a series of cuts, including deep reductions as a result of the sequester. And when tenants leave project-based Section 8 housing, they lose the subsidy. So they tend to stay put, and there are long waits for apartments to open up. What’s more, there aren’t enough tenant-based vouchers to go around, and that waiting list is long, too. And then many landlords refuse to accept the tenant vouchers.</p>
<p>A simple change to the Housing Act requiring landlords to accept the vouchers would resolve the latter problem. Increasing the program’s funding — or at least restoring it to pre-sequester levels — could help deal with the former.</p>
<p>Then there are outside-the-box ideas that could make an impact. Economist Dean Baker has long advocated that families who lose their homes to foreclosure be granted a “ <a href="//www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/opinion/12thu2.html?_r=0" type="external">right to rent</a>” their properties at market rate for an extended period of time. This would help on the demand side of the equation by keeping people in their homes rather than moving into rental units while those bank-owned properties sit idle. It’s been endorsed by experts from across the political spectrum — and a bill has been introduced in Congress — but so far the idea has gained little traction within the Beltway.</p>
<p>The take-away from all of this is that while many of our communities are facing a crisis of affordable housing, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a number of approaches to this very real problem, but so far our political class hasn’t been up to the task. The real estate lobbies don’t want the restrictions, and, as is true with so many other bread-and-butter issues, the politicians effectively have turned a blind eye to the problem.</p>
<p>Joshua Holland is Senior Digital Producer at <a href="http://billmoyers.com" type="external">BillMoyers.com</a>, and host of <a href="https://alternetradio.podbean.com" type="external">Politics and Reality Radio</a>. He's the author of <a href="" type="external">The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy</a>. Drop him an <a href="" type="internal">email</a> or follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaHol" type="external">Twitter</a>.&#160;</p> | true | 4 | series ugly economic dynamics come together create serious shortage affordable housing us rent istoo damn high reasons demand rental properties way millions families lost homes crash others might able secure loan purchase home banks handing mortgages like candy unable meet stricter lending requirements put place bubble burst according census data todays home ownership rate around four percentage points lower great recession supply isnt keeping crash brought new housing construction screeching halt typically builders add around million housing units per year keep population growth but160between 2008 2010160we added half million units two million three years since demand rentals outpaced supply crash 10 percent rental units vacant today figure stands 74 percent go back almost 20 years early 1995 find vacancy rate low meanwhile incomes americans remain well crash fact adjusted inflation median income family right middle pack 1989 taken together median income rental costs look like graphic mother jones 160 means renters spending larger share incomes housing federal government defines housing costs unaffordable exceed 30 percent ones income number households shelling cases half incomes rising graphic reveals 160 afford arent necessarily better loan rates remain low sales prices havent fully rebounded since real estate bubble burst latest trend wall street buy distressed properties bulk take market resell road prices go financial reporter david dayen writes process starting bidding wars driven prices well national averages according real estate tracking firm zillow even todays low interest rates total costs owning home historical norms 24 30 largest metro areas covers national trends dont tell whole story real estate markets hottest growth real estate bubble seen painful crashes affordability gap problem thats concentrated select urban areas hitting renters hardest cities states taking aggressive approach affordability gaps others little nothing increase supply affordable housing whats clear federal state local levels lot could done stuart meck planning expert rutgers edward j bloustein school planning public policy tells billmoyerscom effective way increase supply affordable housing isnt necessarily easiest political lift probably effective way get affordable housing built mandatory inclusionary zoning developer wants build marketrate housing provide certain amount housing thats affordable household making 80 percent areas median income communities enacted optional programs incentivize developers choose build affordable units meck says landlords tend shy away incentives added administrative work means every year incomequalify tenants adds significant additional costs says meck another approach conduct department housing urban development hud calls analysis impediments means going communitys zoning requirements eliminating unnecessary restrictions adding new stock could allow denser housing change public works standards theyre goldplated says meck might allow higher buildings things might loosen code make easier build housing process politically fraught opinions vary codes unnecessary meck says quite effective cities dense zoning requirements metropolitan areas established regional housing trust funds take developer fees federal block grants community development sources funding turn dollars around give developers incentive build affordable housing programs borne fruit communities like clark county washington sacramento california columbus ohio fortyseven states established similar funds varying degrees effectiveness lot variation funding levels washington state model program called housing trust fund receives according hud steadystream revenues various sources including interest upfront payments mortgage transactions loan repayments capital bonds state legislature funding program established 1987 2013 550 additional funds leveraged every dollar awarded housing trust fund 2005160a 10year macarthur foundation grant helped establish chicagos preservation compact cook county publicprivate partnership brings together housing experts community organizers local politicians identify ways promote affordable housing regulation retrofitting old rundown properties reducing landlords operating costs credits improve energy efficiency tax breaks generated enough success four years later macarthur put seed money similar project ohio preservation compact federal governments primary tool making housing affordable section 8 voucher program named provision housing act 1937 program makes difference 30 percent qualified tenants incomes market based rents provides tenants vouchers give landlords guarantees government make landlords choose build affordable housing projects would lose compared building marketrate housing section 8 housing program faced series cuts including deep reductions result sequester tenants leave projectbased section 8 housing lose subsidy tend stay put long waits apartments open whats arent enough tenantbased vouchers go around waiting list long many landlords refuse accept tenant vouchers simple change housing act requiring landlords accept vouchers would resolve latter problem increasing programs funding least restoring presequester levels could help deal former outsidethebox ideas could make impact economist dean baker long advocated families lose homes foreclosure granted right rent properties market rate extended period time would help demand side equation keeping people homes rather moving rental units bankowned properties sit idle endorsed experts across political spectrum bill introduced congress far idea gained little traction within beltway takeaway many communities facing crisis affordable housing doesnt way number approaches real problem far political class hasnt task real estate lobbies dont want restrictions true many breadandbutter issues politicians effectively turned blind eye problem joshua holland senior digital producer billmoyerscom host politics reality radio hes author 15 biggest lies economy drop email follow twitter160 | 812 |
<p>Even if you have already seen <a href="" type="internal">Shine A Light</a> in a theater, there is an upcoming DVD/Blu-ray package slated for release that is still worthy of buying. So you think you’ve seen the Light? Think again.</p>
<p>When Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert documentary Shine A Light was released on April 4, its theatrical run in both Imax and conventional theaters was limited to a select number of theaters due to its documentary format. Therefore, countless fans still have not yet seen this critically acclaimed film, documenting performances from the largest grossing concert tour of all time. However, they will finally be able to do so when Shine A Light is released on DVD/Blu-ray on July 29.</p>
<p>Because I had seen Shine A Light prior to its theatrical release, and had written reviews on it, in addition to the fact I had both attended and written extensively about the Rolling Stones press conference that was held in New York for the film, and I had interviewed the Rolling Stones on the red carpet (which was actually black) at the NY premiere, I wanted to go full circle, and review what is in the DVD package, aside from what is included in it that was seen in its theatrical release. Therefore, the focus here will be on the package’s added features, because I have already reviewed the theatrical release it contains.</p>
<p>Already having this DVD/Blu-ray package, it is apparent that its Special Features create a sequel to the theatrical release. Parts of the Featurette leave you thinking, “Don’t stop” when they end, and a few of them could segue into new films of their own.</p>
<p>The entirety of Shine A Light is the predominate feature included in the retail package that is slated for release by Paramount Home Entertainment.&#160; Filmed at the shows that were held at New York’s Beacon Theatre from the Bigger Bang shows on October 29 and November 1, 2006, with direction from Scorsese, whose numerous credits include No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Kundun, The Departed, Casino, Goodfellas, and Raging Bull, several award–winning cinematographers captured the band on stage, including Robert Richardson (The Aviator), Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood), Andrew Lesnie (Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship Of the Rings), John Toll (Legends Of the Fall), Ellen Kuras (Summer of Sam), Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano), and Declan Quinn (Leaving Las Vegas).</p>
<p>The DVD is widescreen enhanced, and features Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, plus subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The Blu-ray offers 1080p high definition, English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and English 5.1 DTS Master Audio and English, English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles. This will mark the first time a Stones concert film has been released in High Def on Blu-ray.</p>
<p>In addition to the film Shine A Light, there are also four bonus songs in HD, performed in their entirety, starting with “Paint It, Black.” While the credits on the disc do not include a comma in the song’s title, I have a penchant for including one here, as its original release that topped both the British and American charts in 1966 contained one. At one point during the song’s performance, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is seen kneeling, with one knee one the stage, as he plays guitar. The way in which Richards emotes during his playing is as singular, and as expressive as Chuck Berry doing his duck walk. No one does Chuck better than Chuck, and as we have seen for over forty years, no one does Keith Richards better than Richards, whether it is when he is playing or when he is not.</p>
<p>The band’s rendition of Richards’ “Little T&amp;A” is also among the full live performance bonus tracks, not seen in the theatrically released film.&#160; “Tits and ass with soul,” “The little bitch got soul,” he sings, with an added kick that comes from a short vamp, courtesy of Stones bassist Darryl Jones. This is one of the tracks in which more footage is seen of backup singers Bernard Fowler, Lisa Fischer and Blondie Chaplin. The rest of the musicians in band are also intermittently seen throughout the added features.</p>
<p>The third bonus performance, “I’m Free,” witnesses Jagger dancing on stage, as the rest of the band plays. With keyboardist Chuck Leavell counting, “One, two,” the band breaks into the fourth bonus track, “Undercover Of The Night,” on which Jagger plays his Fender Telecaster.</p>
<p>The Supplemental Featurette section features additional newsreel footage that was not included in the theatrical version of the film. It continues to show a parade of hopelessly inept, pathetic interviews the band is subjected to doing on a constant basis. The ironies are glaringly obvious (at least to some of us), but these moments still manage to provide great entertainment due to their utter stupidity.</p>
<p>Here is one such exchange from 1973:</p>
<p>Interviewer: “There’s in England, kind of an underground talk about people that are expected to die soon.”</p>
<p>Richards: “I’m on the list.”</p>
<p>Interviewer: “You have taken the number one position on the list on there.”</p>
<p>Richards (irritated, barely concealing his contempt): “Great. Okay, I’ll let you know.”</p>
<p>Stupid questions still plague the band to this day, and it dawns on the viewer that an entire film could be made, consisting entirely of stupid questions people ask the Stones, and how they respond.</p>
<p>The Featurette also includes guitarist Ronnie Wood, stating that Eric Clapton had told him, “I could have had your job.” Woody notes that he responded to Clapton by saying, “But Eric, you’ve got to live with them. You’ve got to be able to live with these people.”</p>
<p>There is ample footage of Mick Jagger. As a result, we revisit some of his many incarnations, reflecting numerous trends and fashions from various periods of the band’s career.</p>
<p>Drummer Charlie Watts says he’s happier at home than on the road, and he has a discussion with Scorsese about wardrobe.</p>
<p>Blues legend Buddy Guy discusses his first having met the Stones at Chess Studios in Chicago, when he was recording “My Time After A While.”&#160; Guy recalls, “I am like, ‘who is that?”&#160; Guy goes on to explain how it came about that he began answering to the name “Motherfucker.”&#160; This is another segue, a prefect vignette, where an entire new film could begin.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>There is also rehearsal footage of “Wild Horses,” featuring Jagger on harp, and rehearsal footage of “Factory Girl.”</p>
<p>There is more of President Clinton with the Secret Service, from the October 29 show, ending his “birthday celebration,” although he was born on August 19. He describes his having been given the opportunity to hold a fundraiser there as one of his birthday presents. Reference is also made to the seating provisions for his sixty guests who will be attending the show.</p>
<p>In part of the DVD’s main feature, Shine A Light, Richards is seen wearing a red and silver pirate pin, a skull with crossed swords. It was a gift to him for his performance in Pirates Of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It is seen on his long black jacket as he performs “You Got The Silver.” As it turns out, in the Supplemental Featurette, there is a scene, presumably during a break of some sort, where Richards is alone on stage, engaged in his thoughts, and playing guitar. What he was playing sounded familiar. After an immediate second listen, I realized it was “Only Found Out Yesterday,” the same song Richards plays in Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End, in his role of Captain Teague.</p>
<p>The words from the song’s title, “Only found out yesterday,” are also lyrics heard in his heartfelt track “Thru And Thru,” from the Voodoo Lounge album. There is also part of the melody line that is reminiscent of that song, as well.</p>
<p>What is the connection with the line “Only Found Out Yesterday?” Well, there’s an interview question that no one has asked yet.</p>
<p>PHYLLIS POLLACK lives in Los Angeles where she is a publicist and music journalist. She can be reached through <a href="http://www.electricearl.com/phyllis" type="external">her blog</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | even already seen shine light theater upcoming dvdbluray package slated release still worthy buying think youve seen light think academy awardwinning director martin scorseses rolling stones concert documentary shine light released april 4 theatrical run imax conventional theaters limited select number theaters due documentary format therefore countless fans still yet seen critically acclaimed film documenting performances largest grossing concert tour time however finally able shine light released dvdbluray july 29 seen shine light prior theatrical release written reviews addition fact attended written extensively rolling stones press conference held new york film interviewed rolling stones red carpet actually black ny premiere wanted go full circle review dvd package aside included seen theatrical release therefore focus packages added features already reviewed theatrical release contains already dvdbluray package apparent special features create sequel theatrical release parts featurette leave thinking dont stop end could segue new films entirety shine light predominate feature included retail package slated release paramount home entertainment160 filmed shows held new yorks beacon theatre bigger bang shows october 29 november 1 2006 direction scorsese whose numerous credits include direction home bob dylan kundun departed casino goodfellas raging bull several awardwinning cinematographers captured band stage including robert richardson aviator robert elswit blood andrew lesnie lord rings fellowship rings john toll legends fall ellen kuras summer sam stuart dryburgh piano declan quinn leaving las vegas dvd widescreen enhanced features dolby digital english 51 surround plus subtitles english french spanish bluray offers 1080p high definition english 51 dolby truehd english 51 dts master audio english english sdh french spanish subtitles mark first time stones concert film released high def bluray addition film shine light also four bonus songs hd performed entirety starting paint black credits disc include comma songs title penchant including one original release topped british american charts 1966 contained one one point songs performance rolling stones guitarist keith richards seen kneeling one knee one stage plays guitar way richards emotes playing singular expressive chuck berry duck walk one chuck better chuck seen forty years one keith richards better richards whether playing bands rendition richards little tampa also among full live performance bonus tracks seen theatrically released film160 tits ass soul little bitch got soul sings added kick comes short vamp courtesy stones bassist darryl jones one tracks footage seen backup singers bernard fowler lisa fischer blondie chaplin rest musicians band also intermittently seen throughout added features third bonus performance im free witnesses jagger dancing stage rest band plays keyboardist chuck leavell counting one two band breaks fourth bonus track undercover night jagger plays fender telecaster supplemental featurette section features additional newsreel footage included theatrical version film continues show parade hopelessly inept pathetic interviews band subjected constant basis ironies glaringly obvious least us moments still manage provide great entertainment due utter stupidity one exchange 1973 interviewer theres england kind underground talk people expected die soon richards im list interviewer taken number one position list richards irritated barely concealing contempt great okay ill let know stupid questions still plague band day dawns viewer entire film could made consisting entirely stupid questions people ask stones respond featurette also includes guitarist ronnie wood stating eric clapton told could job woody notes responded clapton saying eric youve got live youve got able live people ample footage mick jagger result revisit many incarnations reflecting numerous trends fashions various periods bands career drummer charlie watts says hes happier home road discussion scorsese wardrobe blues legend buddy guy discusses first met stones chess studios chicago recording time while160 guy recalls like that160 guy goes explain came began answering name motherfucker160 another segue prefect vignette entire new film could begin 160 also rehearsal footage wild horses featuring jagger harp rehearsal footage factory girl president clinton secret service october 29 show ending birthday celebration although born august 19 describes given opportunity hold fundraiser one birthday presents reference also made seating provisions sixty guests attending show part dvds main feature shine light richards seen wearing red silver pirate pin skull crossed swords gift performance pirates caribbean worlds end seen long black jacket performs got silver turns supplemental featurette scene presumably break sort richards alone stage engaged thoughts playing guitar playing sounded familiar immediate second listen realized found yesterday song richards plays pirates caribbean worlds end role captain teague words songs title found yesterday also lyrics heard heartfelt track thru thru voodoo lounge album also part melody line reminiscent song well connection line found yesterday well theres interview question one asked yet phyllis pollack lives los angeles publicist music journalist reached blog 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 160 | 756 |
<p>On January 20th, Donald Trump began his second year as president and on the 30th&#160;he delivered his first State of the Union address.&#160; It was a depressing, painful first year on nearly every front, whether domestically or internationally, politically or socially or personally.&#160; One can only worry about what will play out during year two.</p>
<p>Americans, however, can be grateful for one accomplishment of the “make-America-great-again” president – he did not declare war against a minor, peripheral nation-state somewhere on the globe, like North Korea, Yemen or Honduras.&#160; Nearly two decades ago, in an act of great distraction, Bush &amp; company played a similar gambit in Afghanistan and Iraq – and now, 16 years later, everyone knows where those policies led.&#160; Trump and his aggressive military leadership may well mark year two with a comparable fool’s action.</p>
<p>The release by Republican members of the House&#160;Intelligence&#160;Committee&#160;of a report by Devin Nunes (R-CA) alleging that the FBI and DOJ engaged in surveillance abuses&#160;with regard to the Russia investigation quickly put Trump’s speech in the dustbin of history.&#160; While Hillary Clinton lost the election on her own, it’s been pretty well determined that the Russian government (through its intelligence services and proxies) sought to influence the outcome of 2016 election.&#160; Amidst all the daily prattle, it remains yet to be determined what role Trump played – if any – in “Russia-gate.”</p>
<p>Much of the nightly clatter on CNN and MSNBC, on NBC, CBS and PBS, let alone in the print and online information media like the&#160;New York Times,&#160;Washington Post&#160;and NPR, consists of a never-ending stream of eyes-on news reports and speculations by carefully chosen puffers. The daily drama about this story has been engaging, an enjoyable distraction.&#160; It’s been a gambler’s holiday;&#160;Newsweek reports the odds are 4-7 that Trump will be&#160;impeached before Inauguration Day 2021.&#160;&#160;But the unanswered question remains: So what?</p>
<p>Most remarkable amidst the daily prattle about Russia’s likely role in the election, the media never discusses the well-documented role the U.S. foreign-policy apparatus – State Department, CIA, military, National Endowment for Democracy,&#160;Peace Corp., etc. – plays in similar election-disruption campaigns undertaken throughout the world over the last half-century.</p>
<p>The efforts by Rep. Nunes and House Republicans to discredit, if not terminate, special counsel Robert Muller’s investigation is but one of the challenges Trump faces as he starts year two.&#160; Two others involve his possible impeachment resulting from investigations being conducted by Mueller and House and Senate committees as well as his competency to hold office.</p>
<p>In the last century-and-a-half-century, the U.S. has witnessed the impeachment of three presidents.&#160; The question facing Trump is whether he will be the fourth?&#160;&#160;The key questions at the heart of the various Russia-gate investigations involve the role (if any) played by the distractor-&amp;-chief and/or any of the key&#160;apparatchik&#160;of&#160;his election team, most notably his son, Donald, Jr., and son-in-law,&#160;Jared Kushner. In addition, the Justice Department and the Congress must determine&#160;if the results of the investigations involve an impeachable offense or a criminal matter.</p>
<p>The outcome of current investigations, like those about the Nixon impeachment and the Kennedy assassination, is unpredictable.&#160; Both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, will initially claim victory, political and personal exoneration, but as evidence mounts unforeseen consequences could occur.&#160; Congressional probing forced Nixon to resign to avoid being impeached; the original Kennedy investigation, the Warren Commission, promoted the single-killer thesis, and a later Congressional investigation recognized a likely conspiracy at work.&#160; Skeptics and questioning independent investigators will persist in calling for Trump’s impeachment, but one can only wonder if it will really happen.</p>
<p>Following the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, vice president Andrew Johnson&#160;assumed office and,&#160;in 1868, he was subject to a failed impeachment effort.&#160; In May 1974, the House Judiciary Committee&#160;opened&#160;its investigation of Pres. Nixon; it was concerned as to whether he knew — and approved! — the payments to the Watergate break-in defendants.&#160; Anticipating&#160;impeachment&#160;by the&#160;House and Senate, Nixon abdicated.&#160; A quarter-century later, in February 1999, Pres. Bill Clinton faced the wrath of the culture warriors and was accused of lying about a sexual liaison.&#160; Convicted by the Republican-controlled House, he was acquitted by the Senate on a legal technicality; impeachment required&#160;67 votes and the Republicans simply didn’t have the votes.&#160; If impeached, Trump would be the first president to be removed from office.</p>
<p>So why not mobilize to impeach Trump?&#160; Tom Steyer, a hedge-fund billionaire, has found his own Jesus and funded a campaign to impeach Trump as well as to promote grassroots organizing for “progressive” Democrats.&#160; To date, his impeachment campaign has garnered some 4 million signatures.&#160; In the wake of the Wolff revelations, one can expect many more Americans to sign the online petition.</p>
<p>What will happen if the Democrats regain control of either or both Houses of Congress following the 2018 mid-term elections?&#160; In all likelihood, some will push for Trump’s impeachment, not for his removal from office but as a 2020 campaign ploy.&#160;&#160;The Democrats leadership, led by Sen.&#160;Chuck – let’s-make-a-deal – Schumer and Rep. Nancy – keep-it-civil – Pelosi, oppose the impeachment initiative.&#160; They fear it will only make for still-greater hardening of the political arteries, with both Houses of Congress truly frozen.&#160; They also worry that a House impeachment trial will provoke a strong, perhaps violent, reaction from hardline Trump supporters.&#160; More so, they fear a Mike Pence presidency and a further tightening of the reactionary screws.</p>
<p>Trump and his administration are on a dangerous course taking on a host of what he likely sees as “enemies,” those who question – and thus challenge – his legitimacy, as president, and his masculinity, as a macho man.&#160; In addition to railing against Muller and attacks on the FBI, Trump continues to assail Hillary Clinton, throwing red meat to his most committed supporters; he plays a game of shadow-puppet warfare with&#160;North Korean’s leader, Kim Jong Un, mocking him as&#160;“Little&#160;Rocket Man”; and he even denounces Haiti, Honduras and African counties as “shit-holes.”&#160; All raise questions with regard to his competency.</p>
<p>A month ago, the talking-heads media was ablaze about Michael Wolff’s&#160;latest exposé of the Trump presidency,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House</a>.&#160; Steve Bannon, the alt-right’s leading proponent and a former key Trump advisor, is the go-to insider guy for gossip about Trump’s personal incompetence and political corruption.&#160; (One unexpected fallout is that the reactionary – and billionaire – Mercer family has broken with Bannon putting Breitbart&#160;Media in play.)</p>
<p>Wolff’s revelations, assuming they are accurate, follow a mounting chorus from psychiatrists and other mental-health professional as to Trump’s mental fitness for office — and whether the Twenty-Fifth Amendment should be invoked to remove him.&#160; Two recent books have generated much attention —&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Dangerous Case of Donald&#160;Trump: 27&#160;Psychiatrists&#160;and Mental Health Experts Assess a President</a>,Bandy X. Lee, ed., and&#160;Allen Frances’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Twilight of American Sanity:&#160;A Psychiatrist Analyzes the Age of Trump</a>.</p>
<p>Lee&#160;(Yale School of Medicine) and&#160;Judith Lewis Herman (Harvard Medical School) warn: “Collectively with our coauthors, we warn that anyone as mentally unstable as Mr. Trump simply should not be entrusted with the life-and-death powers of the presidency.”&#160;&#160;Frances takes a more cautionary tone,&#160;“Calling Trump crazy allows us to avoid confronting the craziness in our society.”&#160; He adds, “We can’t expect to change Trump, but we must work to undo the societal delusions that created him.”</p>
<p>These assessments are part of a mounting chorus promoted on TV talk-shows and newspaper op-eds questioning Trump mental fitness.&#160; While everyone can be her/his own coffee-klatch shrink, the last half-century medical psychiatrists, licensed psychologies and other mental-health “experts” had to adhere to what is known as the “Goldwater rule” – i.e., not giving a professional opinion about a public figure without personally conducting an examination.&#160; (It 1964, Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson and a psychiatrist declared him “severely paranoid” and “unfit” for the presidency.)</p>
<p>None of those who questioned Trump’s mental competency has conducted a formal, in-person psychiatric examination.&#160;&#160;In a follow-up defense of the collection, Lee – with Leonard L. Glass (Harvard and McLean Hospital) – argue against the rule and insist that the analyses presented are not a diagnosis, but an informed warning offered for the public good.</p>
<p>Dr. Ronny Jackson, a physician at&#160;Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who oversaw Trump’s annual medical exam, observed,&#160;“I’ve got to know him pretty well. And I had absolutely no concerns about his cognitive ability or his, you know, his neurological function.” He added, “I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the President has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes.”</p>
<p>Trump is a great showman, a hyper-sexual predatory rooster.&#160; Almost every day, through Tweets and glib press statements, he plays a game of three-card-monte with the American public.&#160; Combining the skills of P.T. Barnum’s circus shows and Dick Clark’s&#160;American Bandstand, Trump prances before his audience, seducing them with an endless stream of venom, a clever game of distraction.&#160; And the popular media – of all stripes — promote distraction, its where the ad dollars are.&#160; His fictions echo in the latest news report, pundit talk shows and sex-harassment scandals.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Trump’s year two will likely play out worse than year one.&#160; He promised his electoral base that he would deliver personal and cultural renewal, promising something more to those who felt that they had nothing left of their self-hood than their white skin privilege.&#160; Worse than the Republicans’ control of Capitol Hill, conservative zealots are in charge on the vast administrative bureaucracy, whether Defense Department or ICE, Dept. of Education, Health &amp; Human Services or Energy, as well as numerous court justices (including an additional Supreme Court seat).&#160;&#160; Worst case, will Trump — like Bush before him — provoke a national-security crisis?&#160; We’ve got a long way to go in 2018.</p> | true | 4 | january 20th donald trump began second year president 30th160he delivered first state union address160 depressing painful first year nearly every front whether domestically internationally politically socially personally160 one worry play year two americans however grateful one accomplishment makeamericagreatagain president declare war minor peripheral nationstate somewhere globe like north korea yemen honduras160 nearly two decades ago act great distraction bush amp company played similar gambit afghanistan iraq 16 years later everyone knows policies led160 trump aggressive military leadership may well mark year two comparable fools action release republican members house160intelligence160committee160of report devin nunes rca alleging fbi doj engaged surveillance abuses160with regard russia investigation quickly put trumps speech dustbin history160 hillary clinton lost election pretty well determined russian government intelligence services proxies sought influence outcome 2016 election160 amidst daily prattle remains yet determined role trump played russiagate much nightly clatter cnn msnbc nbc cbs pbs let alone print online information media like the160new york times160washington post160and npr consists neverending stream eyeson news reports speculations carefully chosen puffers daily drama story engaging enjoyable distraction160 gamblers holiday160newsweek reports odds 47 trump be160impeached inauguration day 2021160160but unanswered question remains remarkable amidst daily prattle russias likely role election media never discusses welldocumented role us foreignpolicy apparatus state department cia military national endowment democracy160peace corp etc plays similar electiondisruption campaigns undertaken throughout world last halfcentury efforts rep nunes house republicans discredit terminate special counsel robert mullers investigation one challenges trump faces starts year two160 two others involve possible impeachment resulting investigations conducted mueller house senate committees well competency hold office last centuryandahalfcentury us witnessed impeachment three presidents160 question facing trump whether fourth160160the key questions heart various russiagate investigations involve role played distractorampchief andor key160apparatchik160of160his election team notably son donald jr soninlaw160jared kushner addition justice department congress must determine160if results investigations involve impeachable offense criminal matter outcome current investigations like nixon impeachment kennedy assassination unpredictable160 sides aisle republicans democrats initially claim victory political personal exoneration evidence mounts unforeseen consequences could occur160 congressional probing forced nixon resign avoid impeached original kennedy investigation warren commission promoted singlekiller thesis later congressional investigation recognized likely conspiracy work160 skeptics questioning independent investigators persist calling trumps impeachment one wonder really happen following end civil war lincolns assassination vice president andrew johnson160assumed office and160in 1868 subject failed impeachment effort160 may 1974 house judiciary committee160opened160its investigation pres nixon concerned whether knew approved payments watergate breakin defendants160 anticipating160impeachment160by the160house senate nixon abdicated160 quartercentury later february 1999 pres bill clinton faced wrath culture warriors accused lying sexual liaison160 convicted republicancontrolled house acquitted senate legal technicality impeachment required16067 votes republicans simply didnt votes160 impeached trump would first president removed office mobilize impeach trump160 tom steyer hedgefund billionaire found jesus funded campaign impeach trump well promote grassroots organizing progressive democrats160 date impeachment campaign garnered 4 million signatures160 wake wolff revelations one expect many americans sign online petition happen democrats regain control either houses congress following 2018 midterm elections160 likelihood push trumps impeachment removal office 2020 campaign ploy160160the democrats leadership led sen160chuck letsmakeadeal schumer rep nancy keepitcivil pelosi oppose impeachment initiative160 fear make stillgreater hardening political arteries houses congress truly frozen160 also worry house impeachment trial provoke strong perhaps violent reaction hardline trump supporters160 fear mike pence presidency tightening reactionary screws trump administration dangerous course taking host likely sees enemies question thus challenge legitimacy president masculinity macho man160 addition railing muller attacks fbi trump continues assail hillary clinton throwing red meat committed supporters plays game shadowpuppet warfare with160north koreans leader kim jong un mocking as160little160rocket man even denounces haiti honduras african counties shitholes160 raise questions regard competency month ago talkingheads media ablaze michael wolffs160latest exposé trump presidency160 fire fury inside trump white house160 steve bannon altrights leading proponent former key trump advisor goto insider guy gossip trumps personal incompetence political corruption160 one unexpected fallout reactionary billionaire mercer family broken bannon putting breitbart160media play wolffs revelations assuming accurate follow mounting chorus psychiatrists mentalhealth professional trumps mental fitness office whether twentyfifth amendment invoked remove him160 two recent books generated much attention 160 dangerous case donald160trump 27160psychiatrists160and mental health experts assess presidentbandy x lee ed and160allen francess160 twilight american sanity160a psychiatrist analyzes age trump lee160yale school medicine and160judith lewis herman harvard medical school warn collectively coauthors warn anyone mentally unstable mr trump simply entrusted lifeanddeath powers presidency160160frances takes cautionary tone160calling trump crazy allows us avoid confronting craziness society160 adds cant expect change trump must work undo societal delusions created assessments part mounting chorus promoted tv talkshows newspaper opeds questioning trump mental fitness160 everyone herhis coffeeklatch shrink last halfcentury medical psychiatrists licensed psychologies mentalhealth experts adhere known goldwater rule ie giving professional opinion public figure without personally conducting examination160 1964 barry goldwater ran lyndon johnson psychiatrist declared severely paranoid unfit presidency none questioned trumps mental competency conducted formal inperson psychiatric examination160160in followup defense collection lee leonard l glass harvard mclean hospital argue rule insist analyses presented diagnosis informed warning offered public good dr ronny jackson physician at160walter reed national military medical center oversaw trumps annual medical exam observed160ive got know pretty well absolutely concerns cognitive ability know neurological function added ive found reason whatsoever think president issues whatsoever thought processes trump great showman hypersexual predatory rooster160 almost every day tweets glib press statements plays game threecardmonte american public160 combining skills pt barnums circus shows dick clarks160american bandstand trump prances audience seducing endless stream venom clever game distraction160 popular media stripes promote distraction ad dollars are160 fictions echo latest news report pundit talk shows sexharassment scandals unfortunately trumps year two likely play worse year one160 promised electoral base would deliver personal cultural renewal promising something felt nothing left selfhood white skin privilege160 worse republicans control capitol hill conservative zealots charge vast administrative bureaucracy whether defense department ice dept education health amp human services energy well numerous court justices including additional supreme court seat160160 worst case trump like bush provoke nationalsecurity crisis160 weve got long way go 2018 | 971 |
<p>Mandinkas were the fiercest warriors of Africa. After a Caribbean slave revolt in the 1800s, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, the leading intellectual of the Southern gentry, invoked the specter of Mandingo slaughtering white masters as justification for their enslavement. Black male sexual prowess was also a big part of the myth. The often used colloquialism, “once you go black you never go back”–is the myth of the big black, well-endowed buck, Mandingo.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, the myth became the movie “Mandingo” in which one-time heavyweight champ Ken Norton played a noble slave who burns down the white man’s plantation and escapes to freedom with the blond Southern belle in his arms. My mother took us kids to see the “controversial” movie when it was shown at the local drive-in theatre. And at the top of her stack of romance novels was a cover showing a muscular, caramel-colored black man caressing a buxom, blond lass, her ample white breast barely covered by the straps of her torn hoop dress, her long blond ringlets cascading over her shoulder with the title “Mandingo” emblazoned across the cover.</p>
<p>The Mandingo stereotype entraps black males to this day as evidenced by the pop culture embrace of the pimp, gangsta rappers along with a host of psycho-sexual-social illusions. The myth fuels denial over homosexuality and feeds rampant homophobia in the black community. As black gay and bisexual men practice a dangerous sexual secrecy, the AIDS crisis in the black community worsens. As a friend told me, “One of the worst thing to be is a gay black man in the south. The preacher wants you to lead the choir, and maybe even give him a blowjob every now and again, while condemning, denying or damning your very existence from the pulpit.”</p>
<p>As for white women, during slavery a white woman marrying or consensually having a child by a black man usually found herself in legally sanctioned bondage. “Defilement” or being “spoiled” during the Jim Crow era most often meant banishment–or stripped of being “white” for one’s “nigger-loving” ways. White men used “protecting white womanhood,” the first plank in the Klan platform, as a pretext for controlling white women, but in some respects it trapped the men in a psychotic effort to prove their own sexual dominance.</p>
<p>In Thurmond’s youth and political prime, lynching and the fear of it was the primary weapon to discourage black men from looking the “wrong way” at white women let alone having sexual relations. And lynching was accepted at all levels of white society as a means of controlling race mixing. Even in the late seventies, my first organizing job, with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference back when Ralph Abernathy was the head, was over the death of a black man, Mickey McClendon, murdered for dating a white woman. McClendon, from Chester, South Carolina, was shot, tied behind a pick-up truck, set on fire and dragged down a road, much the way James Byrd Jr. was in Jasper, Texas, in 1998. Today, whether it’s Kobe Bryant in Colorado or high school football star Marcus Dixon in Georgia, whenever a black man is accused of the rape of a white woman, black Americans view the alleged crime in the context of history.</p>
<p>Sex is the prevailing theme of Thurmond’s life. While he was alive and after death, the local press gleefully retold the story of a young Strom “sneaking out his upstairs bedroom for a romantic tryst with unnamed women.” Thurmond’s “virility,” his marrying a twenty-two-year-old, Nancy Moore, at age sixty-six, having four children even as an old man and his “secret” black child were all a testimony to Southern white male power.</p>
<p>Thurmond’s initiation in the “customs and traditions” of segregation, sex and white supremacy began with his political mentor Benjamin Ryan Tillman. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a virulent white supremacist, also from Edgefield, Thurmond’s home county, constitutionally (and otherwise) reinstituted white rule after Reconstruction. Pitchfork” Ben was proud to have driven blacks demanding rights out of the state at gunpoint. He and his Sweetwater Sabre Club members wore white shirts stained in red to represent the blood of black men. When Tillman came to power as Governor in 1890, blacks were the majority in the state. Today, blacks represent a third of the population. The decrease is directly due to Tillman’s political legacy. Tillman’s assault on black rights was immediate. He quickly revised the state constitution to ensure legal segregation of the races, stripping blacks of all political and economic power. As a U.S. Senator, Tillman declared, “We of the South have never recognized the right of the Negro to govern white men, and we never will.”</p>
<p>Thurmond’s father, J. William, himself a state legislator, once served as Tillman’s campaign manager. Tillman later rewarded J. William by naming him U.S. Attorney (a job currently held by Strom’s son–Strom Jr.) in a new South Carolina district even though Thurmond had killed a man in an argument over Tillman’s politics. Tillman was a frequent visitor to the Thurmond home, a “symbolic part of the family,” according to Cohodas, and a godfather of sorts to the Thurmond children. But to blacks, “Pitchfork” Ben was the prime purveyor of Negrophobia. And wrapped around Tillmanism was the ideal of the “pure, defenseless southern white woman.” “There is only one crime that warrants lynching, ” he said, “and governor as I am, I would lead a mob to lynch the Negro who ravishes a white woman.” During Tillman’s first term there had been five lynchings, in his second term there were thirteen.</p>
<p>Still, black South Carolinians were initially optimistic about Thurmond, who began his career as a Democrat. As a South Carolina state senator in 1938, despite the Tillman influence, he publicly opposed lynching and declared that the Ku Klux Klan stood for “the most abominable type of lawlessness.” Thurmond called himself a “progressive” and upon election to governor in 1946 he declared, “We need a progressive outlook, a progressive program, a progressive leadership.” He spoke of improving black schools, revising the Tillman Constitution of 1895 and abolishing the Tillman” poll tax that was used to keep blacks from voting. He supported “equal right for women in every respect,” saying, “women should serve on boards, commissions, and other positions of importance in the state government.” He also called for “equal pay for equal work for women.”</p>
<p>At his inaugural Thurmond said, “more attention should be given to Negro education. The low standing of South Carolina educationally is due primarily to the high illiteracy and lack of education among our Negroes. If we provide better educational facilities for them, not only will much be accomplished in human values, but we shall raise our per capita income as well as the educational standing of the state.” But Thurmond was not calling for an end to segregation, he was hoping for a new and improved “separate but equal.” It would take the federal courts to strike down “separate but equal” and to force desegregation, or “integration”, as the Thurmond forces would define it.</p>
<p>Thurmond stood squarely with Tillman on race mixing–he was against it and let stand the constitutional prohibition against it. It took 103 years before South Carolina finally voted to remove a ban on interracial marriage from its state constitution. Although it was not actively enforced, Tillman added the clause to the state’s constitution in 1895 prohibiting “marriage of a white person with a Negro or mulatto or a person who shall have one-eighth or more of Negro blood.” Up until 1997, state legislators refused to allow voters to decide whether to remove the ban. A constitutional amendment, passed in 1998, finally deleted the line.</p>
<p>Still, at the start of his career blacks gave Thurmond high marks for his handling of the Willie Earle lynching, which stamped his administration as “liberal without being radical” by whites outside the south. On February 16, 1947, a young black man from Pickens County was arrested and charged with the murder of Thomas Brown, a white Greenville taxicab driver. The next day a mob broke into the Pickens County jail, took Earle, shot him, stabbed him and then beat him to death on the outskirts of town. The FBI and state officials investigated the crime at the behest of Thurmond, who also called for the prosecution of those accused of lynching. But after a highly public trial the jury acquitted the accused men.</p>
<p>However, when President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces and announced his broad civil rights program in 1948, Thurmond could not tolerate the challenge thus posed to the “customs and traditions” that defined his deepest beliefs. Thurmond ran for President that year as the “Dixiecrat” States Rights candidate, admonishing the faithful that holding power boiled down to one thing–race and he would make sure that only white men held it. As Northern Democrats pushed for civil rights, Thurmond and his fellow Southern Democratic governors cried “states’ rights” just as their ancestors did to justify African enslavement. As author Kari Frederickson wrote, Thurmond and other Dixiecrat governors appealed to racist, “conservative white men suffering from a self-diagnosed case of political impotency.”</p>
<p>Thurmond as Tillman’s political heir was the icon of the new “anti-miscegenation” movement. In his acceptance speech at the Birmingham meeting announcing his presidential bid he speechified, “All the bayonets in the Army cannot force the ‘Negarah’ into our home, our schools, our churches and our places of recreation.”</p>
<p>Candidate Thurmond’s platform stood for segregation and against race mixing. When the votes were counted Thurmond had 1.1 million votes, won 4 states and garnered 38 electoral votes. 1.1 million Americans voted in favor of segregation–it was not enough to defeat Truman, but the Democratic Party was never the same.</p>
<p>Eventually Thurmond was elected to the Senate as a write-in candidate in 1954, a post he would retain for a half century, until his retirement in January 2003. Throughout his congressional career, he opposed almost every major civil rights initiative. In 1956, he authored the infamous Southern Manifesto–a document signed by 19 of the 22 southern senators that urged the south to defy–as they put it–the Supreme Court’s “clear abuse of judicial power” in outlawing segregation in public schools. In 1957, he executed the longest filibuster in history while trying to halt the first Civil Rights Act proposed in the Senate and backed by Eisenhower.</p>
<p>Lyndon Johnson’s success in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the last straw for Thurmond. He left the Democratic Party and signed on with Republican Barry Goldwater. Upon leaving, Thurmond declared, “The party of our fathers is dead.”</p>
<p>Thurmond’s departure signaled a major shift in American politics. It was the birth of South Carolinian Lee Atwater, Jesse Helms, Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott’s Republican Party. The Thurmond defection prompted the GOP appeal to white Southern conservatives and foreshadowed Richard Nixon’s race-inspired “southern strategy.” This framework exists today. Race supremacy is the ideological glue that keeps white men in the south in the Republican Party. Today they are called the “Bubba vote” and NASCAR dads, but the appeal is build on Tillmanism, the Dixiecrat Movement, the Southern Manifesto. It’s almost always couched in the language of “states rights,” but race and social control is the subtext.</p>
<p>Race politics explains Ronald Reagan beginning his 1980 campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the place where civil rights workers’ Michael Schwerner, James Earl Chaney and Andrew Goodman were murdered. His declaration then, “I believe in states rights,” sent the same message as George W. Bush’s 2000 sojourn to the fundamentalist college Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school’s founder has often been linked to the Klan and for years provided a Biblical sanction for racism. The school refused to admit blacks until 1971 and banned interracial dating until 2000.</p>
<p>In the 70s, as the country’s racial attitudes changed Thurmond did as the self-serving do to stay in office–he changed–at least cosmetically. With blacks representing a third of the voters in South Carolina he hired the first black man ever employed by a southern senator and actively re-courted the black vote. Thomas Moss, a Korean War veteran and organizer with the meat packers union (in the “right to work state”) in Orangeburg, SC, headed the Voter Education Project, a program that encouraged blacks to register to vote. Working with Moss, Thurmond began championing grants to black colleges, businesses, and municipalities. He voted in favor of extending the Voting Rights Act–a law that guaranteed the federal government’s right to enforce a citizen’s right to vote. He also voted in favor of the Fair Housing Act and the Martin Luther King federal holiday. His reward, during his 1978 re-election bid, 10 of South Carolina’s 11 black mayors endorsed him.</p>
<p>Back in 1996, I was organizing a national conference on the epidemic of church fires in the South. As it just so happened, South Carolina led the nation in the number of church fires and the National Council of Churches was sponsoring the conference being held in the state. An old friend and NAACP member Joann Watson of Detroit made the trip down south. And as fate would have it, Joann and I were talking in the lobby of the Downtown Holiday Inn when who should stroll in–Strom in the flesh, looking kind of dazed but still moving, his aide not a step away. Joann immediately threw her two arms up in the air and cried like Moses appealing to Pharaoh in a strong but not loud voice, “Senator, let my people go!” Strom, leaning just a little, stopped, stuck his hand out to Joann and said in a clear twangy voice, “Go where? I love everybody. Everybody’s my friend!”</p>
<p>Thurmond was the epitome of the classic pork belly politician. Graduate from high school and you’d probably get a letter from Thurmond. If a parent had trouble reaching a kid in the military, call Thurmond’s office. Need help with the V.A.–call ole Strom. The “rural myth” is that Strom shook the hand of almost every South Carolinian. His apologists want us to remember that Thurmond.</p>
<p>When black State Senator Kay Patterson of Columbia agreed to eulogize Thurmond it was front-page news all across, the state. Patterson said, “Strom’s experience is “on the road to Damascus. I have supported him since he left his segregationist ways and became a real American citizen and tried to be the senator for all the people of the state.” Patterson attitude mirrored African Americans optimistic hope for Thurmond when he began his career.</p>
<p>But a new generation was reminded of Thurmond’s legacy and iconic status at his 100th birthday party. Mississippi Senator Trent Lott praised Thurmond’s 1948 campaign saying; “I want to say this about my state. When Strom ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of him. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” Although Lott fell on his sword and apologized all over himself, his signal was unmistakable. Had it not been for blacks getting rights and race mixing, the world of white men with total power would be intact.</p>
<p>In the end, regardless of whatever changes Thurmond made later in life, his legacy can be described in two words–“Segregation Forever.” Or maybe, “Segregation and Hypocrisy Forever!” Even if Essie Mae Washington-Williams’ name is chiseled along side the names of his other children onto the Strom Thurmond statue that stands facing the Confederate Women’s Monument on the Statehouse grounds, his contradictions and hypocrisy will still be etched in stone. But maybe, in a way, the day they chisel that name will be the day white South Carolina finally begin to confront its own contradictions?</p>
<p>KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY is a CounterPunch contributer and civil rights organizer in Columbia, South Carolina. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:kagamba@bellsouth.net" type="external">kagamba@bellsouth.net</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | mandinkas fiercest warriors africa caribbean slave revolt 1800s john c calhoun south carolina leading intellectual southern gentry invoked specter mandingo slaughtering white masters justification enslavement black male sexual prowess also big part myth often used colloquialism go black never go backis myth big black wellendowed buck mandingo 1970s myth became movie mandingo onetime heavyweight champ ken norton played noble slave burns white mans plantation escapes freedom blond southern belle arms mother took us kids see controversial movie shown local drivein theatre top stack romance novels cover showing muscular caramelcolored black man caressing buxom blond lass ample white breast barely covered straps torn hoop dress long blond ringlets cascading shoulder title mandingo emblazoned across cover mandingo stereotype entraps black males day evidenced pop culture embrace pimp gangsta rappers along host psychosexualsocial illusions myth fuels denial homosexuality feeds rampant homophobia black community black gay bisexual men practice dangerous sexual secrecy aids crisis black community worsens friend told one worst thing gay black man south preacher wants lead choir maybe even give blowjob every condemning denying damning existence pulpit white women slavery white woman marrying consensually child black man usually found legally sanctioned bondage defilement spoiled jim crow era often meant banishmentor stripped white ones niggerloving ways white men used protecting white womanhood first plank klan platform pretext controlling white women respects trapped men psychotic effort prove sexual dominance thurmonds youth political prime lynching fear primary weapon discourage black men looking wrong way white women let alone sexual relations lynching accepted levels white society means controlling race mixing even late seventies first organizing job southern christian leadership conference back ralph abernathy head death black man mickey mcclendon murdered dating white woman mcclendon chester south carolina shot tied behind pickup truck set fire dragged road much way james byrd jr jasper texas 1998 today whether kobe bryant colorado high school football star marcus dixon georgia whenever black man accused rape white woman black americans view alleged crime context history sex prevailing theme thurmonds life alive death local press gleefully retold story young strom sneaking upstairs bedroom romantic tryst unnamed women thurmonds virility marrying twentytwoyearold nancy moore age sixtysix four children even old man secret black child testimony southern white male power thurmonds initiation customs traditions segregation sex white supremacy began political mentor benjamin ryan tillman pitchfork ben tillman virulent white supremacist also edgefield thurmonds home county constitutionally otherwise reinstituted white rule reconstruction pitchfork ben proud driven blacks demanding rights state gunpoint sweetwater sabre club members wore white shirts stained red represent blood black men tillman came power governor 1890 blacks majority state today blacks represent third population decrease directly due tillmans political legacy tillmans assault black rights immediate quickly revised state constitution ensure legal segregation races stripping blacks political economic power us senator tillman declared south never recognized right negro govern white men never thurmonds father j william state legislator served tillmans campaign manager tillman later rewarded j william naming us attorney job currently held stroms sonstrom jr new south carolina district even though thurmond killed man argument tillmans politics tillman frequent visitor thurmond home symbolic part family according cohodas godfather sorts thurmond children blacks pitchfork ben prime purveyor negrophobia wrapped around tillmanism ideal pure defenseless southern white woman one crime warrants lynching said governor would lead mob lynch negro ravishes white woman tillmans first term five lynchings second term thirteen still black south carolinians initially optimistic thurmond began career democrat south carolina state senator 1938 despite tillman influence publicly opposed lynching declared ku klux klan stood abominable type lawlessness thurmond called progressive upon election governor 1946 declared need progressive outlook progressive program progressive leadership spoke improving black schools revising tillman constitution 1895 abolishing tillman poll tax used keep blacks voting supported equal right women every respect saying women serve boards commissions positions importance state government also called equal pay equal work women inaugural thurmond said attention given negro education low standing south carolina educationally due primarily high illiteracy lack education among negroes provide better educational facilities much accomplished human values shall raise per capita income well educational standing state thurmond calling end segregation hoping new improved separate equal would take federal courts strike separate equal force desegregation integration thurmond forces would define thurmond stood squarely tillman race mixinghe let stand constitutional prohibition took 103 years south carolina finally voted remove ban interracial marriage state constitution although actively enforced tillman added clause states constitution 1895 prohibiting marriage white person negro mulatto person shall oneeighth negro blood 1997 state legislators refused allow voters decide whether remove ban constitutional amendment passed 1998 finally deleted line still start career blacks gave thurmond high marks handling willie earle lynching stamped administration liberal without radical whites outside south february 16 1947 young black man pickens county arrested charged murder thomas brown white greenville taxicab driver next day mob broke pickens county jail took earle shot stabbed beat death outskirts town fbi state officials investigated crime behest thurmond also called prosecution accused lynching highly public trial jury acquitted accused men however president harry truman desegregated armed forces announced broad civil rights program 1948 thurmond could tolerate challenge thus posed customs traditions defined deepest beliefs thurmond ran president year dixiecrat states rights candidate admonishing faithful holding power boiled one thingrace would make sure white men held northern democrats pushed civil rights thurmond fellow southern democratic governors cried states rights ancestors justify african enslavement author kari frederickson wrote thurmond dixiecrat governors appealed racist conservative white men suffering selfdiagnosed case political impotency thurmond tillmans political heir icon new antimiscegenation movement acceptance speech birmingham meeting announcing presidential bid speechified bayonets army force negarah home schools churches places recreation candidate thurmonds platform stood segregation race mixing votes counted thurmond 11 million votes 4 states garnered 38 electoral votes 11 million americans voted favor segregationit enough defeat truman democratic party never eventually thurmond elected senate writein candidate 1954 post would retain half century retirement january 2003 throughout congressional career opposed almost every major civil rights initiative 1956 authored infamous southern manifestoa document signed 19 22 southern senators urged south defyas put itthe supreme courts clear abuse judicial power outlawing segregation public schools 1957 executed longest filibuster history trying halt first civil rights act proposed senate backed eisenhower lyndon johnsons success passing civil rights act 1964 last straw thurmond left democratic party signed republican barry goldwater upon leaving thurmond declared party fathers dead thurmonds departure signaled major shift american politics birth south carolinian lee atwater jesse helms newt gingrich trent lotts republican party thurmond defection prompted gop appeal white southern conservatives foreshadowed richard nixons raceinspired southern strategy framework exists today race supremacy ideological glue keeps white men south republican party today called bubba vote nascar dads appeal build tillmanism dixiecrat movement southern manifesto almost always couched language states rights race social control subtext race politics explains ronald reagan beginning 1980 campaign neshoba county fair philadelphia mississippi place civil rights workers michael schwerner james earl chaney andrew goodman murdered declaration believe states rights sent message george w bushs 2000 sojourn fundamentalist college bob jones university greenville south carolina schools founder often linked klan years provided biblical sanction racism school refused admit blacks 1971 banned interracial dating 2000 70s countrys racial attitudes changed thurmond selfserving stay officehe changedat least cosmetically blacks representing third voters south carolina hired first black man ever employed southern senator actively recourted black vote thomas moss korean war veteran organizer meat packers union right work state orangeburg sc headed voter education project program encouraged blacks register vote working moss thurmond began championing grants black colleges businesses municipalities voted favor extending voting rights acta law guaranteed federal governments right enforce citizens right vote also voted favor fair housing act martin luther king federal holiday reward 1978 reelection bid 10 south carolinas 11 black mayors endorsed back 1996 organizing national conference epidemic church fires south happened south carolina led nation number church fires national council churches sponsoring conference held state old friend naacp member joann watson detroit made trip south fate would joann talking lobby downtown holiday inn stroll instrom flesh looking kind dazed still moving aide step away joann immediately threw two arms air cried like moses appealing pharaoh strong loud voice senator let people go strom leaning little stopped stuck hand joann said clear twangy voice go love everybody everybodys friend thurmond epitome classic pork belly politician graduate high school youd probably get letter thurmond parent trouble reaching kid military call thurmonds office need help vacall ole strom rural myth strom shook hand almost every south carolinian apologists want us remember thurmond black state senator kay patterson columbia agreed eulogize thurmond frontpage news across state patterson said stroms experience road damascus supported since left segregationist ways became real american citizen tried senator people state patterson attitude mirrored african americans optimistic hope thurmond began career new generation reminded thurmonds legacy iconic status 100th birthday party mississippi senator trent lott praised thurmonds 1948 campaign saying want say state strom ran president voted proud rest country followed lead wouldnt problems years either although lott fell sword apologized signal unmistakable blacks getting rights race mixing world white men total power would intact end regardless whatever changes thurmond made later life legacy described two wordssegregation forever maybe segregation hypocrisy forever even essie mae washingtonwilliams name chiseled along side names children onto strom thurmond statue stands facing confederate womens monument statehouse grounds contradictions hypocrisy still etched stone maybe way day chisel name day white south carolina finally begin confront contradictions kevin alexander gray counterpunch contributer civil rights organizer columbia south carolina reached kagambabellsouthnet 160 160 | 1,584 |
<p>Photo by A Yee | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Donald Trump’s State Of The Union address was straight out of the book of Revelations. The world was filled with death, disaster, sinners and saviors. Rather than addressing any of the reasons that this world has become hell on earth, Trump turned his attention to individual heroes. Every individual introduced seemed to be caught up in a near death experience. They were honored because they were not afraid to face this threat head on. Trump celebrated the man who was just plain tougher than his victim (I forget which section of the holy trinity he represented—the border patrol, the police force, or the military).</p>
<p>The threats, which were always lurking, seemed to come from the sky. Who could control the weather? Fires and droughts were revered as a test of manly valor. There was no effort to stop these disasters. They would serve as a test for who deserved to be saved. They would determine who we should thank for our lives. War was treated in the same manner. For what it’s worth, Trump would never have the courage to look his victim in the face, let alone risk his own sorry existence. But how much courage does it take to kill or deport another human being? Like Christ, the poor are are judged by their willingness to give up their own lives. Why do we celebrate the poor who are willing to kill and die in the wars for the rich?</p>
<p>The threat that could be exterminated was the immigrant. They are here to steal our jobs, murder our upstanding citizens, and rape our women. They are not people because they are not Americans. They are not all poison, but as Donald Trump Jr. said about Syrian refugees: “If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem.” Among the things not addressed in this argument is that as long as we do nothing on the refugee crisis we are leaving these people to die. Even if terrorism was more than a media fabrication, how could we not take in these people? 65 million people without a home and the debate is between whether to take 100,000 or 50,000. Color blind liberalism gets us an extra 50,000 but who could deny that we would save millions of lives if we took in refugees—regardless of whether this terrorist garbage is true? The United States should take in at least 20 million refugees.</p>
<p>Each story was a bigger yawn than the next. Trump, like Obama before him, has become a mere puppet for the powers that be. Whatever values, however sinister, Trump represented when he got elected have given way to the Republican bottom line. Respect the flag, the military, the police, the free market, the constitution, and of course, God. Paul Ryan’s smirked on from behind. Trump’s sloppy claps after his own words gave away that a higher power was behind his empty lines. This is not to the credit of Trump by the way. It shows that he is merely a bully who will step on those smaller than him and bow to those bigger. An insecure bully on top of this. For he does not seek an ideology that suits him. He rather wants pure exaltation. Whether or not his power or his money is real hardly matters. As long as he can fool himself that this is the case. Most of the buildings with the name “Trump” on them are not actually owned by Donald himself. He merely paid for his name to be on the front. Consider the White House to be his latest stunt.</p>
<p>The mood of the night though belongs to Trump. Friends and enemies. Winners and losers. Bosses and workers. Masters and slaves. Generals and soldiers. As long as the hierarchy was respected there was nothing to be feared. If you are worthy you will be saved. If you are not saved, you are not worthy.</p>
<p>Around each corner was a disaster or a murder. Who was behind these deeds? Evil people. Terrorists. Immigrants. Drug dealers. And who could save you from these monsters? Good people. Police. Soldiers. ICE. Donald Trump’s world is a world at war. He called a nuclear free world “magical.” The real world becomes a place where you kill or be killed. Chaos is inevitable. Because people are evil. Good people will save you. But only if you obey.</p>
<p>The earth itself becomes an adversary. Rather than look at the natural disasters as human caused the earth becomes just another beast to slay. For those who are brave enough. Tough enough. Manly enough. Gone was any connection to the earth or the animals within it.</p>
<p>Trump did take a slight break to spread lies about how well the economy is doing. He brought in his token black face with a brand new job and declared that this man was a great welder—another black guy good with his hands! His white boss sitting next to him was given the credit. Then there was that strange story about the pregnant woman who was taking heroin. The male cop informed her that she had a baby in her stomach. After this realization, she just stopped doing heroin, because that’s how it works. The cop then stole this woman’s baby and placed it in the arms of his own wife. The innocent baby was saved. And the sinful woman, who just has sex and does heroin all the time presumably died on the side of the road.</p>
<p>The “resistance”, led by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, did look pretty put off the whole time. Good for them I suppose. But just a year or two ago they would have been salivating over Obama celebrating the new global economy where we all loved and each other and everything was peachy. Meanwhile they would be shoving the horridly stale Hillary Clinton down the voter’s throats, all the while assuming that anyone outside of their enlightened class was just too dumb to get what was really going on.</p>
<p>Trump’s speech assumes a world at war. The reason this speech has resonance is because both corporate parties have made such a world a reality. Police, military and jails have expanded. Immigrants and citizens have been kicked out of their homes. Climate change has displaced millions. Social programs have been cut. The world Trump paints is not entirely inaccurate, he just has his heroes and his villains confused.</p>
<p>Despair not though, for the end days are a fantasy only for those who wish to punish. For those of us who still believe in love and peace, our world is what we make it.</p> | true | 4 | photo yee cc 20 donald trumps state union address straight book revelations world filled death disaster sinners saviors rather addressing reasons world become hell earth trump turned attention individual heroes every individual introduced seemed caught near death experience honored afraid face threat head trump celebrated man plain tougher victim forget section holy trinity representedthe border patrol police force military threats always lurking seemed come sky could control weather fires droughts revered test manly valor effort stop disasters would serve test deserved saved would determine thank lives war treated manner worth trump would never courage look victim face let alone risk sorry existence much courage take kill deport another human like christ poor judged willingness give lives celebrate poor willing kill die wars rich threat could exterminated immigrant steal jobs murder upstanding citizens rape women people americans poison donald trump jr said syrian refugees bowl skittles told three would kill would take handful thats syrian refugee problem among things addressed argument long nothing refugee crisis leaving people die even terrorism media fabrication could take people 65 million people without home debate whether take 100000 50000 color blind liberalism gets us extra 50000 could deny would save millions lives took refugeesregardless whether terrorist garbage true united states take least 20 million refugees story bigger yawn next trump like obama become mere puppet powers whatever values however sinister trump represented got elected given way republican bottom line respect flag military police free market constitution course god paul ryans smirked behind trumps sloppy claps words gave away higher power behind empty lines credit trump way shows merely bully step smaller bow bigger insecure bully top seek ideology suits rather wants pure exaltation whether power money real hardly matters long fool case buildings name trump actually owned donald merely paid name front consider white house latest stunt mood night though belongs trump friends enemies winners losers bosses workers masters slaves generals soldiers long hierarchy respected nothing feared worthy saved saved worthy around corner disaster murder behind deeds evil people terrorists immigrants drug dealers could save monsters good people police soldiers ice donald trumps world world war called nuclear free world magical real world becomes place kill killed chaos inevitable people evil good people save obey earth becomes adversary rather look natural disasters human caused earth becomes another beast slay brave enough tough enough manly enough gone connection earth animals within trump take slight break spread lies well economy brought token black face brand new job declared man great welderanother black guy good hands white boss sitting next given credit strange story pregnant woman taking heroin male cop informed baby stomach realization stopped heroin thats works cop stole womans baby placed arms wife innocent baby saved sinful woman sex heroin time presumably died side road resistance led nancy pelosi chuck schumer look pretty put whole time good suppose year two ago would salivating obama celebrating new global economy loved everything peachy meanwhile would shoving horridly stale hillary clinton voters throats assuming anyone outside enlightened class dumb get really going trumps speech assumes world war reason speech resonance corporate parties made world reality police military jails expanded immigrants citizens kicked homes climate change displaced millions social programs cut world trump paints entirely inaccurate heroes villains confused despair though end days fantasy wish punish us still believe love peace world make | 553 |
<p>Image: Sen Bernie Sanders talks to reporters in Dubuque, IA Photo Credit: Screen capture</p>
<p>As a writer, I never expected to fall in love with the 2016 election. As recently as 6 or 7 months ago, I fully expected that America was on a collision course with dueling oligarchic dynasties -- Bush 3 vs. Clinton 2 -- in a race where the (not unimportant) differences would be overshadowed by their similarities, including the fact that&#160; <a href="//theweek.com/speedreads/454351/wall-street-love-hillary-clinton-vs-jeb-bush-2016" type="external">Wall Street would be happy with either one in the Oval Office</a>.</p>
<p>Then a gruff, 74-year-old grandfather showed up to change everything. Like a lot of progressive-minded folks, I'd grown more aware in recent years of Sen. Bernie Sanders, and his cast-out-the-money-changers rants against income inequality, corporate greed, and billionaire influence in American politics. But I thought his entrance in the 2016 race was basically a protest move, nothing more.&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-does-bernie-sanders-draw-huge-crowds-to-see-him/2015/08/11/4ae018f8-3fde-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html" type="external">Then came the crowds</a>, and the enthusiasm, which led to more crowds and more enthusiasm, which led to a surge in the polls, especially&#160; <a href="//www.cnn.com/2015/12/09/politics/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire-poll/" type="external">in New Hampshire</a>&#160;and Iowa.</p>
<p>The Sanders surge stirred something within my 56-plus-year-old soul. When I was 9 years old and watched cops assaulting hippies in the streets of Chicago in 1968 -- my first true political memory -- I knew instinctively that I was on the side of the hippies. And I was sure -- in my pre-pre-adolescent naivety -- that someone from this surge of Baby Boomers in the American streets would one day lead this nation into an Age of Aquarius, a new era that would advance civil rights and personal freedom while putting the kibosh on foolish wars like Vietnam. But someday never came. The two Baby Boomer presidents turned out to be a Young Republican Yale cheerleader (Bush 2) and a didn't-inhale, middle-of-the-road triangulator (Clinton 1). The dream went unfulfilled -- until Sanders arrived at the end of his 50-plus year odyssey -- tousled grey hair, slightly stooped, voice grown hoarse.</p>
<p>By this fall, I had to hit to road to see for myself. I traveled to Sanders' rallies&#160; <a href="//articles.philly.com/2015-09-17/news/66609532_1_sanders-occupy-wall-street-tuition" type="external">in places like Manassas</a>, Va., where his fans had to pass a phalanx of protesters waving Confederate flags, and Boston, where 20,000 supporters filled every inch of a concrete convention hall or waited for him in a dark and frigid park. I went to rural Vermont to find the no-electricity "sugar shack" where Sanders retreated in the mid-1960s, and I went to the very-electric neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip for a climactic face-off against Hillary Clinton, with Bernie's name on the big video screen just as you might find Don Rickles or Wayne Newton. The result is my new e-book,&#160; <a href="//www.amazon.com/The-Bern-Identity-Sanders-American-ebook/dp/B0194D178C/ref=zg_bs_5688113011_2" type="external">The Bern Identity: A Search for Bernie Sanders and the New American Dream</a>&#160;-- an Amazon Kindle Single.&#160;</p>
<p>I learned a lot -- some things that surprised me and some things that I'd suspected but needed to see for myself. I went to the Brooklyn neighborhood where Sanders grew up in a cramped, second-story flat off of Kings Highway, and I talked by phone with the candidate's older brother Larry from England, where he's a Green Party activist. Larry Sanders told me his little brother was the kid in grade school who couldn't tell a lie -- even if it got him in trouble. As he grew, it was other people's lies that drove him to activism --&#160; <a href="//www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/27/how-the-brooklyn-dodgers-and-baseball-shaped-bernie-sanders-world-view" type="external">his beloved Dodgers promising to stay in Brooklyn before splitting for L.A.</a>, the falsehoods that both Nixon and Kennedy told about U.S. policy toward Cuba and the Third World, and finally the lies from the Nobel laureates who ran the University of Chicago and who claimed, falsely, that university-owned housing wasn't segregated.</p>
<p>I also learned about the remarkable bond between a candidate who never altered his core political values over a half-century, and a new generation of voters who were craving the kind of authenticity that only Sanders -- with a real track record, not an agenda driven by pollsters or focus groups -- could provide. It was a bond that had its more modern roots in&#160; <a href="//www.amazon.com/October-2011-Battle-Brooklyn-Bridge-ebook/dp/B005Y27VLU" type="external">the Occupy Wall Street movement</a>, with many veterans of that short-lived 2011 protest -- determined to see real social change and not just make a statement -- getting down with the Sanders campaign, especially after another popular liberal senator, Elizabeth Warren, didn't run. The result was those enormous crowds from Boston to Seattle.</p>
<p>There was one other thing: I learned that a lot of the mainstream media (to which I belong, by day) was missing a hell of a story. Indeed, if the Sandernistas that I met on the trail reporting&#160; <a href="//www.amazon.com/The-Bern-Identity-Sanders-American-ebook/dp/B0194D178C/ref=zg_bs_5688113011_2" type="external">The Bern Identity</a>&#160;were bitter about anything, if was over the way that the media seem to be missing the historic nature of this campaign -- a senator calling himself " <a href="//mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/blogs/attytood&amp;id=351891931" type="external">a democratic socialist</a>" and winning so much mainstream support. "Does this look like an 8-minute story to you?!" a 30-something attendee at the Boston rally asked me, referring to a recent story on Sanders' paltry network airtime and gesturing at the sea of humanity. "These people are clamoring for someone to... to tell them the truth!"</p>
<p>Indeed, as the so-called "Summer of Trump" extended toward winter, the media's treatment of Sanders grew even more appalling. After all, a closer look at the polls suggests that more Americans wants Sanders to become the 45th president than want Donald Trump, and yet <a href="//mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/blogs/attytood&amp;id=361468871" type="external">&#160;the short-fingered vulgarian of Manhattan real estate is getting 23 times as much network news coverage</a>. Indeed, the Tyndall Report, which conducted that analysis, found that ABC had featured Trump for 81 minutes and Sanders for only about 20 seconds.</p>
<p>What's up with that? It's fair to note that Trump remains the frontrunner in a fractured GOP field, while Sanders continues to trail Hillary Clinton, at least nationally, in what has largely become a two-person race. Sanders' most ardent supporters say it's simply the corporate media trying to hold down someone who would shake up the status quo. Perhaps, but as a veteran journalist I think it's mainly because Bernie doesn't play the game. He maybe the first candidate of the post-Reagan era to actively shun the contrived soundbite of the day, as well as the photo op. Instead, he delivers The Lecture -- a 55-or-so minute overview of America's economic and social ills -- night after night...and the crowds love it even if the TV producers don't. Sanders' view -- wacky as it sounds in 2015 -- is that if you speak the truth enough, the masses will come around. And his refusal to play the game is what Bernie's partisans love about him.</p>
<p>In 1969, in his own Vermont newsletter called The Movement, Sanders wrote that "the Revolution is coming, and it is a very beautiful revolution." The next year, Gil Scott-Heron sang that "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" -- and some 45 years later, it look like Scott-Heron was right. But does that really matter? I have no doubt that Sanders would love to shock the world and become America's 45th president, just as he shocked the world in 1981 by winning election as mayor of Vermont's largest city as a socialist just six weeks after Reagan's inauguration. But his real battle is the battle of ideas. With recent trend of Democratic presidential victories, and with the Democratic field moving to the left this year on everything from&#160; <a href="//www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-keystone-pipeline-opposes-213941" type="external">climate change</a>&#160;to&#160; <a href="//www.cnn.com/2015/10/07/politics/hillary-clinton-opposes-tpp/" type="external">trade</a>&#160;to criminal justice, you could say that Sanders is already winning.</p> | true | 4 | image sen bernie sanders talks reporters dubuque ia photo credit screen capture writer never expected fall love 2016 election recently 6 7 months ago fully expected america collision course dueling oligarchic dynasties bush 3 vs clinton 2 race unimportant differences would overshadowed similarities including fact that160 wall street would happy either one oval office gruff 74yearold grandfather showed change everything like lot progressiveminded folks id grown aware recent years sen bernie sanders castoutthemoneychangers rants income inequality corporate greed billionaire influence american politics thought entrance 2016 race basically protest move nothing more160 came crowds enthusiasm led crowds enthusiasm led surge polls especially160 new hampshire160and iowa sanders surge stirred something within 56plusyearold soul 9 years old watched cops assaulting hippies streets chicago 1968 first true political memory knew instinctively side hippies sure prepreadolescent naivety someone surge baby boomers american streets would one day lead nation age aquarius new era would advance civil rights personal freedom putting kibosh foolish wars like vietnam someday never came two baby boomer presidents turned young republican yale cheerleader bush 2 didntinhale middleoftheroad triangulator clinton 1 dream went unfulfilled sanders arrived end 50plus year odyssey tousled grey hair slightly stooped voice grown hoarse fall hit road see traveled sanders rallies160 places like manassas va fans pass phalanx protesters waving confederate flags boston 20000 supporters filled every inch concrete convention hall waited dark frigid park went rural vermont find noelectricity sugar shack sanders retreated mid1960s went veryelectric neon lights las vegas strip climactic faceoff hillary clinton bernies name big video screen might find rickles wayne newton result new ebook160 bern identity search bernie sanders new american dream160 amazon kindle single160 learned lot things surprised things id suspected needed see went brooklyn neighborhood sanders grew cramped secondstory flat kings highway talked phone candidates older brother larry england hes green party activist larry sanders told little brother kid grade school couldnt tell lie even got trouble grew peoples lies drove activism 160 beloved dodgers promising stay brooklyn splitting la falsehoods nixon kennedy told us policy toward cuba third world finally lies nobel laureates ran university chicago claimed falsely universityowned housing wasnt segregated also learned remarkable bond candidate never altered core political values halfcentury new generation voters craving kind authenticity sanders real track record agenda driven pollsters focus groups could provide bond modern roots in160 occupy wall street movement many veterans shortlived 2011 protest determined see real social change make statement getting sanders campaign especially another popular liberal senator elizabeth warren didnt run result enormous crowds boston seattle one thing learned lot mainstream media belong day missing hell story indeed sandernistas met trail reporting160 bern identity160were bitter anything way media seem missing historic nature campaign senator calling democratic socialist winning much mainstream support look like 8minute story 30something attendee boston rally asked referring recent story sanders paltry network airtime gesturing sea humanity people clamoring someone tell truth indeed socalled summer trump extended toward winter medias treatment sanders grew even appalling closer look polls suggests americans wants sanders become 45th president want donald trump yet 160the shortfingered vulgarian manhattan real estate getting 23 times much network news coverage indeed tyndall report conducted analysis found abc featured trump 81 minutes sanders 20 seconds whats fair note trump remains frontrunner fractured gop field sanders continues trail hillary clinton least nationally largely become twoperson race sanders ardent supporters say simply corporate media trying hold someone would shake status quo perhaps veteran journalist think mainly bernie doesnt play game maybe first candidate postreagan era actively shun contrived soundbite day well photo op instead delivers lecture 55orso minute overview americas economic social ills night nightand crowds love even tv producers dont sanders view wacky sounds 2015 speak truth enough masses come around refusal play game bernies partisans love 1969 vermont newsletter called movement sanders wrote revolution coming beautiful revolution next year gil scottheron sang revolution televised 45 years later look like scottheron right really matter doubt sanders would love shock world become americas 45th president shocked world 1981 winning election mayor vermonts largest city socialist six weeks reagans inauguration real battle battle ideas recent trend democratic presidential victories democratic field moving left year everything from160 climate change160to160 trade160to criminal justice could say sanders already winning | 697 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">J. Bicking</a>&#160;|&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Shutterstock.com</a></p>
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<p>Last night, at Chipotle in downtown Cleveland, police officers in bulletproof vests and anarchists wearing “Fuck the Police” t-shirts sat side by side eating from their burrito bowls — looks like both got extra rice and beans — with guacamole and chips. Not that it was all warm and fuzzy. It wasn’t. The police were eyeing the kids as they ate. Had my hand on my phone camera just in case all hell broke loose.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, our press shuttle bus taking us to Quicken Loans Arena was turned back. The security guy tells us that there is a disruption on 9th Street and “out of an abundance of caution” we were turning back.</p>
<p>I get off the bus and walk over to the disturbance to see what’s going on. At the center of the scrum were a group of about five anarchists — maybe the same ones eating dinner at the Chipotle? — standing off with some Trump supporters. That rump group was surrounded by maybe 200 reporters. And they were encircled by a similar number of police, including fifty on bicycles and twenty on horses.</p>
<p>No riots in the streets of Cleveland.</p>
<p>But across the country, a revolt brewing against both parties, with polls showing a majority of Americans opposing the both Trump and Hillary.</p>
<p>The more we see, the less we like.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the elites want us to believe that it’s take Hillary Trump or leave it.</p>
<p>The best Republican campaign slogan is — Not Hillary.</p>
<p>The best Democratic campaign slogan is — Not Trump.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">As Chris Christie puts it</a>— “it’s a binary choice” — it’s going to be either Clinton or Trump.</p>
<p>“Every Republican who is not working for Donald Trump is working for Hillary Clinton,” Christie says.</p>
<p>Democratic liberals — even left liberals — are pushing the same line. Noam Chomsky. Juan Gonzalez. Thomas Frank.</p>
<p>Frank, author of the best seller <a href="" type="internal">What’s the Matter with Kansas?</a> and most recently <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1627795391/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Listen Liberal,</a> appeared on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour and blistered Clinton and both parties.</p>
<p>“Hillary Clinton is a person who is temperamentally and ideologically aligned with the Wall Street way of looking at the world,” Frank says. “She doesn’t agree with Wall Street because they pay her for these speeches. She agrees with them because this is who she is. She is a woman of the meritocracy. She profoundly believes in it.”</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Frank says that he is “probably going to vote for Hillary this fall.”</p>
<p>Nader says — “you are contemplating voting for Hillary, even though you have demolished her record and documented it because obviously you think Trump is even worse and more dangerous and unstable.”</p>
<p>“When she starts another war, when she knuckles under to Wall Street, and you already have voted for her, would you feel complicit in any way?” Nader asks.</p>
<p>“I’ve been voting for a long time,” Frank says. “I would have to feel pretty lousy about a lot of things. I did vote for Obama. I voted for Bill Clinton. Do I feel complicit, or bad when they do bad things. I really don’t.”</p>
<p>“Let’s say you wrote a book denouncing Pepsi and Coke. You would probably recommend another drink,” Nader says. “For Thomas Frank to say to Hillary Clinton — I’m yours take me — there is something oxymoronic about that.”</p>
<p>“I probably will vote for Hillary,” Frank says. “But there is a big asterisk to this. You have two of the worst major party candidates ever. They are both deeply unpopular. The biggest issues of our time are basically off the table. &#160;The middle class of this country is coming apart. The lack of power for workers. The power of Wall Street. Neither one of them is going to address it. Trump talks about it in this kind of bombastic, bigoted way. And Hillary hints at it, but neither one of them is going to do anything about it. This is the moment, if there was ever a need for a third party, this is it.”</p>
<p>“What is Thomas Frank going to do in the next five or ten years?” Nader asks.</p>
<p>“I just went out and invested in a big bottle of bourbon,” Frank says.</p>
<p>That’s the liberal solution in a nutshell — expose the problem, condemn the problem, but vote the problem into office. Then drink away the problem — &#160;and if things get really bad, move out of the country — Vancouver or Nova Scotia are preferred destinations.</p>
<p>“Why not the Green Party?” Nader asks.</p>
<p>Maybe Frank says.</p>
<p>Carol Miller says — maybe not.</p>
<p>Miller was a leader of the Green Party in New Mexico. She’s now supporting the Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Johnson’s running mate if former Massachusetts Governor William Weld.</p>
<p>Johnson is making the rounds here in Cleveland, as <a href="" type="internal">a recent CNN poll puts him at 13 percent</a>, within striking distance of the 15 percent threshold needed to get into the Presidential debates.</p>
<p>Miller ran for Congress twice as a Green. In 1997, she won 17 percent of the vote and in 1998, five percent. She ran again as an independent in 2008 and garnered 15 percent.</p>
<p>Miller became an independent in 2006 and is now disillusioned with the Green Party.</p>
<p>Miller says she was offended when the presumptive Green Party nominee for President, Jill Stein, offered Bernie Sanders the slot at the top of the ticket. Miller believes that the Greens will cave to Democratic Party pressure and run a safe states strategy — campaign only in safe Democratic or Republican states and not challenge for power.</p>
<p>“Jill Stein will never say it, but many Greens nationally have that attitude,” Miller said.</p>
<p>“Many of the Greens see themselves as a pressure group on the Democratic Party, rather than as an independent political party,” Miller says. “Many of the Greens I know here want to build a party the way it has internationally been built — without being yo-yoed back and forth based on what the Democrats are doing.”</p>
<p>Miller is concerned that this year, the national Green Party will cave to the Democrats.</p>
<p>“Gary Johnson is going to do very well here in New Mexico,” Miller says. “The fact is that the Libertarian Party is serious, worked very hard to get on all 50 states. (The Greens won’t be on all 50 state ballots.) &#160;I agree with Johnson’s anti-war policies. The most unregulated entity in government is the Pentagon. Nobody is talking about that. There is no anti-war platform coming out of the Democrats. The Republicans are promoting more wars.”</p>
<p>“The Green Party in New Mexico and nationally was so divisive,” Miller said. “It never established itself as a permanent party. It was like a yo yo. You could never imagine trying to convince people to vote Green Party.”</p>
<p>“Very few of the Greens were committed to grassroots community organizing — actually being out where people are,” Miller said. “It was too insular. It was like talking to yourself at every meeting.</p>
<p>“Other community organizations here host food banks, organize anti-war speakers, do other activities in the community that were real. The Greens mostly met and argued and turned off a lot of people who came to the Green Party.”</p>
<p>“I haven’t found people who want to do the hard work,” Miller says. “Much of the Green Party platform is rhetoric without a plan. Gary Johnson took a stand on legalizing drugs in New Mexico and had cabinet officials quit his administration. The Republican Party rejected him. He didn’t bend to that kind of pressure. He insisted on holding public meetings. He acted on his idea. I don’t know Jill Stein.”</p>
<p>But Miller is involved with The Peaceful Skies Coalition — which is organizing to stop the Air Force &#160;from creating a Low Altitude Training Area (LATA) for military training flights over the skies of New Mexico and Colorado. Miller says that the Peaceful Skies Coalition approached Jill Stein and never got a response.</p>
<p>And she likes Johnson’s stand on ending military interventions abroad.</p>
<p>“And then, when it comes to terrorism, there is a very real terrorist threat,” Johnson told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now earlier this year. “But the fact that we put boots on the ground, the fact that troops are on the ground, the fact that we drop bombs, the fact that we’re flying drones and killing thousands of innocent people, I think that that is making the situation worse, not better. The unintended consequence of taking out Saddam Hussein, who was the check when it came to Iran—we take out Saddam Hussein, we cut off the head of the hydra, and, lo and behold, now we have Iran to deal with. But it’s on and on and on, when it comes to the unintended consequences of our military interventions.”</p> | true | 4 | j bicking160160 shutterstockcom 160 last night chipotle downtown cleveland police officers bulletproof vests anarchists wearing fuck police tshirts sat side side eating burrito bowls looks like got extra rice beans guacamole chips warm fuzzy wasnt police eyeing kids ate hand phone camera case hell broke loose earlier day press shuttle bus taking us quicken loans arena turned back security guy tells us disruption 9th street abundance caution turning back get bus walk disturbance see whats going center scrum group five anarchists maybe ones eating dinner chipotle standing trump supporters rump group surrounded maybe 200 reporters encircled similar number police including fifty bicycles twenty horses riots streets cleveland across country revolt brewing parties polls showing majority americans opposing trump hillary see less like unfortunately elites want us believe take hillary trump leave best republican campaign slogan hillary best democratic campaign slogan trump chris christie puts binary choice going either clinton trump every republican working donald trump working hillary clinton christie says democratic liberals even left liberals pushing line noam chomsky juan gonzalez thomas frank frank author best seller whats matter kansas recently listen liberal appeared ralph nader radio hour blistered clinton parties hillary clinton person temperamentally ideologically aligned wall street way looking world frank says doesnt agree wall street pay speeches agrees woman meritocracy profoundly believes nonetheless frank says probably going vote hillary fall nader says contemplating voting hillary even though demolished record documented obviously think trump even worse dangerous unstable starts another war knuckles wall street already voted would feel complicit way nader asks ive voting long time frank says would feel pretty lousy lot things vote obama voted bill clinton feel complicit bad bad things really dont lets say wrote book denouncing pepsi coke would probably recommend another drink nader says thomas frank say hillary clinton im take something oxymoronic probably vote hillary frank says big asterisk two worst major party candidates ever deeply unpopular biggest issues time basically table 160the middle class country coming apart lack power workers power wall street neither one going address trump talks kind bombastic bigoted way hillary hints neither one going anything moment ever need third party thomas frank going next five ten years nader asks went invested big bottle bourbon frank says thats liberal solution nutshell expose problem condemn problem vote problem office drink away problem 160and things get really bad move country vancouver nova scotia preferred destinations green party nader asks maybe frank says carol miller says maybe miller leader green party new mexico shes supporting libertarian candidate former new mexico governor gary johnson johnsons running mate former massachusetts governor william weld johnson making rounds cleveland recent cnn poll puts 13 percent within striking distance 15 percent threshold needed get presidential debates miller ran congress twice green 1997 17 percent vote 1998 five percent ran independent 2008 garnered 15 percent miller became independent 2006 disillusioned green party miller says offended presumptive green party nominee president jill stein offered bernie sanders slot top ticket miller believes greens cave democratic party pressure run safe states strategy campaign safe democratic republican states challenge power jill stein never say many greens nationally attitude miller said many greens see pressure group democratic party rather independent political party miller says many greens know want build party way internationally built without yoyoed back forth based democrats miller concerned year national green party cave democrats gary johnson going well new mexico miller says fact libertarian party serious worked hard get 50 states greens wont 50 state ballots 160i agree johnsons antiwar policies unregulated entity government pentagon nobody talking antiwar platform coming democrats republicans promoting wars green party new mexico nationally divisive miller said never established permanent party like yo yo could never imagine trying convince people vote green party greens committed grassroots community organizing actually people miller said insular like talking every meeting community organizations host food banks organize antiwar speakers activities community real greens mostly met argued turned lot people came green party havent found people want hard work miller says much green party platform rhetoric without plan gary johnson took stand legalizing drugs new mexico cabinet officials quit administration republican party rejected didnt bend kind pressure insisted holding public meetings acted idea dont know jill stein miller involved peaceful skies coalition organizing stop air force 160from creating low altitude training area lata military training flights skies new mexico colorado miller says peaceful skies coalition approached jill stein never got response likes johnsons stand ending military interventions abroad comes terrorism real terrorist threat johnson told amy goodman democracy earlier year fact put boots ground fact troops ground fact drop bombs fact flying drones killing thousands innocent people think making situation worse better unintended consequence taking saddam hussein check came iranwe take saddam hussein cut head hydra lo behold iran deal comes unintended consequences military interventions | 797 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Whatever else the US intended when it invaded Iraq in 2003 it was not to hand power to an Islamic militant in a black turban who denounces Washington and Israel in the same breath. The claim by two American officials yesterday that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia nationalist cleric, has left for Iran is a measure of how far the US would like to see him out of the Iraqi political scene.</p>
<p>Allegations by US officials in Baghdad have little credibility after almost four years in which they have been repeatedly exposed as untrue. Supporters of Muqtada immediately denied that he was in Iran and either refused to say where he was or asserted that he was in the Shia holy city of Najaf. He has every reason to keep his location a secret, since in the past the US military has said it will either kill or capture him if it can. Two of his most important aides have been killed in mysterious circumstances in the past week.</p>
<p>We may be close to a final confrontation between the US and Muqtada, perhaps the most important political figure in Iraq. The US and Iraqi governments are starting their much-heralded campaign to regain control of Baghdad from the Sunni insurgents and Shia militias, of which the most important is Muqtada’s 70,000-strong Mehdi Army. Iraq’s borders with Iran have been closed for 72 hours.</p>
<p>Muqtada himself has no doubt that he is under threat. In an interview in January he said: “I have moved my family to a safe place. I have even made a will and I continually move around so they have trouble knowing exactly where I am.” He has been trying to avoid becoming a US target. He plays down his own strength. Asked about claims that the army and police are infiltrated by his men, Muqtada said the reverse was true and “it is our militias [that] are swarming with spies. It doesn’t take much to infiltrate the army of the people.” He denies that the death squads killing Sunni are really members of the Mehdi Army.</p>
<p>Probably, Muqtada and the men around him believe that if he can avoid a direct clash with the US army then he will win in the end. His popularity among the Shia is great. In the past few weeks his men have stopped carrying their weapons so openly in the streets and have closed a number of their offices in Baghdad. But the militiamen are seldom far away. In Sadr City they have only retreated deeper into the vast shanty town of two million people that is the greatest bastion of Sadrist support.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The rise of Muqtada has been one of the surprises of the four years since the US invaded. Saddam Hussein must have been astonished as he went to his execution to hear the name: “Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqatada!” shouted by jeering onlookers. Had Saddam realised the potential of this strange, enigmatic young man before the invasion then he would doubtless have killed him, as he did Muqtada’s father and two of his brothers eight years ago.</p>
<p>It is difficult to avoid Muqtada’s presence in Baghdad. Dressed in his dark clerical robes, he peers menacingly from posters on thousands of walls. His Mehdi Army militiamen control not only Sadr City but much of the capital and southern Iraq. He is an essential prop to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which six ministers belong to his movement.</p>
<p>Yet the source of his power has remained a mystery to the US and many Iraqi politicians. Few men have been so consistently underestimated. He is not a great orator, nor does he have huge charisma. His movement has limited resources. Until recently, his militiamen were unpaid and provided their own weapons. He does not have a powerful foreign backer. In spite of US efforts to link him to Iran and claim that he has fled there, he and his movement have traditionally been suspicious of the Iranians, and they of him.</p>
<p>The real source of his vast influence among the Shia of Iraq – the Sunni see him as orchestrating the death squads that have killed so many of them – is that he promulgates a blend of religion and nationalism that they find deeply attractive. He comes from the deeply revered Sadr clerical family that provided so many martyrs under Saddam Hussein. Some American commanders may wonder if it is wise for the US to pick a fight with a religious leader regarded with cult-like devotion by millions of Shias. They may also reflect that he is not just popular with the poor masses of Shia Iraq – his picture also hangs on the wall in many Iraqi police stations and army barracks. Some of these will be the very people on whom US and Iraqi commanders will rely in order to regain control of Baghdad.</p>
<p>It is impossible to explain Iraq today without understanding the reasons behind the astonishing rise of Muqtada al-Sadr and his movement in less than four years. Muqtada appears to have come from nowhere. In reality, he is heir to a social and political movement with a history that stretches back almost half a century. In addition, he could not have become so powerful so fast had he not come from a family that provided some of the most revered leaders of the Shiah clergy in their long and bitter struggle with Saddam Hussein.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The most common poster of the Sadrist movement shows three men in black clerical garb with an Iraqi flag behind them. The first figure is Muqtada himself. The second is of his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, assassinated along with two of his sons on the orders of Saddam outside Najaf in January 1999. The third is of Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, a distant cousin and father-in-law of Muqtada, a revolutionary Shia who was executed together with his sister in 1980. The poster perfectly illustrates the blend of religion and nationalism that has made Sadrism so potent.</p>
<p>The Sadrist movement, of which Muqtada is the current leader, was founded by Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr. It was he who sought to interpret Shia Islam and organise its adherents in the 1950s and 1960s in order to oppose the powerful Iraqi Communist Party and the nationalist Baath Party. He helped to establish the Shia religious party al-Dawa to counter secularism. At first, Baqir seemed to be leading a doomed attempt to revive Shia Islam to struggle with the problems of the modern age. He moved away from the traditional political quietism of the Hawza, the Shia religious hierarchy in Iraq, towards finding answers to the central questions of political and economic life. Like so many other Shia religious leaders, he did not lack courage. Even when the Baathists were at the height of their power and notorious for their cruelty, Baqir refused to bow to them. In a famous saying he vowed that: “If my little finger were Baathist I would cut it off.” Saddam Hussein, particularly frightened of insurgent Islam after the triumph of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, struck back. In 1980 he killed Baqir, his sister and hundreds of his followers.</p>
<p>But the Sadrist movement did not die. Iraq’s Shia community, 60 per cent of Iraq’s population, became increasingly conscious of their identity as Saddam Hussein blundered into the war with Iran and then invaded Kuwait. In 1991 he crushed the great Shia uprising and began to look for a Shia religious leader whom he could co-opt. In a move he would come to regret, he chose Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a pupil and cousin of Baqir and father of Muqtada, for this role.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, given the US allegations yesterday, Saddam’s regime was attracted by Sadiq because he was anti-American and distant from Iran. But it swiftly became alarmed when he launched a mass movement aimed at addressing the immediate concerns of the impoverished Shia masses that criticised the old religious hierarchy as remote and cut off from day-to-day life.</p>
<p>A famous story is told of Sadiq illustrating his concern for ordinary Iraqis. A man looking for a religious leader to follow asked each of them the price of tomatoes. Some, more accustomed to being queried about esoteric religious matters, were offended by such a mundane question. The exception was Sadiq, who gave a full response, detailing the prices of different types of tomato. The man departed satisfied, saying he had at last found a religious leader who knew about life as it was really lived by Iraqis. He said: “I choose the one who knows my suffering, who is close to the poor and the disinherited.” The latter class of Iraqis was more numerous in Iraq in the 1990s as the economy suffered under the weight of sanctions.</p>
<p>Secularism, discredited by Saddam’s failures, was on the retreat and Islam was resurgent. Sadiq spoke for the newly impoverished Shia masses. But his discourse was also patriotic, opposed to foreign interference in Iraq, whether it came from the US or Iran. He called for Sunni and Shia unity. He would often begin his sermons with the refrain: “No, no to America; no, no, to Israel; no, no to the Devil.”</p>
<p>His strength was – and this is also true of his son Muqtada – that he expressed the feelings of the Shia poor. A study of Muqtada by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group says: “The relatively well-to-do, urbanised, educated or commercial classes eyed him wearily, viewing his plebeian, militant Shiism as a source of instability and a threat to their interests.” Sadiq even called on Saddam himself to repent. He wore the shroud of those who expect to die, and with reason. It became clear to the Iraqi leader that he was a nurturing an increasingly dangerous enemy. He reacted violently, as he invariably did against opponents, and ordered his security men to ambush Sadiq and his sons in their car as they drove through the holy city of Najaf. As news of their death spread, it sparked the most serious riots seen in Iraq between the uprising of 1991 and the invasion of 2003.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Muqtada was not necessarily the natural political and religious heir to Sadiq. He was his father’s fourth son, and 25 years old when Sadiq was killed (assuming that Muqtada’s official birth date of 1974 is correct). He was under surveillance by Saddam’s security men – perhaps the most suspicious men on earth – but they concluded he was harmless.</p>
<p>Muqtada had hidden strengths. Most importantly, there was a large constituency of Iraqis waiting to embrace him. In April 2003, as Baghdad fell, he instantly stepped forward to fill a vacuum. Nobody else was offering to lead the young, poorly educated, violent but devout Shia masses. Their ferocious looting of Baghdad was a sign of their rage towards the powers that be. They, like him, were suspicious of the conciliatory Shia religious hierarchy in Najaf and the Iraqi exiles returning from London and New York courtesy of the US army. Muqtada represented those who hated Saddam, and were grateful that he was deposed, but did not want to replace him with a foreign occupation.</p>
<p>Muqtada’s influence quickly became apparent. On 11 April, in his first Friday prayer sermon, he called on the faithful to walk as pilgrims to Karbala to commemorate Arba’in, the ritual commemorating 40 days’ mourning for the death of Imam Hussein. Absorbed by the fall of Saddam, few observers noted the significance of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis walking for days to Karbala waving their black and green flags.</p>
<p>Muqtada’s followers had already demonstrated a more menacing side to their movement: a willingness to use violence against their enemies, real or imagined. Sayed Majid al-Khoei, a liberal-minded and very able Shia leader, the son of the Grand Ayatollah al-Khoei, had returned early to Najaf. He had offered forgiveness to those officials who had been compelled to cooperate with Saddam Hussein. On 10 April he took Haider al-Killidar, the administrator of the great golden domed shrine of Imam Ali, back to his offices. They were soon trapped by an angry crowd, many of whom were allegedly followers of Muqtada. Shots were fired. Sayed Majid was dragged from the shrine and knifed to death in the street.</p>
<p>The policy of the Shia hierarchy, notably Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and of the previously exiled religious parties, al-Dawa and SCIRI, was not to oppose the US occupation but to use it to enable the Shia to take power. They pressed the US envoy Paul Bremer to hold elections that the Shia were bound to win.</p>
<p>Muqtada’s line was different. He opposed the occupation from the beginning. His father, Sadiq, had blamed the US for sanctions that had brought the Iraqi poor to the edge of starvation. His son was no less hostile. He denounced the members of the Iraqi Governing Council, which the Shia religious parties joined, as pawns of America.</p>
<p>Not all was plain sailing. The Mehdi Army, his militia, was only a shadowy force. The first Sadrist demonstration I attended in October 2003 in the heart of Sadr City was well organised, but only 3,000 people took part. It was easy to underestimate the potential of his movement, which Paul Bremer, the head of the ruling Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), blindly proceeded to do. He toyed with the idea of arresting Muqtada. Meanwhile, the occupation was becoming ever more unpopular. It failed to provide security, economic reconstruction or democratic elections. The 70 per cent of Iraqis who were unemployed before the invasion still had no jobs.</p>
<p>The confrontation with the CPA happened almost by accident. Muqtada delivered a sermon describing the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York as “a miracle and a blessing from God”. This was reprinted in the Sadrist newspaper al Hawza. Bremer told one of his staff: “Close down the rag.” Within days, Sadr City and the whole of southern Iraq was in flames as the Mehdi Army – armed, enthusiastic but untrained young men – took over the streets.</p>
<p>One of the cities seized by the militiamen was Kufa, on the Euphrates and a short distance from Najaf. Soon Muqtada and his militiamen were being besieged by 2,500 US soldiers. Here I had a nasty brush with the Mehdi Army. The incident helped explain why so many Iraqis are terrified by these black-clad militiamen.</p>
<p>I was sitting in the back of a car wearing a red and white headress, or keffiyeh, primarily so that I wouldn’t be recognised as a foreigner in the tough Sunni insurgent towns on the road to Najaf. We stopped at checkpoint manned by the Mehdi Army. The Keffiyeh turned out to be a bad idea. The militiamen recognised me as an obvious Westerner. They started shouting that I was an American. They were clutching their Kalashnikovs and I did not think it would take much for them to kill us all.</p>
<p>Finally they jumped into our car, clutching their weapons, and told us to follow another car full of militiamen to their headquarters in the main mosque in Kufa. Once there they became less aggressive. They offered me a cigarette, and, although I had given up smoking some years before, it seemed unwise to refuse. They leafed through a copy of The New Yorker and muttered “haram (forbidden)” when they saw a cartoon of a woman in a low-cut blouse. All the militiamen came from Sadr City and said that they were quite willing to die for Muqtada.</p>
<p>In a military sense, Muqtada and his militiamen lost their confrontations with the US army in April and again in August 2004. Many Iraqis blamed them for the destruction in Najaf. But at the same time the Sadrists had survived and shown their strength. Muqtada demonstrated he was one of the central figures in Iraqi politics and he had also learned to avoid, if at all possible, direct military conflict with the US.</p>
<p>The following year Muqtada showed his political muscle. While still denouncing the occupation, he took part in the political process. He joined the Shia political front, the United Iraqi Alliance, which triumphed in the general elections in January and December 2005. In the second election he won 32 out of 275 seats in parliament, thus giving him veto power over the choice of prime minister. There are six Sadrist ministers running departments including health and transport. All were soon stocked with supporters of Muqtada.</p>
<p>In 2006, the Mehdi Army extended its grip into most Shia areas in Baghdad. After the attack on the Shia al-Askari shrine on 22 February there were nationwide pogroms of the Sunni. Mixed neighbourhoods began to disappear. Shia who did not like the Mehdi Army welcomed them because they were desperate for armed men from their own community to protect them from death squads and suicide bombers. They were also central to the operation of the death squads killing Sunni where ever they found them.</p>
<p>By now, all Shia gunmen were being called Mehdi Army by the Sunni. Muqtada said, defensively, that many of them were not under his control. This was probably correct but he did not try to rein them in. It was also true, though, that by early 2007 all the Shia militias, whatever they said in public, were intent on taking over Baghdad and driving the Sunni into the south-west quadrant of the city.</p>
<p>Probably it would be wiser for the US to include Muqtada in the political process. He has far more legitimacy among the Shia masses than many of the former exiles whom the US would like to see in power. Accomodating and controlling Muqtada and the great numbers of Iraqis he represents is essential to stabilising Iraq, but instead the US seems intent on trying to marginalise or eliminate him.</p>
<p>Even if they succeed it will do them little good. The Sadrist movement has surived many years of adversity before under Saddam. The Shia masses are not going to allow themselves to be robbed of power which they believe rightly belongs to them. By driving Muqtada into a corner, the US is forcing him to rely more and more on Iran, though it is unlikely that he has fled there.</p>
<p>President Bush shows no sign of learning from his failures in Iraq since 2003. For almost four years he has been fighting the Sunni community. Now, by confronting Muqtada, he is moving towards armed conflict with the Shia as well.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for best non-fiction book of 2006.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 whatever else us intended invaded iraq 2003 hand power islamic militant black turban denounces washington israel breath claim two american officials yesterday muqtada alsadr radical shia nationalist cleric left iran measure far us would like see iraqi political scene allegations us officials baghdad little credibility almost four years repeatedly exposed untrue supporters muqtada immediately denied iran either refused say asserted shia holy city najaf every reason keep location secret since past us military said either kill capture two important aides killed mysterious circumstances past week may close final confrontation us muqtada perhaps important political figure iraq us iraqi governments starting muchheralded campaign regain control baghdad sunni insurgents shia militias important muqtadas 70000strong mehdi army iraqs borders iran closed 72 hours muqtada doubt threat interview january said moved family safe place even made continually move around trouble knowing exactly trying avoid becoming us target plays strength asked claims army police infiltrated men muqtada said reverse true militias swarming spies doesnt take much infiltrate army people denies death squads killing sunni really members mehdi army probably muqtada men around believe avoid direct clash us army win end popularity among shia great past weeks men stopped carrying weapons openly streets closed number offices baghdad militiamen seldom far away sadr city retreated deeper vast shanty town two million people greatest bastion sadrist support rise muqtada one surprises four years since us invaded saddam hussein must astonished went execution hear name muqtada muqtada muqatada shouted jeering onlookers saddam realised potential strange enigmatic young man invasion would doubtless killed muqtadas father two brothers eight years ago difficult avoid muqtadas presence baghdad dressed dark clerical robes peers menacingly posters thousands walls mehdi army militiamen control sadr city much capital southern iraq essential prop government prime minister nouri almaliki six ministers belong movement yet source power remained mystery us many iraqi politicians men consistently underestimated great orator huge charisma movement limited resources recently militiamen unpaid provided weapons powerful foreign backer spite us efforts link iran claim fled movement traditionally suspicious iranians real source vast influence among shia iraq sunni see orchestrating death squads killed many promulgates blend religion nationalism find deeply attractive comes deeply revered sadr clerical family provided many martyrs saddam hussein american commanders may wonder wise us pick fight religious leader regarded cultlike devotion millions shias may also reflect popular poor masses shia iraq picture also hangs wall many iraqi police stations army barracks people us iraqi commanders rely order regain control baghdad impossible explain iraq today without understanding reasons behind astonishing rise muqtada alsadr movement less four years muqtada appears come nowhere reality heir social political movement history stretches back almost half century addition could become powerful fast come family provided revered leaders shiah clergy long bitter struggle saddam hussein common poster sadrist movement shows three men black clerical garb iraqi flag behind first figure muqtada second father mohammed sadiq alsadr assassinated along two sons orders saddam outside najaf january 1999 third mohammed baqir alsadr distant cousin fatherinlaw muqtada revolutionary shia executed together sister 1980 poster perfectly illustrates blend religion nationalism made sadrism potent sadrist movement muqtada current leader founded mohammed baqir alsadr sought interpret shia islam organise adherents 1950s 1960s order oppose powerful iraqi communist party nationalist baath party helped establish shia religious party aldawa counter secularism first baqir seemed leading doomed attempt revive shia islam struggle problems modern age moved away traditional political quietism hawza shia religious hierarchy iraq towards finding answers central questions political economic life like many shia religious leaders lack courage even baathists height power notorious cruelty baqir refused bow famous saying vowed little finger baathist would cut saddam hussein particularly frightened insurgent islam triumph ayatollah khomeini iran struck back 1980 killed baqir sister hundreds followers sadrist movement die iraqs shia community 60 per cent iraqs population became increasingly conscious identity saddam hussein blundered war iran invaded kuwait 1991 crushed great shia uprising began look shia religious leader could coopt move would come regret chose mohammed sadiq alsadr pupil cousin baqir father muqtada role paradoxically given us allegations yesterday saddams regime attracted sadiq antiamerican distant iran swiftly became alarmed launched mass movement aimed addressing immediate concerns impoverished shia masses criticised old religious hierarchy remote cut daytoday life famous story told sadiq illustrating concern ordinary iraqis man looking religious leader follow asked price tomatoes accustomed queried esoteric religious matters offended mundane question exception sadiq gave full response detailing prices different types tomato man departed satisfied saying last found religious leader knew life really lived iraqis said choose one knows suffering close poor disinherited latter class iraqis numerous iraq 1990s economy suffered weight sanctions secularism discredited saddams failures retreat islam resurgent sadiq spoke newly impoverished shia masses discourse also patriotic opposed foreign interference iraq whether came us iran called sunni shia unity would often begin sermons refrain america israel devil strength also true son muqtada expressed feelings shia poor study muqtada brusselsbased international crisis group says relatively welltodo urbanised educated commercial classes eyed wearily viewing plebeian militant shiism source instability threat interests sadiq even called saddam repent wore shroud expect die reason became clear iraqi leader nurturing increasingly dangerous enemy reacted violently invariably opponents ordered security men ambush sadiq sons car drove holy city najaf news death spread sparked serious riots seen iraq uprising 1991 invasion 2003 muqtada necessarily natural political religious heir sadiq fathers fourth son 25 years old sadiq killed assuming muqtadas official birth date 1974 correct surveillance saddams security men perhaps suspicious men earth concluded harmless muqtada hidden strengths importantly large constituency iraqis waiting embrace april 2003 baghdad fell instantly stepped forward fill vacuum nobody else offering lead young poorly educated violent devout shia masses ferocious looting baghdad sign rage towards powers like suspicious conciliatory shia religious hierarchy najaf iraqi exiles returning london new york courtesy us army muqtada represented hated saddam grateful deposed want replace foreign occupation muqtadas influence quickly became apparent 11 april first friday prayer sermon called faithful walk pilgrims karbala commemorate arbain ritual commemorating 40 days mourning death imam hussein absorbed fall saddam observers noted significance hundreds thousands iraqis walking days karbala waving black green flags muqtadas followers already demonstrated menacing side movement willingness use violence enemies real imagined sayed majid alkhoei liberalminded able shia leader son grand ayatollah alkhoei returned early najaf offered forgiveness officials compelled cooperate saddam hussein 10 april took haider alkillidar administrator great golden domed shrine imam ali back offices soon trapped angry crowd many allegedly followers muqtada shots fired sayed majid dragged shrine knifed death street policy shia hierarchy notably grand ayatollah ali alsistani previously exiled religious parties aldawa sciri oppose us occupation use enable shia take power pressed us envoy paul bremer hold elections shia bound win muqtadas line different opposed occupation beginning father sadiq blamed us sanctions brought iraqi poor edge starvation son less hostile denounced members iraqi governing council shia religious parties joined pawns america plain sailing mehdi army militia shadowy force first sadrist demonstration attended october 2003 heart sadr city well organised 3000 people took part easy underestimate potential movement paul bremer head ruling coalition provisional authority cpa blindly proceeded toyed idea arresting muqtada meanwhile occupation becoming ever unpopular failed provide security economic reconstruction democratic elections 70 per cent iraqis unemployed invasion still jobs confrontation cpa happened almost accident muqtada delivered sermon describing 911 attack world trade center new york miracle blessing god reprinted sadrist newspaper al hawza bremer told one staff close rag within days sadr city whole southern iraq flames mehdi army armed enthusiastic untrained young men took streets one cities seized militiamen kufa euphrates short distance najaf soon muqtada militiamen besieged 2500 us soldiers nasty brush mehdi army incident helped explain many iraqis terrified blackclad militiamen sitting back car wearing red white headress keffiyeh primarily wouldnt recognised foreigner tough sunni insurgent towns road najaf stopped checkpoint manned mehdi army keffiyeh turned bad idea militiamen recognised obvious westerner started shouting american clutching kalashnikovs think would take much kill us finally jumped car clutching weapons told us follow another car full militiamen headquarters main mosque kufa became less aggressive offered cigarette although given smoking years seemed unwise refuse leafed copy new yorker muttered haram forbidden saw cartoon woman lowcut blouse militiamen came sadr city said quite willing die muqtada military sense muqtada militiamen lost confrontations us army april august 2004 many iraqis blamed destruction najaf time sadrists survived shown strength muqtada demonstrated one central figures iraqi politics also learned avoid possible direct military conflict us following year muqtada showed political muscle still denouncing occupation took part political process joined shia political front united iraqi alliance triumphed general elections january december 2005 second election 32 275 seats parliament thus giving veto power choice prime minister six sadrist ministers running departments including health transport soon stocked supporters muqtada 2006 mehdi army extended grip shia areas baghdad attack shia alaskari shrine 22 february nationwide pogroms sunni mixed neighbourhoods began disappear shia like mehdi army welcomed desperate armed men community protect death squads suicide bombers also central operation death squads killing sunni ever found shia gunmen called mehdi army sunni muqtada said defensively many control probably correct try rein also true though early 2007 shia militias whatever said public intent taking baghdad driving sunni southwest quadrant city probably would wiser us include muqtada political process far legitimacy among shia masses many former exiles us would like see power accomodating controlling muqtada great numbers iraqis represents essential stabilising iraq instead us seems intent trying marginalise eliminate even succeed little good sadrist movement surived many years adversity saddam shia masses going allow robbed power believe rightly belongs driving muqtada corner us forcing rely iran though unlikely fled president bush shows sign learning failures iraq since 2003 almost four years fighting sunni community confronting muqtada moving towards armed conflict shia well patrick cockburn author occupation war resistance daily life iraq finalist national book critics circle award best nonfiction book 2006 160 | 1,640 |
<p>The idea has been floated and endlessly reintroduced in legislation since the founding of the United States of creating a Department of Peace. These efforts even resulted in 1986 in the creation of the USI”P” — the U.S. Institute of “Peace” which this week held events with Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, Madeleine Albright, Chuck Hagel, William Perry, Stephen Hadley, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Susan Rice, John Kerry, and Michael Flynn, and which in 2015 rejected <a href="" type="internal">proposals</a> from the peace movement to have anything to do with advocating for peace. So the push to create a Department of Peace rolls on, generally ignoring the existence of the USI”P.”</p>
<p>I try to imagine what a senate confirmation hearing would look like for a nominee for Secretary of Peace. I picture the nominee being rolled in by his attendants and the questioning beginning something like this:</p>
<p>“General Smith, thank you for your service. What year was it, do you recall, that you designed your first missile, and was that prior to or following the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk? Thank you for your service, by the way.”</p>
<p>“Senator, it was that very same day, and to — cough! — excuse me, to give full credit there was a colored boy who helped me do it. Now what was his name?”</p>
<p>But the trick is to imagine a nominee mistakenly or magically chosen who would actually be qualified for the job. Now I imagine him or her walking into the hearing room. Some of the questioning might go like this:</p>
<p>“Ms. Jones, what do you think ought to have been done when the Russians invaded Ukraine and stole Crimea?”</p>
<p>“I think a U.S. Russian meeting with the following as the top 10 items on the U.S. agenda:</p>
<p>1. Recognition of Russian suffering during World War II, including understanding of the impact of the years-long U.S. delay while they died by the tens of millions.</p>
<p>2. Appreciation for Russia’s agreement on German reunification along with the U.S. commitment at that time not to expand NATO as it has gone ahead and done.</p>
<p>3. Apology for facilitating a violent coup in Kiev, and commitment to refraining from all constraint on Ukrainian self-determination.</p>
<p>4. A proposal to withdraw U.S. troops and weapons from all of Europe, to disband NATO, to end foreign arms sales and gifts, and to abolish U.S. nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>5. A request that Russia reciprocate.</p>
<p>6. A plan for a new, internationally monitored, vote in Crimea on whether to rejoin Russia.</p>
<p>7. A . . . “</p>
<p>“Ms. Jones, you might wish to surrender to the forces of evil, but I have no intention of supporting such measures. Ms. Jones, have you or anyone in your family ever served your country in the United States military?”</p>
<p>The real trick, however, would be to imagine a qualified nominee and a qualified senate. Then we might get:</p>
<p>“Mr. Garcia, what steps would you advocate to reduce the use of war?”</p>
<p>“Senator, we might begin by ceasing to arm the poor countries where all the wars take place but where none of the weapons are manufactured. The U.S. is the top arms dealer in the world and along with five other countries accounts for the vast majority of it. When weapons sales rise, violence follows. Similarly, the record is clear that when the United States spends its own money on militarism, more wars — not fewer — result. We need a program of transition from violent industries to peaceful industries, which is good for the economy and the environment as well. And we need a program of transition from hostile foreign policy to one of cooperation and aid. We could become the most loved country in the world by providing the planet with schools and tools and clean energy for a fraction of what we spend now on a vicious cycle of armament and war that makes us less safe, not more secure.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Garcia, I’d like to see you confirmed. I hope you’re celibate and willing at least to pretend to be religious, because even in this fantasy you are still dealing with the United States Senate after all.”</p>
<p>A fantasy it may be, but I am inclined to consider it a valuable one. That is to say, we ought to be encouraging everyone we can to imagine what it would be like to have a Department of Peace, even though the current U.S. government would turn such a Department into a blood-soaked Orwellian travesty. In years gone by I agreed to be named “Secretary of Peace” in the Green Shadow Cabinet. But we never did much with it. I think a whole shadow Department of Peace should be modeling sane alternatives to actual government policy, expanding the range of actual corporate media debate. This is in some ways what we try to do at <a href="" type="internal">World Beyond War</a>.</p>
<p>I recommend a small book, edited by William Benzon, called We Need a Department of Peace: Everybody’s Business, Nobody’s Job. That slogan refers to the idea that we all have a powerful interest in peace, but we don’t have anybody working on it — at least not in the way in which we have millions of people employed with public dollars in the pursuit of more wars. The book collects statements advocating for a Department of Peace over many years, beginning with Benjamin Rush’s 1793 “Plan of a Peace-Office for the United States,” which was published by Benjamin Banneker.</p>
<p>Some of these pieces of writing date from periods in which people could claim that Christianity is the only peaceful religion or that there is no organized opposition to a Department of Peace or that only bringing peoples under a larger empire can establish peace — or could quote Abraham Lincoln arguing for war as an inspirational message for peace. Most of this stuff can be mentally updated as you read, because the basic wisdom of establishing an office to pursue peace is only strengthened when one reads it in voices from other cultural perspectives.</p>
<p>There is, however, a sticking point for me that doesn’t seem to slide off so easily. The authors of this book maintain that the State Department and the War (or “Defense”) Department both serve good useful purposes that should coexist alongside a Department of Peace. They propose dividing duties. For example, the State Department could form bilateral agreements, and the Peace Department multilateral agreements. But if the Department of Peace asks a nation to sign a disarmament treaty, and the Department of State asks that nation to buy U.S.-made weapons, isn’t there a conflict? And all the more so, if the Department of War bombs a country while the Department of State is sending it doctors, isn’t there a contradiction to be found in the coffins shipped back containing doctors’ bodies?</p>
<p>Now, I’m not arguing that paradise on earth must be achieved before a Department of Peace can be created. If a President had eight advisors urging her to bomb a village, it would be significant for there to be a ninth urging food and medicine instead. But in such a situation, an advocate for peace would be like an ombudsman or an inspector general informing an institution of its crimes and offenses and available alternatives as it went along. A Department of Peace releasing a plan for sane productive action would resemble the Washington Post releasing an account of its deceptions and distortions. Both would be odd footnotes. But both might do some good and might hurry the arrival of that day when honest journalism and foreign policy without murder become mainstream in halls of power.</p>
<p>One way for a Department of Peace to not be at odds with a Department of War is to turn “peace” into something other than an alternative to war. For whatever combination of reasons, that’s a lot of what we find in current <a href="" type="internal">advocacy</a> for a Peace Department (not to mention in the rest of the peace movement): peace in your heart, no bullying in schools, restorative justice in court systems, etc. — most of it wonderful stuff tangentially related to ridding the world of war. We also find well-meaning <a href="" type="internal">support</a> for generally pro-war measures, such as the presidential creation of an “atrocities prevention board” that will seek to identify non-U.S. atrocities to be dealt with by the U.S. government, including the Department of War.</p>
<p>The Department of Peace proposed in current <a href="" type="internal">legislation</a> has been subtly changed into a <a href="" type="internal">Department of Peace Building</a> that, according to its advocates would:</p>
<p>* Provide much-needed assistance to efforts by city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs; as well as develop new programs based on best practices nationally</p>
<p>* Teach violence prevention and mediation to America’s school children</p>
<p>* Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology</p>
<p>* Rehabilitate the prison population</p>
<p>* Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad</p>
<p>* Support our military with complementary approaches to peacebuilding. [Try to read that aloud with a straight face.]</p>
<p>* Create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy.</p>
<p>I think Benjamin Rush’s proposal was far superior to what it has gradually evolved into — and it involved ladies in white robes singing hymns. But it also suggested a real alternative to the military madness that has engulfed the U.S. government. Of course I’d say yes, rather than no, to passage of the above bill. But it presents the duties of the Secretary of Peace as principally advising, not the president but the Secretaries of “Defense” and State. That’s a step in the right direction. But so, I think, is working to inform people of what a real Department of Peace might do.</p> | true | 4 | idea floated endlessly reintroduced legislation since founding united states creating department peace efforts even resulted 1986 creation usip us institute peace week held events lindsey graham tom cotton madeleine albright chuck hagel william perry stephen hadley zbigniew brzezinski susan rice john kerry michael flynn 2015 rejected proposals peace movement anything advocating peace push create department peace rolls generally ignoring existence usip try imagine senate confirmation hearing would look like nominee secretary peace picture nominee rolled attendants questioning beginning something like general smith thank service year recall designed first missile prior following wright brothers flight kitty hawk thank service way senator day cough excuse give full credit colored boy helped name trick imagine nominee mistakenly magically chosen would actually qualified job imagine walking hearing room questioning might go like ms jones think ought done russians invaded ukraine stole crimea think us russian meeting following top 10 items us agenda 1 recognition russian suffering world war ii including understanding impact yearslong us delay died tens millions 2 appreciation russias agreement german reunification along us commitment time expand nato gone ahead done 3 apology facilitating violent coup kiev commitment refraining constraint ukrainian selfdetermination 4 proposal withdraw us troops weapons europe disband nato end foreign arms sales gifts abolish us nuclear weapons 5 request russia reciprocate 6 plan new internationally monitored vote crimea whether rejoin russia 7 ms jones might wish surrender forces evil intention supporting measures ms jones anyone family ever served country united states military real trick however would imagine qualified nominee qualified senate might get mr garcia steps would advocate reduce use war senator might begin ceasing arm poor countries wars take place none weapons manufactured us top arms dealer world along five countries accounts vast majority weapons sales rise violence follows similarly record clear united states spends money militarism wars fewer result need program transition violent industries peaceful industries good economy environment well need program transition hostile foreign policy one cooperation aid could become loved country world providing planet schools tools clean energy fraction spend vicious cycle armament war makes us less safe secure mr garcia id like see confirmed hope youre celibate willing least pretend religious even fantasy still dealing united states senate fantasy may inclined consider valuable one say ought encouraging everyone imagine would like department peace even though current us government would turn department bloodsoaked orwellian travesty years gone agreed named secretary peace green shadow cabinet never much think whole shadow department peace modeling sane alternatives actual government policy expanding range actual corporate media debate ways try world beyond war recommend small book edited william benzon called need department peace everybodys business nobodys job slogan refers idea powerful interest peace dont anybody working least way millions people employed public dollars pursuit wars book collects statements advocating department peace many years beginning benjamin rushs 1793 plan peaceoffice united states published benjamin banneker pieces writing date periods people could claim christianity peaceful religion organized opposition department peace bringing peoples larger empire establish peace could quote abraham lincoln arguing war inspirational message peace stuff mentally updated read basic wisdom establishing office pursue peace strengthened one reads voices cultural perspectives however sticking point doesnt seem slide easily authors book maintain state department war defense department serve good useful purposes coexist alongside department peace propose dividing duties example state department could form bilateral agreements peace department multilateral agreements department peace asks nation sign disarmament treaty department state asks nation buy usmade weapons isnt conflict department war bombs country department state sending doctors isnt contradiction found coffins shipped back containing doctors bodies im arguing paradise earth must achieved department peace created president eight advisors urging bomb village would significant ninth urging food medicine instead situation advocate peace would like ombudsman inspector general informing institution crimes offenses available alternatives went along department peace releasing plan sane productive action would resemble washington post releasing account deceptions distortions would odd footnotes might good might hurry arrival day honest journalism foreign policy without murder become mainstream halls power one way department peace odds department war turn peace something alternative war whatever combination reasons thats lot find current advocacy peace department mention rest peace movement peace heart bullying schools restorative justice court systems etc wonderful stuff tangentially related ridding world war also find wellmeaning support generally prowar measures presidential creation atrocities prevention board seek identify nonus atrocities dealt us government including department war department peace proposed current legislation subtly changed department peace building according advocates would provide muchneeded assistance efforts city county state governments coordinating existing programs well develop new programs based best practices nationally teach violence prevention mediation americas school children effectively treat dismantle gang psychology rehabilitate prison population build peacemaking efforts among conflicting cultures abroad support military complementary approaches peacebuilding try read aloud straight face create administer us peace academy acting sister organization us military academy think benjamin rushs proposal far superior gradually evolved involved ladies white robes singing hymns also suggested real alternative military madness engulfed us government course id say yes rather passage bill presents duties secretary peace principally advising president secretaries defense state thats step right direction think working inform people real department peace might | 852 |
<p>Presidential Press Secretary Scott McLellan, speaking for the world’s loudest democracy, was droning on in his mendacious monotone. When, in response to Senator Kennedy’s speech at the Brookings Institution, he avowed that Iraq was nothing like Vietnam, the practiced listener noted an edge of indignation rising through his normal torpor.</p>
<p>After all, in so many ways he is absolutely right.</p>
<p>Geographically, Iraq and Vietnam are very different. That is to say, they are in very different places. Or, to amplify further, they are far away from each other.</p>
<p>Also, they are not at all similar topographically. As far as I know, desert is at a premium in Vietnam. Ditto for jungle in Iraq.</p>
<p>Also, the flora and fauna are not very much alike. (Although they do have palm trees in both Iraq and Vietnam. I think even Scott would have to concede that.)</p>
<p>In terms of race and ethnicity, chief economic activities, exports, religion, diet, art, music, and choice of lingerie, there is precious little overlap between Iraq and Vietnam.</p>
<p>On the other hand, for those of us who remember the Vietnam War, the similarities do tend to multiply.</p>
<p>For instance, like the War in Iraq, the Vietnam War involved the diversion of the nation’s human and material wealth to a campaign that was unjustifiable in terms of American security.</p>
<p>And, like the war in Iraq, the administration based its case for war in Vietnam on sheer fabrication.</p>
<p>Another similarity is that the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has adopted “The-Light-at-the-End-of-the-Tunnel Mantra” that was so prevalent in Vietnam. This well-rehearsed statement comes in many variations, but its gist is “things may seem bad now, but if we stay the course, America will usher in a new day of democracy for these pitiful __________” (fill in the blank with “Vietnamese,” “Iraqis,” or whatever national group we are currently liberating).</p>
<p>In Vietnam, one of the variations on this theme included not only staying the course, but sending just another two or three regiments which would, beyond any shadow of a doubt, without any question, undeniably, guarantee that we would win the thing and have the troops home by Christmas. We seem to be entering this phase now in Iraq also.</p>
<p>Another slight variation was that we just needed to drop some bombs in Laos because those dirty-fighting Vietnamese were running across the border to escape the reckoning that they had coming. With just a few bombs the border-bounding commies would be brought to their knees. Be alert for this phase in the future, Syria and Iran.</p>
<p>The reason that statements like this were so often repeated in Vietnam was that the tunnel kept getting longer and the light at its end farther and farther away. Again, Iraq offers some eerie parallels.</p>
<p>First, we were assured that once war was over, the Iraqis would welcome us with open arms. When it didn’t happen that way, we were assured that the day of democracy would dawn once the Ba’ath dead-enders (Saddam Hussein the chief among them) were dispatched. Then when Saddam pere et fils were out of the picture, we were told that the continuing violence was caused by “outside agitators” (Zarqawi the chief among them) forcing their will on democracy-loving Iraqis. Now we are told not to worry about Shia fighters killing American soldiers in Sadr City and opening fire on Spanish and Polish troops in southern Iraq because Muqtada al Sadr is only one of the minor ayatollahs. It won’t take long to deal with him, and then it will all be downhill.</p>
<p>The greatest similarity is that in both Vietnam and Iraq, we assumed our technical military superiority – our superior BOOM! power – would be sufficient to carry the day. We knew we could blow away those backward little yellow dudes, and we are just as sure we can blow away those backward little brown dudes. We didn’t need to attend to timing and sequence, we didn’t need to understand the people or their culture, we didn’t need to pay any attention to history, we didn’t need to have any appreciation for the objective forces that give rise to asymmetric warfare. Our superior BOOM! technologies would overcome all obstacles.</p>
<p>Paul Bremer provides plenty of illustrations of brute dependence on BOOM! power. It was Bremer who decided to disband the Iraqi Army, thus providing the opposition a pool of disgruntled fighters from which to recruit. In a move that makes him a prime candidate for the Ken Starr Political Tin Ear Award, Bremer shut down Maqtada al Sadr’s newspaper and arrested his deputies, thus giving him little choice but to strike back. By moving at the same time to avenge the deaths of four American mercenaries in Fallujah, Bremer gave the most volatile Shia factions and the most volatile Sunni factions grounds to unite against their common enemy. (Now, if he could just find a way to really piss off the Kurds, he would pull off the trifecta.)</p>
<p>It is not surprising that an administration that values power to the exclusion of all else and is infatuated with payback relies so heavily on the knee-jerk reaction. Uprising in Fallujah? No problem! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Shia running amok in Kut and Kerbala? No problem! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!</p>
<p>The recent news has been dominated by all hell breaking loose in Iraq, including the US’s Jineen-style invasion of Fallujah, attacks on CPA troops in a number of Shia strongholds, the kidnapping of civilian workers of various nationalities, and the suicide bombings in Basra. When asked for his reaction, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez said, without the slightest hint of irony, “We cannot tolerate acts of violence directed against the Iraqi people.”</p>
<p>Does this mean that we have finally learned the lesson of Vietnam and will leave Iraq right away?</p>
<p>GREG WEIHER is a political scientist and free-lance writer living in Houston, Texas. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:gweiher@uh.edu" type="external">gweiher@uh.edu</a>.</p> | true | 4 | presidential press secretary scott mclellan speaking worlds loudest democracy droning mendacious monotone response senator kennedys speech brookings institution avowed iraq nothing like vietnam practiced listener noted edge indignation rising normal torpor many ways absolutely right geographically iraq vietnam different say different places amplify far away also similar topographically far know desert premium vietnam ditto jungle iraq also flora fauna much alike although palm trees iraq vietnam think even scott would concede terms race ethnicity chief economic activities exports religion diet art music choice lingerie precious little overlap iraq vietnam hand us remember vietnam war similarities tend multiply instance like war iraq vietnam war involved diversion nations human material wealth campaign unjustifiable terms american security like war iraq administration based case war vietnam sheer fabrication another similarity coalition provisional authority iraq adopted thelightattheendofthetunnel mantra prevalent vietnam wellrehearsed statement comes many variations gist things may seem bad stay course america usher new day democracy pitiful __________ fill blank vietnamese iraqis whatever national group currently liberating vietnam one variations theme included staying course sending another two three regiments would beyond shadow doubt without question undeniably guarantee would win thing troops home christmas seem entering phase iraq also another slight variation needed drop bombs laos dirtyfighting vietnamese running across border escape reckoning coming bombs borderbounding commies would brought knees alert phase future syria iran reason statements like often repeated vietnam tunnel kept getting longer light end farther farther away iraq offers eerie parallels first assured war iraqis would welcome us open arms didnt happen way assured day democracy would dawn baath deadenders saddam hussein chief among dispatched saddam pere et fils picture told continuing violence caused outside agitators zarqawi chief among forcing democracyloving iraqis told worry shia fighters killing american soldiers sadr city opening fire spanish polish troops southern iraq muqtada al sadr one minor ayatollahs wont take long deal downhill greatest similarity vietnam iraq assumed technical military superiority superior boom power would sufficient carry day knew could blow away backward little yellow dudes sure blow away backward little brown dudes didnt need attend timing sequence didnt need understand people culture didnt need pay attention history didnt need appreciation objective forces give rise asymmetric warfare superior boom technologies would overcome obstacles paul bremer provides plenty illustrations brute dependence boom power bremer decided disband iraqi army thus providing opposition pool disgruntled fighters recruit move makes prime candidate ken starr political tin ear award bremer shut maqtada al sadrs newspaper arrested deputies thus giving little choice strike back moving time avenge deaths four american mercenaries fallujah bremer gave volatile shia factions volatile sunni factions grounds unite common enemy could find way really piss kurds would pull trifecta surprising administration values power exclusion else infatuated payback relies heavily kneejerk reaction uprising fallujah problem boom boom boom shia running amok kut kerbala problem boom boom boom boom recent news dominated hell breaking loose iraq including uss jineenstyle invasion fallujah attacks cpa troops number shia strongholds kidnapping civilian workers various nationalities suicide bombings basra asked reaction lt general ricardo sanchez said without slightest hint irony tolerate acts violence directed iraqi people mean finally learned lesson vietnam leave iraq right away greg weiher political scientist freelance writer living houston texas reached gweiheruhedu | 532 |
<p>The United States government recently gave more than a million dollars to the family of one victim it had killed in one of its wars. The victim happened to be Italian. If you were to find all the Iraqi families with any surviving members who had loved ones killed by the United States it might be a million families. A million times a million dollars would be enough to treat those Iraqis in this respect as if they were Europeans. Who can tell me — raise your hand — how much is a million times a million?</p>
<p>That’s right, a trillion.</p>
<p>Now, can you count to a trillion starting from one. Go ahead. We’ll wait.</p>
<p>Actually we won’t wait, because if you counted one number per second you would get to a trillion in 31,709 years. And we have other speakers to get to here.</p>
<p>A trillion is a number we can’t comprehend. For most purposes it’s useless. The greediest oligarch doesn’t dream of ever seeing a fraction of that many dollars. Teeny fractions of that many dollars would transform the world. Three percent of it per year would end starvation on earth. One percent per year would end the lack of clean drinking water. Ten percent per year would transform green energy or agriculture or education. Three percent per year for four years, in current dollars, was the Marshall Plan.</p>
<p>And yet the United States government through numerous departments dumps a trillion dollars per year into preparing for war. So that works out perfectly. Take one year off and compensate Iraqi victims. Take some additional months and begin compensating Afghans, Libyans, Syrians, Pakistanis, Yemenis, Somalis, etc. I’m well aware of not listing them all. Remember the 31,709 years problem.</p>
<p>Of course you can never fully compensate a destroyed country like Iraq or a family anywhere that has lost a loved one. But you could benefit millions and billions of people every year and save and improve millions and billions of lives for less than is spent on preparing for more wars. And this is the number one way in which war kills — by taking away the funding for anything else. Globally it’s $2 trillion per year plus trillions in damage and destruction.</p>
<p>When you try to weigh the good and the bad to decide whether starting or continuing a war is justified, on the bad side has to go the cost: financial, moral, human, environmental, etc., of war preparations. Even if you think you can imagine how there could be a justifiable war some day, you have to consider whether it’s justifiable in the way that a corporation that pollutes the earth and abuses its workers and customers is profitable — namely by writing off most of the costs.</p>
<p>Of course, people like to imagine that there have been a few justifiable wars, so that the chance of another one outweighs all the destruction of endless war preparation plus all the unjustifiable wars it produces. The United States simply had to fight a revolution against England although nonviolent corrections to injustices were working well, and the reason that Canada didn’t have to have a war with England is because there are no touchdowns in hockey, or something. The United States simply had to kill three quarters of a million people and then end slavery, even though slavery did not end, because all those other countries that ended slavery, and this city we’re in that ended slavery, without killing all those people first now lack the valuable heritage of Confederate flags and bitter racist resentment that we so cherish, or something.</p>
<p>World War II was totally justifiable because President Roosevelt was 6 days off in his prediction of the Japanese attack he’d worked to provoke, and the U.S. and England refused to evacuate Jewish refugees from Germany, the Coast Guard chased a ship of them away from Miami, the State Department denied Anne Frank’s visa request, all peace efforts to halt the war and liberate the camps were blocked, several times the number of people who died in the camps died outside them in the war, the all-out destruction of civilians and the permanent militarization of the United States have been disastrous precedents, the fantasy of Germany taking over the Western Hemisphere just as soon as it finished conquering the Soviet Union was based on forged documents of Karl Rovian quality, the United States gave syphilis to black troops during the war and to Guatemalans during the Nuremberg trials, and the U.S. military hired hundreds of top Nazis at the end of the war who fit right in, but this was a question of good versus evil.</p>
<p>The new trend of pitching wars as philanthropy picks up a sliver of U.S. public support, but each such war relies on greater support from those who thirst for blood. And because no humanitarian war has yet benefitted humanity, this propaganda leans heavily on wars that did not happen. Five years ago one simply had to bomb Libya because of Rwanda — where U.S.-backed militarism had created the disaster and never would bombing anybody have helped things. A few years later U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power openly and shamelessly wrote that we had a responsibility not to look at the disaster created in Libya in order to be properly willing to bomb Syria, and we had to bomb Syria because of Rwanda. Also because of Kosovo, where the propaganda had featured a photograph of a thin man behind a fence. In reality the photographer had been behind a fence and there had been a fat man next to the thin one. But the point was to bomb Serbia and fuel atrocities in order to stop the holocaust, which the U.S. government at the time of WWII had had absolutely zero interest in stopping.</p>
<p>So, let’s get this straight once and for all. It’s to our credit that wars have to be marketed as good for people. But we are well-meaning fools if we believe it. Wars must end, and the even more damaging institution of war preparation must be abolished.</p>
<p>I don’t expect that we can and am not sure that we should abolish the U.S. military by next Thursday, but it’s important that we understand the necessity and desirability of abolishing it, so that we can begin taking steps that will move us in that direction. A series of steps might look like this:</p>
<p>1) Stop arming other countries and groups. 2) Create US support for and participation in institutions of law, nonviolence, diplomacy, and aid, as developed in the book in your packets, A Global Security System: An Alternative to War. 3) End ongoing wars. 4) Take the U.S. down to no more than twice the next leading military spender — investing in transition to a peaceful sustainable economy. 5) Close foreign bases. 6) Eliminate weapons that lack a defensive purpose. 7) Take the U.S. down to no more than the next leading military spender, and continue to keep pace with a reverse arms race. It is almost a certainty that the United States could trigger a universal reverse arms race if it chose to lead it. 8) Eliminate nuclear and other worst weapons from the earth. A nice step would be for the U.S. to join the convention on cluster bombs now that the U.S. has momentarily stopped producing them. 9) Establish a plan for the complete abolition of war.</p>
<p>Even the necessary wars? The just wars? The good and glorious wars? Yes, but if it’s any consolation, they do not exist.</p>
<p>There is no need to be arming the world to the teeth. It’s not economically beneficial or morally justifiable in any way. Wars today have U.S. weapons on both sides. ISIS videos have U.S. guns and U.S. vehicles. That’s not just or glorious. It’s merely greedy and stupid.</p>
<p>Studies like Erica Chenoweth’s have established that nonviolent resistance to tyranny is far more likely to succeed, and the success far more likely to be lasting, than with violent resistance. So if we look at something like the nonviolent revolution in Tunisia in 2011, we might find that it meets as many criteria as any other situation for a supposedly Just War, except that it wasn’t a war at all. One wouldn’t go back in time and argue for a strategy less likely to succeed but likely to cause a lot more pain and death.</p>
<p>Despite the relative scarcity of examples thus far of nonviolent resistance to foreign occupation, there are those already beginning to claim a pattern of success there too. I’ll quote Stephen Zunes:</p>
<p>“During the first Palestinian intifada in the 1980s, much of the subjugated population effectively became self-governing entities through massive noncooperation and the creation of alternative institutions, forcing Israel to allow for the creation of the Palestine Authority and self-governance for most of the urban areas of the West Bank. Nonviolent resistance in the occupied Western Sahara has forced Morocco to offer an autonomy proposal …. In the final years of German occupation of Denmark and Norway during WWII, the Nazis effectively no longer controlled the population. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia freed themselves from Soviet occupation through nonviolent resistance prior to the USSR’s collapse. In Lebanon … thirty years of Syrian domination was ended through a large-scale, nonviolent uprising in 2005.”</p>
<p>End quote. He has more examples. And one might, I think, look at numerous examples of resistance to the Nazis, and in German resistance to the French invasion of the Ruhr in 1923, or perhaps in the one-time success of the Philippines and the ongoing success of Ecuador in evicting U.S. military bases, and of course the Gandhian example of booting the British out of India. But the far more numerous examples of nonviolent success over domestic tyranny also provide a guide toward future action.</p>
<p>On the side of choosing a nonviolent response to an attack is its greater likelihood of succeeding and of that success lasting longer, as well as less damage being done in the process. Sometimes we get so busy pointing out that anti-U.S. terrorism is fueled by U.S. aggression — as it is — that we forget to point out that the terrorism fails in its objectives just as the larger U.S. terrorism fails in its objectives. Iraqi resistance to U.S. occupation is not a model for U.S. resistance to some fantasized invasion of the United States by Vladimir Putin and Edward Snowden leading a wild band of Muslim Hondurans to come and take our guns away.</p>
<p>The right model is nonviolent noncooperation, the rule of law, and diplomacy. And that can begin now. The chance of violent conflicts can be greatly minimized.</p>
<p>In the absence of an attack, however, while claims are being made that a war should be launched as a supposed “last resort,” nonviolent solutions are available in infinite variety and can be tried over and over again. The United States has never actually reached the point of attacking another country as an actual and literal last resort. And it never can.</p>
<p>If you could achieve that, then a moral decision would still require that the imagined benefits of your war outweigh all the damage done by maintaining the institution of war, and that’s an incredibly high hurdle.</p>
<p>What we need, in order to bring nonviolent pressure to bear on whoever occupies the White House and the Capitol four months from now is a larger, more energized movement for the abolition of war, with a vision of what we could have instead.</p>
<p>During World War II, before the United States maintained a permanent state of war, a Congressman from Maryland suggested that after the war the Pentagon could be turned into a hospital and thereby put to some useful purpose. I still think that’s a good idea. I may try to mention it to the Pentagon staff when we visit there at 9 a.m. on Monday.</p>
<p>This is the vision we need to advance, one in which a new and valuable purpose must be found, as in these necklaces made from recycled nuclear weapons, for everything that used to be part of the immoral criminal enterprise that was known as war.</p> | true | 4 | united states government recently gave million dollars family one victim killed one wars victim happened italian find iraqi families surviving members loved ones killed united states might million families million times million dollars would enough treat iraqis respect europeans tell raise hand much million times million thats right trillion count trillion starting one go ahead well wait actually wont wait counted one number per second would get trillion 31709 years speakers get trillion number cant comprehend purposes useless greediest oligarch doesnt dream ever seeing fraction many dollars teeny fractions many dollars would transform world three percent per year would end starvation earth one percent per year would end lack clean drinking water ten percent per year would transform green energy agriculture education three percent per year four years current dollars marshall plan yet united states government numerous departments dumps trillion dollars per year preparing war works perfectly take one year compensate iraqi victims take additional months begin compensating afghans libyans syrians pakistanis yemenis somalis etc im well aware listing remember 31709 years problem course never fully compensate destroyed country like iraq family anywhere lost loved one could benefit millions billions people every year save improve millions billions lives less spent preparing wars number one way war kills taking away funding anything else globally 2 trillion per year plus trillions damage destruction try weigh good bad decide whether starting continuing war justified bad side go cost financial moral human environmental etc war preparations even think imagine could justifiable war day consider whether justifiable way corporation pollutes earth abuses workers customers profitable namely writing costs course people like imagine justifiable wars chance another one outweighs destruction endless war preparation plus unjustifiable wars produces united states simply fight revolution england although nonviolent corrections injustices working well reason canada didnt war england touchdowns hockey something united states simply kill three quarters million people end slavery even though slavery end countries ended slavery city ended slavery without killing people first lack valuable heritage confederate flags bitter racist resentment cherish something world war ii totally justifiable president roosevelt 6 days prediction japanese attack hed worked provoke us england refused evacuate jewish refugees germany coast guard chased ship away miami state department denied anne franks visa request peace efforts halt war liberate camps blocked several times number people died camps died outside war allout destruction civilians permanent militarization united states disastrous precedents fantasy germany taking western hemisphere soon finished conquering soviet union based forged documents karl rovian quality united states gave syphilis black troops war guatemalans nuremberg trials us military hired hundreds top nazis end war fit right question good versus evil new trend pitching wars philanthropy picks sliver us public support war relies greater support thirst blood humanitarian war yet benefitted humanity propaganda leans heavily wars happen five years ago one simply bomb libya rwanda usbacked militarism created disaster never would bombing anybody helped things years later us ambassador united nations samantha power openly shamelessly wrote responsibility look disaster created libya order properly willing bomb syria bomb syria rwanda also kosovo propaganda featured photograph thin man behind fence reality photographer behind fence fat man next thin one point bomb serbia fuel atrocities order stop holocaust us government time wwii absolutely zero interest stopping lets get straight credit wars marketed good people wellmeaning fools believe wars must end even damaging institution war preparation must abolished dont expect sure abolish us military next thursday important understand necessity desirability abolishing begin taking steps move us direction series steps might look like 1 stop arming countries groups 2 create us support participation institutions law nonviolence diplomacy aid developed book packets global security system alternative war 3 end ongoing wars 4 take us twice next leading military spender investing transition peaceful sustainable economy 5 close foreign bases 6 eliminate weapons lack defensive purpose 7 take us next leading military spender continue keep pace reverse arms race almost certainty united states could trigger universal reverse arms race chose lead 8 eliminate nuclear worst weapons earth nice step would us join convention cluster bombs us momentarily stopped producing 9 establish plan complete abolition war even necessary wars wars good glorious wars yes consolation exist need arming world teeth economically beneficial morally justifiable way wars today us weapons sides isis videos us guns us vehicles thats glorious merely greedy stupid studies like erica chenoweths established nonviolent resistance tyranny far likely succeed success far likely lasting violent resistance look something like nonviolent revolution tunisia 2011 might find meets many criteria situation supposedly war except wasnt war one wouldnt go back time argue strategy less likely succeed likely cause lot pain death despite relative scarcity examples thus far nonviolent resistance foreign occupation already beginning claim pattern success ill quote stephen zunes first palestinian intifada 1980s much subjugated population effectively became selfgoverning entities massive noncooperation creation alternative institutions forcing israel allow creation palestine authority selfgovernance urban areas west bank nonviolent resistance occupied western sahara forced morocco offer autonomy proposal final years german occupation denmark norway wwii nazis effectively longer controlled population lithuania latvia estonia freed soviet occupation nonviolent resistance prior ussrs collapse lebanon thirty years syrian domination ended largescale nonviolent uprising 2005 end quote examples one might think look numerous examples resistance nazis german resistance french invasion ruhr 1923 perhaps onetime success philippines ongoing success ecuador evicting us military bases course gandhian example booting british india far numerous examples nonviolent success domestic tyranny also provide guide toward future action side choosing nonviolent response attack greater likelihood succeeding success lasting longer well less damage done process sometimes get busy pointing antius terrorism fueled us aggression forget point terrorism fails objectives larger us terrorism fails objectives iraqi resistance us occupation model us resistance fantasized invasion united states vladimir putin edward snowden leading wild band muslim hondurans come take guns away right model nonviolent noncooperation rule law diplomacy begin chance violent conflicts greatly minimized absence attack however claims made war launched supposed last resort nonviolent solutions available infinite variety tried united states never actually reached point attacking another country actual literal last resort never could achieve moral decision would still require imagined benefits war outweigh damage done maintaining institution war thats incredibly high hurdle need order bring nonviolent pressure bear whoever occupies white house capitol four months larger energized movement abolition war vision could instead world war ii united states maintained permanent state war congressman maryland suggested war pentagon could turned hospital thereby put useful purpose still think thats good idea may try mention pentagon staff visit 9 monday vision need advance one new valuable purpose must found necklaces made recycled nuclear weapons everything used part immoral criminal enterprise known war | 1,101 |
<p>This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175185/" type="external">story</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p>According to the Chinese calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Tiger. We don’t name our years, but if we did, this one might prospectively be called the Year of the Assassin.</p>
<p>We, of course, think of ourselves as something like the peaceable kingdom. After all, the shock of September 11, 2001 was that “war” came to “the homeland,” a mighty blow delivered against the very symbols of our economic, military, and—had Flight 93 not gone down in a field in Pennsylvania—political power.</p>
<p>Since that day, however, war has been a stranger in our land. With the rarest of exceptions, like Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan’s massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, this country has remained a world without war or any kind of mobilization for war. No other major terrorist attacks, not even victory gardens, scrap-metal collecting, or rationing. And certainly no war tax to pay for our post-9/11 trillion-dollar “expeditionary forces” sent into battle abroad. Had we the foresight to name them, the last few years domestically might have reflected a different kind of carnage—2006, the Year of the Subprime Mortgage; 2007, the Year of the Bonus; 2008, the Year of the Meltdown; 2009, the Year of the Bailout. And perhaps some would want to label 2010, prematurely or not, the Year of Recovery.</p>
<p>Although our country delivers war regularly to distant lands in the name of our “safety,” we don’t really consider ourselvesatwar(despite the endless talk of “supporting our troops”), and the money that has simply poured into Pentagon coffers, and then into weaponry and conflicts is, with rare exceptions, never linked to economic distress in this country. And yet, if we are no nation of warriors, from the point of view of the rest of the world we are certainly the planet’s foremost war-makers. If money talks, then war may be what we care most about as a society and fund above all else, with the least possible discussion or debate.</p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/william-d-hartung/2009/12/23/obama-and-the-permanent-war-budget/" type="external">according to</a> military expert William Hartung, the Pentagon budget has risen in every year of the new century, an unprecedented run in our history. We <a href="http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Arab_Dictatorships_Take_4_of_Top_5_Spots_in_Purchase_of_US_Weapons_and_Services_91228" type="external">dominate</a> the global arms trade, monopolizing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/world/07weapons.html" type="external">almost 70%</a> of the arms business in 2008, with Italy coming in a vanishingly distant second. We put more money into the funding of war, our armed forces, and the weaponry of war <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040304080_pf.html" type="external">than the next 25 countries combined</a> (and that’s without even including Iraq and Afghan war costs). We <a href="" type="internal">garrison</a> the planet in a way no empire or nation in history has ever done. And we plan for the future, for “the next war”—on the ground, on the seas, and in space—in a way that is surely unique. If our two major wars of the twenty-first century in Iraq and Afghanistan are any measure, we also get less bang for our buck than any nation in recent history.</p>
<p>So, let’s pause a moment as the New Year begins and take stock of ourselves as what we truly are: the preeminent war-making machine on planet Earth. Let’s peer into the future, and consider just what the American way of war might have in store for us in 2010. Here are 10 questions, the answers to which might offer reasonable hints as to just how much U.S. war efforts are likely to intensify in the Greater Middle East, as well as Central and South Asia, in the year to come.</p>
<p>1. How busted will the largest defense budget in history be in 2010?</p>
<p>Strange, isn’t it, that the debate about hundreds of billions of dollars in health-care costs in Congress can last almost a year, filled with turmoil and daily headlines, while a <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126099379078894317.html" type="external">$636 billion defense budget</a> can pass in a few days, as it did in late December, essentially without discussion and with nary a headline in sight? And in case you think that $636 billion is an honest figure, think again—and not just because funding for the U.S. nuclear arsenal and actual “homeland defense,” among other things most countries would chalk up as military costs, wasn’t included.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805089195/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" /> If you want to put a finger to the winds of war in 2010, keep your eye on something else not included in that budget: the Obama administration’s upcoming supplemental funding request for the Afghan surge. In his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-address-nation-way-forward-afghanistan-and-pakistan" type="external">West Point speech</a> announcing his surge decision, the president spoke of sending 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan in 2010 at a cost of $30 billion. In news reports, that figure quickly morphed into <a href="http://www.albanyherald.com/editorials/headlines/78385912.html" type="external">“$30-$40 billion,”</a> none of it in the just-passed Pentagon budget. To fund his widening war, sometime in the first months of the New Year, the president will have to submit a supplemental budget to Congress—something the Bush administration did repeatedly to pay for George W.’s wars, and something this president, while still a candidate, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/05military.html" type="external">swore</a> he wouldn’t do. Nonetheless, it will happen. So keep your eye on that <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175179/tomgram%3A_jo_comerford%2C_afghan_war_costs_101/" type="external">$30 billion figure</a> . Even that distinctly low-ball number is going to cause <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/79832.html" type="external">discomfort and opposition</a> in the president’s party—and yet there’s no way it will fully fund this year’s striking escalation of the war. The question is: How high will it go or, if the president doesn’t dare ask this Congress for more all at once, how will the extra funds be found? Keep your eye out, then, for hints of future supplemental budgets, because fighting the Afghan War (forget Iraq) over the next decade could prove a near trillion-dollar prospect.</p>
<p>Neither battles won nor al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders killed will be the true measure of victory or defeat in the Afghan War. For Americans at home, even victory as modestly defined by this administration—blunting the <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/1149034.html?storylink=kibboko" type="external">Taliban’s version</a> of a surge—could prove disastrous in terms of our financial capabilities. Guns and butter? That’s going to be a surefire no-go. So keep watching and asking: How busted could the U.S. be by 2011?</p>
<p>2. Will the U.S. Air Force be the final piece in the Afghan surge?</p>
<p>As 2010 begins, almost everything is <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175176/tomgram%3A__state_of_surge%2C_afghanistan/" type="external">in surge mode</a> in Afghanistan, including rising numbers of U.S. troops, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504850.html" type="external">private contractors</a> , State Department employees, and <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175157/tomgram:_nick_turse,_in_afghanistan,_the_pentagon_digs_in" type="external">new bases</a> . In this period, only the U.S. Air Force (drones excepted) has stood down. Under orders from Afghan War commander General Stanley McChrystal, based on the new make-nice counterinsurgency strategy he’s implementing, air power is anything but surging. The use of the Air Force, <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_end_air_war/all/1" type="external">even in close support</a> of U.S. troops in situations in which Afghan civilians are anywhere nearby, has been severely restricted. There has already been grumbling about this in and around the military. If things don’t go well—and quickly—in the expanding war, expect frustration to grow and the pressure to rise to bring air power to bear. Already unnamed intelligence officials are <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/81358.html" type="external">leaking</a> warnings that, with the Taliban insurgency expanding its reach, “time is running out.” Counterinsurgency strategies are notorious for how long they take to bear fruit (if they do at all). When Americans are dying, maintaining a surge without a surge of air power is sure to be a test of will and patience (neither of which is an American strong suit). So keep your eye on the Air Force next year. If the planes start to fly more regularly and destructively, you’ll know that things aren’t looking up for General McChrystal and his campaign.</p>
<p>3. How big will the American presence in Pakistan be as 2010 ends?</p>
<p>Let’s start with the fact that it’s already bigger than most of us imagine. Thanks to Nation magazine reporter Jeremy Scahill, we <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill" type="external">know</a> that, from a base in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, officers of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, with the help of hired hands from the notorious private security contractor Xe (formerly Blackwater), “plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, ‘snatch and grabs’ of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan.” Small numbers of U.S. Special Forces operatives have also <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/15/world/main5016083.shtml" type="external">reportedly</a> been sent in to train Pakistan’s special forces. U.S. spies are <a href="http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20091226/874/twl-us-spies-not-combat-troops-in-pak-ho.html" type="external">in the country</a> . U.S. missile- and bomb-armed drones, <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/us-military-joins-cias-drone-war-in-pakistan/#more-20384" type="external">both CIA- and Air Force-controlled</a> , have been conducting escalating operations in the country’s tribal borderlands. U.S. Special Operations forces have conducted <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/21/us-forces-secret-pakistan-raids" type="external">at least four cross-border raids</a> into Pakistan’s tribal borderlands unsanctioned by the Pakistani government or military (only one of which was publicly reported in this country). And the CIA and the State Department have been attempting ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/world/asia/17visa.html" type="external">against</a> some Pakistani resistance) to build up their personnel and <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175091/chalmers_johnson_baseless_expenditures" type="external">facilities</a> in-country. This, mind you, is only what we know in a situation in which secrecy is the order of the day and rumors fly.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805087281/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" /> In the meantime, the Obama administration has been <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/81012.html" type="external">threatening</a> to widen its drone war (and possibly other operations) to the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/21/us-taliban-balochistan-strategy-pakistan" type="external">powder-keg province</a> of Baluchistan, where most of the Afghan Taliban’s leadership reportedly resides (evidently under Pakistani protection) and to the fighters of the <a href="http://freedomsyndicate.com/fair0000/latimes00085.html" type="external">Haqqani network</a> , linked to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, in the Pakistani border province of North Waziristan. Right now, these threats from Washington are clearly meant to motivate the Pakistani military to do the job instead. But as that is unlikely—both groups are seen by its military as key players in the country’s future anti-Indian policies in Afghanistan—they may not remain mere threats for long. Any such U.S. moves are only likely to widen the Af-Pak war and further destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan. In addition, the Pakistani military is not powerless vis-à-vis the U.S. For one thing, as Robert Dreyfuss of the Nation‘s “Dreyfuss Report” recently <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/508603/pakistan_s_trump_card" type="external">pointed out</a> , it has a potential stranglehold on the tortuous U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100101/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanunrestsouthwestnato" type="external">already under attack</a> by Taliban militants, that make the war there possible.</p>
<p>Pakistan is the Catch-22 of Obama’s surge. As in the Vietnam War years, sanctuaries across the border ensure limited success in any escalating war effort, but going after those sanctuaries in a major way would be a war-widening move of genuine desperation. As with the Air Force in Afghanistan, watch Pakistan not just for spreading drone operations, but for the use of U.S. troops. If by year’s end Special Operations forces or U.S. troops are periodically on the ground in that country, don’t be shocked. However it may be explained, this will represent a dangerous failure of the first order.</p>
<p>4. How much smaller will the American presence in Iraq be?</p>
<p>Barack Obama swept into office, in part, on a pledge to end the U.S. war in Iraq. Almost a year after he entered the White House, more than 100,000 U.S. troops are still deployed in that country (about the same number as in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25454-2004Dec1.html" type="external">February 2004</a> ). Still, plans developed at the end of the Bush presidency, and later confirmed by President Obama, have set the U.S. on an apparent path of withdrawal. On this the president has been unambiguous. “Let me say this as plainly as I can,” he told a military audience in February 2009. “By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end… I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.” However, Robert Gates, his secretary of defense, has not been so unequivocal. While recently visiting Iraq, he disclosed that the U.S. Air Force would likely <a href="http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/11dec09-iraq-gates-79050007.html" type="external">continue to operate</a> in that country well into the future. He also said: “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see agreements between ourselves and the Iraqis that continues a train, equip, and advise role beyond the end of 2011.”</p>
<p>For 2010, expect platitudes about withdrawal from the President and other administration spokespeople, while Defense Department officials and military commanders offer more “pragmatic” (and realistic) assessments. Keep an eye out for signs this year of a coming non-withdrawal withdrawal in 2011.</p>
<p>5. What will the New Year mean for the Pentagon’s base-building plans in our war zones?</p>
<p>As the U.S. war in Afghanistan ramps up, look for American bases there to continue along last year’s path, <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175157/tomgram:_nick_turse,_in_afghanistan,_the_pentagon_digs_in" type="external">becoming</a> bigger, harder, more numerous, and more permanent-looking. As estimates of the time it will take to get the president’s extra boots on the ground in Afghanistan increase, look as well for the construction of more helipads, fuel pits, taxiways, and tarmac space on the forward operating bases sprouting especially across the southern parts of that country. These will be meant to speed the movement of surge troops into rural battle zones, while eschewing increasingly dangerous ground routes.</p>
<p>In Iraq, expect the further consolidation of a small number of U.S. mega-bases as American troops pull back to ever fewer sites offering an ever lower profile in that country. Keep your eyes, in particular, on giant Balad Air Base and on Camp Victory outside Baghdad. These were built for the long term. If Washington doesn’t begin preparing to turn them over to the Iraqis, then start thinking 2012 and beyond. Elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region, look for the U.S. military to continue <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175159/tomgram:_nick_turse,_out_of_iraq,_into_the_gulf/" type="external">upgrading</a> its many bases, while militarily working to strengthen the security forces of country after autocratic country, from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, in part to continue to rattle Iran’s cage. If those bases keep growing, don’t imagine us drawing down in the region any time soon.</p>
<p>6. Will the U.S. and Israel thwart the Iranian insurgency?</p>
<p>Iran has long been under siege. A founding member of George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil,” the Islamic Republic was long on his administration’s hit list. It also found itself in the unenviable position of watching the American military occupy and garrison two bordering countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, while also building or bolstering bases in nearby Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. The Obama administration is now poised to increase <a href="http://forward.com/articles/121182/" type="external">key military aid</a> to Iran’s nemesis, Israel, and the Pentagon has flooded allied regimes in the region with advanced weaponry. Years of saber-rattling and sanctions, encirclement and threats nonetheless seemed to have little palpable effect. In 2009, however, a disputed election brought Iranians into the streets and, months later, they’re still there.</p>
<p>What foreign militarism couldn’t do, ordinary Iranians themselves now threaten to accomplish. In earlier street protests, young <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/world/middleeast/24cleric.html" type="external">middle-class activists</a> in Tehran chanting “Where is our vote?” were beaten and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23neda.html" type="external">martyred</a> by security forces. Today, the protests <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2009/1228/Mousavi-supporters-say-Iran-ordered-murder-of-his-nephew" type="external">continue</a> and oppositional Iranians from all social strata are refusing to retreat while, when provoked, sometimes fighting back against the police or the regime’s fearsome Basiji militia, even inducing some of them to step aside or switch sides.</p>
<p>A continuing cycle of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/28/AR2009122800290.html" type="external">ever-spreading</a> arrests, protests, and violence in 2010 threatens to further destabilize the regime. How Washington reacts could, however, deeply affect what happens. The memory of the CIA’s toppling of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 is still alive in Iran. Any perceived U.S. interference could have grave results for the Iranian insurgency, as could Israeli actions. Recently, President Obama, evidently trying to bring the Chinese into line on the question of imposing fiercer sanctions, reportedly <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135730.html" type="external">told</a> China’s president that the United States could not restrain Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities much longer. Such an Israeli attack would certainly strengthen the current Iranian regime; so, undoubtedly, would pressure to increase potentially crippling sanctions on that country over its nuclear program. Either or both would help further cement the current tumultuous status quo in the Middle East.</p>
<p>7. Will Yemen become the fourth major front in Washington’s global war?</p>
<p>George W. Bush unabashedly proclaimed himself a “war president.” President Obama seems to be taking up the same mantle. Right now, the Obama administration’s war fronts include the inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a not-so-covert war in Pakistan, and a potential new war in Yemen. (There are also rarely commented upon ongoing military actions in the Philippines and a U.S.-aided <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2009/1222/Colombia-launches-US-drones-over-Venezuela-or-was-that-Santa-s-sleigh" type="external">drug war</a> in Colombia, as well as periodic strikes in Somalia.) Though the surge in Afghanistan and Pakistan was supposed to contain al-Qaeda there, the U.S. now finds itself focusing on yet another country and another of that organization’s morphing offspring.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/155849586X/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" /> In 2002, a USA Today article about a targeted assassination in Yemen began: “Opening up a visible new front in the war on terror, U.S. forces launched a pinpoint missile strike in Yemen…” Just over seven years later, following <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/12/18/us-attacking-yemen-after-all/" type="external">multiple U.S. cruise missiles</a> launched into the country and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/world/middleeast/18yemen.html" type="external">targeted air strikes</a> by the air force of the U.S.-aided Yemeni regime against “suspected hide-outs of Al Qaeda,” the New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html" type="external">announced</a> , “In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.” In the wake of a botched airplane terror attack by a single young Nigerian Muslim, and credit-taking by a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the usual <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/29-1" type="external">cheery crew</a> of U.S. war advocates are lining up behind the next potential front in the war on terror. ( <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-some-in-the-us-already-see-arab-state-as-tomorrows-target-1852091.html" type="external">Senator Joseph Lieberman</a> : “Iraq was yesterday’s war. Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”) What began as a one-off Bush assassination effort now threatens to become another of Obama’s wars.</p>
<p>The U.S. has not only sent Special Forces teams into the country, but is now pouring tens of millions of dollars into Yemen’s security forces in a dramatic move to significantly arm yet another Middle Eastern country. At the same time, U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia—whose alliance with Washington ignited the current war with al-Qaeda—is <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8411726.stm" type="external">aiding</a> the Yemeni forces in a war against Houthi rebels there.</p>
<p>This is a witch’s brew of trouble. Keep your eye on Yemen (with an occasional side glance <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6963512.ece" type="external">at Somalia</a> , the failed state across the Gulf of Aden). Expect more funding, more trainers, more proxy warfare, and possibly a whole new conflict for 2010.</p>
<p>8. How brutal will the American way of war be in 2010?</p>
<p>When it comes to war, American-style, the key word of 2009 was “counterinsurgency” or COIN. Think of it as the kindly version of war the American way, a strategy based on “clearing and holding” territory and “protecting” the civilian population. Its value, as expounded by Afghan War commander McChrystal, lies not in killing the enemy but in winning over “the people.” On paper, it sounds good, like a kinder, gentler version of war, but historically counterinsurgency operations have almost invariably gone into the ditch of brutality. So here’s one word you should keep your eyes out for in 2010: “counterterrorism.” Consider it the dark underside of counterinsurgency. Instead of boots on the ground, it’s bullets to the head.</p>
<p>General McChrystal was, until recently, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175074/tom_engelhardt_the_pressure_of_an_expanding_war" type="external">counterterrorism guy</a> . He ran the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in Iraq and Afghanistan. His operatives were referred to, more or less politely, as <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/13/politics/washingtonpost/main5011174.shtml" type="external">“manhunters.”</a> Think: assassins. With McChrystal, a general who <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091209/ap_on_go_co/us_us_afghanistan" type="external">credits</a> his large-scale assassination program for a great deal of the Iraq surge’s success in 2007, it was just a matter of time before counterterrorism—which is just terrorism put in uniform and given an anodyne name—was ramped up in Afghanistan (and undoubtedly Pakistan as well). Though the planes may still be grounded, the special ops guys who kick in doors in the middle of the night and have <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/rumsfelds-renegade-unit-blamed-for-afghan-deaths-1685704.html" type="external">often been responsible</a> for grievous civilian casualties will evidently be going at it full tilt.</p>
<p>As 2009 ended, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/world/asia/27commandos.html" type="external">the news</a> that black-ops forces were being loosed in a significant way was just hitting the press. So watch for that word “counterterrorism.” If it proliferates, you’ll know that the expanding Afghan War is getting down and dirty in a big way. For Americans, 2010 could be the year of the assassin.</p>
<p>9. Where will the drones go in 2010?</p>
<p>If there’s one thing to keep your eye on in the coming year, it might be the unmanned aerial vehicles— <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175155/tomgram:_droning_on" type="external">drones</a> —flown secretly, in the case of the Air Force, from distant al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar and, in the case of the CIA, even more distantly out of Langley, Virginia. American drones are already in a <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/us-military-joins-cias-drone-war-in-pakistan/#more-20384" type="external">widening air war</a> in the Pakistani tribal borderlands, while Washington threatens to create an even wider one. Think of these robotic planes as the leading edge of global war, American-style. While “hot pursuit” into Pakistan may still be forbidden to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the drones have long had a kind of hot-pursuit carte blanche in Pakistan’s tribal borderlands.</p>
<p>Perhaps more important, they can, to steal a Star Trek line, boldly go where no man has gone before. Since the first drone assassination attack of the Global War on Terror—in Yemen in 2002—in which several men, reputedly al-Qaeda militants, were incinerated inside a car, drones have been taking war into new territory. They have already struck in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and possibly Somalia. As the first robot <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175056/tom_engelhardt_filling_the_skies_with_assassins" type="external">terminators</a> of our age, they symbolize the loosing of American war-making powers from the oversight of Congress and the American people. In principle, they have made borders (hence national sovereignty) increasingly insignificant as assassination attacks can be launched 24/7 against those we deem our enemies, on the basis of unknown intelligence or evidence.</p>
<p>With our drones, there is little price to be paid if, as has regularly enough been the case, those enemies turn out not to be in the right place at the right time and others die in their stead. Globally, we have become the world’s leading state assassins—a judge, jury, and executioner beyond the bounds of all accountability. In essence, those pilot-less planes turn us into a law of war unto ourselves. It’s a chilling development. Watch for it to spread in 2010, and keep an eye out for which countries, fielding their own drones, follow down the path we’re pioneering, for in our age all war-making developments invariably proliferate—and fast.</p>
<p>The Element of Surprise</p>
<p>We know one thing: 2010 will be another year of war for the United States and, from assassination campaigns to new fronts in what is no longer called the Global War on Terror but is no less global or based on terror, it could get a lot uglier. The Obama administration may, from time to time, talk withdrawal, but across the Middle East and Central Asia, the Pentagon and its contractors are digging in. In the meantime, more money, not less, is being put into preparations and planning for future wars. As William Hartung points out, “if the government’s current plans are carried out, there will be yearly increases in military spending for at least another decade.”</p>
<p>When it comes to war, the only questions are: How wide? How much? Not: How long? Washington’s answer to that question has already been given, not in public pronouncements, but in that Pentagon budget and the planning that goes with it: forever and a day.</p>
<p>Of course, only diamonds are forever. Sooner or later, like great imperial powers of the past, we, too, will find that the stress of fighting a continuous string of wars in distant lands in inhospitable climes tells on us. Whether we “win” or not in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen, we lose.</p>
<p>Which brings us to our last question:</p>
<p>10. What will surprise us in 2010?</p>
<p>It would be the height of hubris to imagine that we can truly see into the future, especially when it comes to war. It is, in fact, Washington’s hubris to believe itself in control of its own war-making destiny, whether via shock-and-awe tactics that are certain to work, a netcentric military-lite that can’t fail, or most recently, a force dedicated to a “hearts and minds” counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan and, in the future, globally (under the ominous new acronym GCOIN).</p>
<p>The essence of war is surprise. So, despite all those billions of dollars and the high-tech weaponry, and the nine areas discussed above, keep your eyes open for the unexpected and confounding, and in the meantime, welcome to the grim spectacle of war American-style as the second decade of the twenty-first century begins in turmoil.</p> | true | 4 | story first appeared tomdispatch website according chinese calendar 2010 year tiger dont name years one might prospectively called year assassin course think something like peaceable kingdom shock september 11 2001 war came homeland mighty blow delivered symbols economic military andhad flight 93 gone field pennsylvaniapolitical power since day however war stranger land rarest exceptions like army psychiatrist major nidal hasans massacre fort hood texas country remained world without war kind mobilization war major terrorist attacks even victory gardens scrapmetal collecting rationing certainly war tax pay post911 trilliondollar expeditionary forces sent battle abroad foresight name last years domestically might reflected different kind carnage2006 year subprime mortgage 2007 year bonus 2008 year meltdown 2009 year bailout perhaps would want label 2010 prematurely year recovery although country delivers war regularly distant lands name safety dont really consider ourselvesatwardespite endless talk supporting troops money simply poured pentagon coffers weaponry conflicts rare exceptions never linked economic distress country yet nation warriors point view rest world certainly planets foremost warmakers money talks war may care society fund else least possible discussion debate fact according military expert william hartung pentagon budget risen every year new century unprecedented run history dominate global arms trade monopolizing almost 70 arms business 2008 italy coming vanishingly distant second put money funding war armed forces weaponry war next 25 countries combined thats without even including iraq afghan war costs garrison planet way empire nation history ever done plan future next waron ground seas spacein way surely unique two major wars twentyfirst century iraq afghanistan measure also get less bang buck nation recent history lets pause moment new year begins take stock truly preeminent warmaking machine planet earth lets peer future consider american way war might store us 2010 10 questions answers might offer reasonable hints much us war efforts likely intensify greater middle east well central south asia year come 1 busted largest defense budget history 2010 strange isnt debate hundreds billions dollars healthcare costs congress last almost year filled turmoil daily headlines 636 billion defense budget pass days late december essentially without discussion nary headline sight case think 636 billion honest figure think againand funding us nuclear arsenal actual homeland defense among things countries would chalk military costs wasnt included want put finger winds war 2010 keep eye something else included budget obama administrations upcoming supplemental funding request afghan surge west point speech announcing surge decision president spoke sending 30000 new troops afghanistan 2010 cost 30 billion news reports figure quickly morphed 3040 billion none justpassed pentagon budget fund widening war sometime first months new year president submit supplemental budget congresssomething bush administration repeatedly pay george ws wars something president still candidate swore wouldnt nonetheless happen keep eye 30 billion figure even distinctly lowball number going cause discomfort opposition presidents partyand yet theres way fully fund years striking escalation war question high go president doesnt dare ask congress extra funds found keep eye hints future supplemental budgets fighting afghan war forget iraq next decade could prove near trilliondollar prospect neither battles alqaeda taliban commanders killed true measure victory defeat afghan war americans home even victory modestly defined administrationblunting talibans version surgecould prove disastrous terms financial capabilities guns butter thats going surefire nogo keep watching asking busted could us 2011 2 us air force final piece afghan surge 2010 begins almost everything surge mode afghanistan including rising numbers us troops private contractors state department employees new bases period us air force drones excepted stood orders afghan war commander general stanley mcchrystal based new makenice counterinsurgency strategy hes implementing air power anything surging use air force even close support us troops situations afghan civilians anywhere nearby severely restricted already grumbling around military things dont go welland quicklyin expanding war expect frustration grow pressure rise bring air power bear already unnamed intelligence officials leaking warnings taliban insurgency expanding reach time running counterinsurgency strategies notorious long take bear fruit americans dying maintaining surge without surge air power sure test patience neither american strong suit keep eye air force next year planes start fly regularly destructively youll know things arent looking general mcchrystal campaign 3 big american presence pakistan 2010 ends lets start fact already bigger us imagine thanks nation magazine reporter jeremy scahill know base pakistans largest city karachi officers us joint special operations command help hired hands notorious private security contractor xe formerly blackwater plan targeted assassinations suspected taliban al qaeda operatives snatch grabs highvalue targets sensitive action inside outside pakistan small numbers us special forces operatives also reportedly sent train pakistans special forces us spies country us missile bombarmed drones cia air forcecontrolled conducting escalating operations countrys tribal borderlands us special operations forces conducted least four crossborder raids pakistans tribal borderlands unsanctioned pakistani government military one publicly reported country cia state department attempting pakistani resistance build personnel facilities incountry mind know situation secrecy order day rumors fly meantime obama administration threatening widen drone war possibly operations powderkeg province baluchistan afghan talibans leadership reportedly resides evidently pakistani protection fighters haqqani network linked taliban alqaeda pakistani border province north waziristan right threats washington clearly meant motivate pakistani military job instead unlikelyboth groups seen military key players countrys future antiindian policies afghanistanthey may remain mere threats long us moves likely widen afpak war destabilize nucleararmed pakistan addition pakistani military powerless visàvis us one thing robert dreyfuss nations dreyfuss report recently pointed potential stranglehold tortuous us supply lines afghanistan already attack taliban militants make war possible pakistan catch22 obamas surge vietnam war years sanctuaries across border ensure limited success escalating war effort going sanctuaries major way would warwidening move genuine desperation air force afghanistan watch pakistan spreading drone operations use us troops years end special operations forces us troops periodically ground country dont shocked however may explained represent dangerous failure first order 4 much smaller american presence iraq barack obama swept office part pledge end us war iraq almost year entered white house 100000 us troops still deployed country number february 2004 still plans developed end bush presidency later confirmed president obama set us apparent path withdrawal president unambiguous let say plainly told military audience february 2009 august 31 2010 combat mission iraq end intend remove us troops iraq end 2011 however robert gates secretary defense unequivocal recently visiting iraq disclosed us air force would likely continue operate country well future also said wouldnt bit surprised see agreements iraqis continues train equip advise role beyond end 2011 2010 expect platitudes withdrawal president administration spokespeople defense department officials military commanders offer pragmatic realistic assessments keep eye signs year coming nonwithdrawal withdrawal 2011 5 new year mean pentagons basebuilding plans war zones us war afghanistan ramps look american bases continue along last years path becoming bigger harder numerous permanentlooking estimates time take get presidents extra boots ground afghanistan increase look well construction helipads fuel pits taxiways tarmac space forward operating bases sprouting especially across southern parts country meant speed movement surge troops rural battle zones eschewing increasingly dangerous ground routes iraq expect consolidation small number us megabases american troops pull back ever fewer sites offering ever lower profile country keep eyes particular giant balad air base camp victory outside baghdad built long term washington doesnt begin preparing turn iraqis start thinking 2012 beyond elsewhere persian gulf region look us military continue upgrading many bases militarily working strengthen security forces country autocratic country saudi arabia qatar part continue rattle irans cage bases keep growing dont imagine us drawing region time soon 6 us israel thwart iranian insurgency iran long siege founding member george w bushs axis evil islamic republic long administrations hit list also found unenviable position watching american military occupy garrison two bordering countries iraq afghanistan also building bolstering bases nearby qatar bahrain kuwait oman united arab emirates obama administration poised increase key military aid irans nemesis israel pentagon flooded allied regimes region advanced weaponry years saberrattling sanctions encirclement threats nonetheless seemed little palpable effect 2009 however disputed election brought iranians streets months later theyre still foreign militarism couldnt ordinary iranians threaten accomplish earlier street protests young middleclass activists tehran chanting vote beaten martyred security forces today protests continue oppositional iranians social strata refusing retreat provoked sometimes fighting back police regimes fearsome basiji militia even inducing step aside switch sides continuing cycle everspreading arrests protests violence 2010 threatens destabilize regime washington reacts could however deeply affect happens memory cias toppling iranian prime minister mohammed mossadegh 1953 still alive iran perceived us interference could grave results iranian insurgency could israeli actions recently president obama evidently trying bring chinese line question imposing fiercer sanctions reportedly told chinas president united states could restrain israel attacking irans nuclear facilities much longer israeli attack would certainly strengthen current iranian regime undoubtedly would pressure increase potentially crippling sanctions country nuclear program either would help cement current tumultuous status quo middle east 7 yemen become fourth major front washingtons global war george w bush unabashedly proclaimed war president president obama seems taking mantle right obama administrations war fronts include inherited wars iraq afghanistan notsocovert war pakistan potential new war yemen also rarely commented upon ongoing military actions philippines usaided drug war colombia well periodic strikes somalia though surge afghanistan pakistan supposed contain alqaeda us finds focusing yet another country another organizations morphing offspring 2002 usa today article targeted assassination yemen began opening visible new front war terror us forces launched pinpoint missile strike yemen seven years later following multiple us cruise missiles launched country targeted air strikes air force usaided yemeni regime suspected hideouts al qaeda new york times announced midst two unfinished major wars united states quietly opened third largely covert front al qaeda yemen wake botched airplane terror attack single young nigerian muslim credittaking group calling alqaeda arabian peninsula usual cheery crew us war advocates lining behind next potential front war terror senator joseph lieberman iraq yesterdays war afghanistan todays war dont act preemptively yemen tomorrows war began oneoff bush assassination effort threatens become another obamas wars us sent special forces teams country pouring tens millions dollars yemens security forces dramatic move significantly arm yet another middle eastern country time usbacked saudi arabiawhose alliance washington ignited current war alqaedais aiding yemeni forces war houthi rebels witchs brew trouble keep eye yemen occasional side glance somalia failed state across gulf aden expect funding trainers proxy warfare possibly whole new conflict 2010 8 brutal american way war 2010 comes war americanstyle key word 2009 counterinsurgency coin think kindly version war american way strategy based clearing holding territory protecting civilian population value expounded afghan war commander mcchrystal lies killing enemy winning people paper sounds good like kinder gentler version war historically counterinsurgency operations almost invariably gone ditch brutality heres one word keep eyes 2010 counterterrorism consider dark underside counterinsurgency instead boots ground bullets head general mcchrystal recently counterterrorism guy ran joint special operations command jsoc iraq afghanistan operatives referred less politely manhunters think assassins mcchrystal general credits largescale assassination program great deal iraq surges success 2007 matter time counterterrorismwhich terrorism put uniform given anodyne namewas ramped afghanistan undoubtedly pakistan well though planes may still grounded special ops guys kick doors middle night often responsible grievous civilian casualties evidently going full tilt 2009 ended news blackops forces loosed significant way hitting press watch word counterterrorism proliferates youll know expanding afghan war getting dirty big way americans 2010 could year assassin 9 drones go 2010 theres one thing keep eye coming year might unmanned aerial vehicles drones flown secretly case air force distant aludeid air base qatar case cia even distantly langley virginia american drones already widening air war pakistani tribal borderlands washington threatens create even wider one think robotic planes leading edge global war americanstyle hot pursuit pakistan may still forbidden us troops afghanistan drones long kind hotpursuit carte blanche pakistans tribal borderlands perhaps important steal star trek line boldly go man gone since first drone assassination attack global war terrorin yemen 2002in several men reputedly alqaeda militants incinerated inside car drones taking war new territory already struck iraq pakistan afghanistan possibly somalia first robot terminators age symbolize loosing american warmaking powers oversight congress american people principle made borders hence national sovereignty increasingly insignificant assassination attacks launched 247 deem enemies basis unknown intelligence evidence drones little price paid regularly enough case enemies turn right place right time others die stead globally become worlds leading state assassinsa judge jury executioner beyond bounds accountability essence pilotless planes turn us law war unto chilling development watch spread 2010 keep eye countries fielding drones follow path pioneering age warmaking developments invariably proliferateand fast element surprise know one thing 2010 another year war united states assassination campaigns new fronts longer called global war terror less global based terror could get lot uglier obama administration may time time talk withdrawal across middle east central asia pentagon contractors digging meantime money less put preparations planning future wars william hartung points governments current plans carried yearly increases military spending least another decade comes war questions wide much long washingtons answer question already given public pronouncements pentagon budget planning goes forever day course diamonds forever sooner later like great imperial powers past find stress fighting continuous string wars distant lands inhospitable climes tells us whether win iraq afghanistan pakistan yemen lose brings us last question 10 surprise us 2010 would height hubris imagine truly see future especially comes war fact washingtons hubris believe control warmaking destiny whether via shockandawe tactics certain work netcentric militarylite cant fail recently force dedicated hearts minds counterinsurgency war afghanistan future globally ominous new acronym gcoin essence war surprise despite billions dollars hightech weaponry nine areas discussed keep eyes open unexpected confounding meantime welcome grim spectacle war americanstyle second decade twentyfirst century begins turmoil | 2,261 |
<p>If the Democrats were decent on immigration, not deplorable, they would tell Trump supporters that ending US wars and predatory trade agreements would stop immigration, or most of it, because most people would rather stay home and speak their own languages instead of fleeing bombs and economic desperation. They would have demanded that their 2016 presidential candidate explain those realities to Trump supporters instead of calling them “a basket of deplorables.” They would demand that Trump keep his promises to stop the invasions of Middle Eastern nations and revoke the trade agreements impoverishing peoples of both the Global North and Global South.</p>
<p>If the Democrats were committed to their flagship feminist, gender-neutral, and anti-racist politics, they would extend them to the female, queer, and dark-skinned peoples under US military and/or economic siege in the Global South.</p>
<p>If the Democrats were traumatized by the human consequences of Trump’s election, they would shut up about Russia and start working on a long-term plan to get rid of the electoral college, which gives inordinate power to the less populous, typically red, states. If the electronic voting machines and the patchwork quilt of voting and tallying procedures are to be believed—a big if—then Hillary Clinton won three million more votes than Trump.</p>
<p>If the Democrats wanted to inspire trust in Hillary’s three million vote margin or in any future electoral outcomes, they would call for junking all the electronic voting machines and instituting secure, nationally uniform methods of casting and counting ballots: paper ballots counted by hand and safely stored to make recounts possible. They would thereby propose to preclude any future election hacking by Russians, Republicans, or other potential miscreants, including their fellow Democrats. They would turn more attention to ending voter suppression than to $100,000 worth of Facebook ads generated by a troll farm.</p>
<p>If the Democrats were alarmed by Trump’s obscene tax cuts, they and all their 2018 congressional candidates would be campaigning on a (sincere) promise to repeal them, not just a few parts of them. (They’re longtime champions of corporate tax cuts, so they won’t want to disturb them much if at all.) They would also be promising to repeal the obscene Bush tax cuts that Barack Obama and his Democratic congressional majority extended in 2010.</p>
<p>Of course they can’t repeal any tax cuts so long as Trump has veto power, but presumably they’re hoping to win congressional majorities this year and the White House in 2020. It’s often difficult to believe that the Democrats do want to win, but let’s presume, for the sake of argument, that they do.</p>
<p>If the Democrats were distressed by the dictatorial and/or totalitarian implication of Trump’s military parade, they would stop sending shrill e-mails and circulating change.org and moveon.org petitions calling him an “authoritarian” and get real. What could be more authoritarian than US wars in seven nations, 800 to 1000 US military bases on foreign soil, and five geographic commands spanning the globe, plus space and cyber commands? What could be more authoritarian than the orders that US presidents gave and the coercive measures they imposed on all the other leaders and peoples of the world long before Trump moved into The White House? What could be more authoritarian than Hillary Clinton ordering the execution of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, then cackling, “We came, we saw, he died”?</p>
<p>If the Democrats were concerned about the estimated $21 million expense of Trump’s parade, they would ask Congressmen Mark Veasey, D-TX, and Mike Cohen, D-TN, to cut the partisan grandstanding, withdraw the ridiculously hypocritical “Preventing the Allocation of Resources for Absurd Defense Expenditures (PARADE)” bill that they introduced to stop it, and then take on the far larger and equally absurd “defense” expenditures in this year’s $700 billion military budget.</p>
<p>If the Democrats were worried by both the expense and the military muscle-flexing of Trump’s parade, Veasey and Cohen and other Democrats would help their constituents and local governments cancel the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds air shows that cost well over $70 million per year. (The Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds each have an annual budget of $35 million, and that doesn’t include the cost of all the other daredevil flying squads dispatched to entice poor and unemployed young folks into joining the US occupation of the world.)</p>
<p>Every time one of the Blue Angels FA-18 Hornets or the Thunderbirds F-16 Fighting Falcons crashes, the taxpayers are out $29 million, and one or more of them crashes most every year. On the same day in 2016, a Blue Angel FA-18 crashed at one air show, a Thunderbird at another, for a total loss of $58 million.</p>
<p>Twenty-six Blue Angels pilots have died in the air shows or training accidents. An even longer list of Thunderbird fatalities includes 19 who died in one day when a Thunderbirds’ C-123 Provider, a supportive cargo plane, crashed during an exhibition near Boise, Idaho.</p>
<p>A little-known fact about the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds air shows is that they’re not imposed on local communities, as most people seem to believe. Mayors, city councils, county boards of supervisors, and/or voters are free to cancel them anytime. The City and County of San Francisco hasn’t elected a Republican to any office since who knows when, but it has one of the nation’s most extravagant Fleet Week and Blue Angels air shows.</p>
<p>If the Democrats gave a damn about most Americans, not just elites, they would have long since heeded Dr. King’s words: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” If they cared about other people or the planet, they would have done whatever they could to shut down the trillion-dollar, nuclear weapons upgrade first proposed by President Obama.</p>
<p>If the Democrats had any interest in peace, more than a handful of them would have voted against the $1.4 trillion 2018-2019 war and weapons budget. (That’s $1.4 trillion prior to the supplemental war and weapons appropriations bills that always follow passage of the annual budget.) However, there’s no hypocrisy in that, because the Democrats haven’t&#160; pretended to care about peace for a long time. I can’t even remember a time when they did.</p> | true | 4 | democrats decent immigration deplorable would tell trump supporters ending us wars predatory trade agreements would stop immigration people would rather stay home speak languages instead fleeing bombs economic desperation would demanded 2016 presidential candidate explain realities trump supporters instead calling basket deplorables would demand trump keep promises stop invasions middle eastern nations revoke trade agreements impoverishing peoples global north global south democrats committed flagship feminist genderneutral antiracist politics would extend female queer darkskinned peoples us military andor economic siege global south democrats traumatized human consequences trumps election would shut russia start working longterm plan get rid electoral college gives inordinate power less populous typically red states electronic voting machines patchwork quilt voting tallying procedures believeda big ifthen hillary clinton three million votes trump democrats wanted inspire trust hillarys three million vote margin future electoral outcomes would call junking electronic voting machines instituting secure nationally uniform methods casting counting ballots paper ballots counted hand safely stored make recounts possible would thereby propose preclude future election hacking russians republicans potential miscreants including fellow democrats would turn attention ending voter suppression 100000 worth facebook ads generated troll farm democrats alarmed trumps obscene tax cuts 2018 congressional candidates would campaigning sincere promise repeal parts theyre longtime champions corporate tax cuts wont want disturb much would also promising repeal obscene bush tax cuts barack obama democratic congressional majority extended 2010 course cant repeal tax cuts long trump veto power presumably theyre hoping win congressional majorities year white house 2020 often difficult believe democrats want win lets presume sake argument democrats distressed dictatorial andor totalitarian implication trumps military parade would stop sending shrill emails circulating changeorg moveonorg petitions calling authoritarian get real could authoritarian us wars seven nations 800 1000 us military bases foreign soil five geographic commands spanning globe plus space cyber commands could authoritarian orders us presidents gave coercive measures imposed leaders peoples world long trump moved white house could authoritarian hillary clinton ordering execution libyan leader muammar gaddafi cackling came saw died democrats concerned estimated 21 million expense trumps parade would ask congressmen mark veasey dtx mike cohen dtn cut partisan grandstanding withdraw ridiculously hypocritical preventing allocation resources absurd defense expenditures parade bill introduced stop take far larger equally absurd defense expenditures years 700 billion military budget democrats worried expense military muscleflexing trumps parade veasey cohen democrats would help constituents local governments cancel navy blue angels air force thunderbirds air shows cost well 70 million per year navys blue angels air force thunderbirds annual budget 35 million doesnt include cost daredevil flying squads dispatched entice poor unemployed young folks joining us occupation world every time one blue angels fa18 hornets thunderbirds f16 fighting falcons crashes taxpayers 29 million one crashes every year day 2016 blue angel fa18 crashed one air show thunderbird another total loss 58 million twentysix blue angels pilots died air shows training accidents even longer list thunderbird fatalities includes 19 died one day thunderbirds c123 provider supportive cargo plane crashed exhibition near boise idaho littleknown fact blue angels thunderbirds air shows theyre imposed local communities people seem believe mayors city councils county boards supervisors andor voters free cancel anytime city county san francisco hasnt elected republican office since knows one nations extravagant fleet week blue angels air shows democrats gave damn americans elites would long since heeded dr kings words nation continues year year spend money military defense programs social uplift approaching spiritual death cared people planet would done whatever could shut trilliondollar nuclear weapons upgrade first proposed president obama democrats interest peace handful would voted 14 trillion 20182019 war weapons budget thats 14 trillion prior supplemental war weapons appropriations bills always follow passage annual budget however theres hypocrisy democrats havent160 pretended care peace long time cant even remember time | 620 |
<p>California Governor Jerry Brown on January 24 delivered his State of the State Address, portraying his administration as the “Resistance” to the policies of Donald Trump while at the same time praising the President for his plan to spend $1 trillion in infrastructure funding.</p>
<p>Many mainstream media outlets and some California politicians immediately gushed over the speech — apparently after not having heard or read the entire address.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the Governor vowed to “defend everybody – every man, woman and child – who has come here…and has contributed to the well-being of our state” and committed to protecting the state’s gains on immigration, health care and climate change, guided by the principles that make California “the Great Exception” – truth, civility and perseverance.”</p>
<p>Brown cited the English poet John Donne, who said, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”</p>
<p>“When California does well, America does well. And when California hurts, America hurts,” said Brown.</p>
<p>Brown also warned Californians that, “While no one knows what the new leaders will actually do, there are signs that are disturbing…We must prepare for very uncertain times.”</p>
<p>However, Brown then switched directions and praised President Trump’s plan for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.</p>
<p>He quoted Trump from his inaugural address, “We will build new roads, and highways, and bridged and airport, and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation.”</p>
<p>Brown proclaimed, “And in this, we can all work together – here in Sacramento and in Washington as well. We have roads and tunnels and railroads and even a dam that the President could help us with. And that will create good-paying American jobs.”</p>
<p>Departing from his prepared remarks, Brown then stated, “I say, ‘Amen to that, Brother!’” in reference to Trump’s focus on new infrastructure.</p>
<p>You can read Brown’s prepared speech <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/home.php" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta (RTD), responded to Brown’s address in a statement, questioning whether Brown sees “an ally in President Trump.”</p>
<p>“After declaring that California will lead the resistance against the Trump administration, he went on to praise Trump’s proposed infrastructure spending plan. Does Governor Brown see an ally in President Trump? Is he waiting for Federal approval of permits for this destructive project?” she asked.</p>
<p>“It seems that Governor Brown plans to compromise the health and safety of Delta residents for a project that will leave the Delta with water that will fail to meet Clean Water Act standards,” she stated.</p>
<p>She then outlined the damage that the Delta Tunnels would cause to West Coat fisheries, environmental justice communities, family farms and the people of California.</p>
<p>“The proposed Delta Tunnels received low marks once again from the EPA in October of 2015,” she said. “It will leave hundreds of thousands of people in the Delta, who are part of the California environmental justice communities, with degraded water quality, and will decimate California’s fisheries, and historic Delta farms. The project fails to meet the economic, social, and environmental justice standards that the Brown Administration claims to champion. Plus, before construction overruns, the project will cost with interest and operation fees around $60 billion. Brown is counting on Southern California ratepayers and property taxpayers to foot the bill.”</p>
<p>“Governor Brown wants to use Northern California water to create even more wealth for richer urban areas and the top 1% of growers on the westside of the San Joaquin Valley, at the expense of economically distressed Delta cities like Stockton. He wants President Trump to help him. This isn’t resistance,” concluded Barrigan-Parrilla.</p>
<p>“Governor Brown wants to use Northern California water to create even more wealth for richer urban areas and the top 1% of growers on the westside of the San Joaquin Valley, at the expense of economically distressed Delta cities like Stockton. He wants President Trump to help him. This isn’t resistance,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.</p>
<p>Besides giving his loud and extemporaneous “Amen” to the Trump Administration trillion-dollar infrastructure rhetoric, Brown in his state of the state speech also congratulated Californians for passing the water bond (no reason given), according to Ron Stork, senior policy advocate for Friends of the River.</p>
<p>“Governor Brown even told the assembled legislators that he would like to spend some of the Trump Infrastructure largess on ‘a dam,’ probably Sites Reservoir near his retirement ranch,” Stork pointed out. “That dam needs a lot of free money to be built. Ordinarily it would be too expensive to build and operate. So its backers hope to get $2.2 billion in state taxpayer money from the water bond that Brown boosted. Another couple or more of billions as a gift from Uncle Sam might be a sufficient subsidy.”</p>
<p>“Sunch frank rhetoric is a bit of a departure from some of the Brown Administration and Democratic leadership rhetoric proffered during the one-sided campaign for Proposition 1 that the bond was for ‘storage,’ privately attempting to sooth us with the notion that it would end up being spent on groundwater storage, not on dams. Well, it appears the Governor and the Republican Congress have dams (or ‘a’ dam) on their minds after all,” he concluded.</p>
<p>Background: the dark side of Brown’s environmental “legacy” exposed</p>
<p>Many mainstream reporters and editors have apparently done very little research into the actual environmental policies of the Brown administration, preferring to often act as virtual stenographers and press release writers for the Governor. Although I have written about Brown’s environmental policies in many articles published in an array of media outlets, it’s a good idea to review them once again.</p>
<p>The Governor’s “legacy project,” the Delta Tunnels/California WaterFix, poses a huge threat to the ecosystems of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Klamath and Trinity river systems, in contrast to Brown’s claims that the project “could help native fish rebound from the edge of extinction.” The project is based on the untenable premise that taking more water out of a river before it reaches the estuary will somehow “restore” the San Francisco Bay Delta and its precious fish and wildlife species.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the California WaterFix is not the only environmentally devastating policy promoted by Governor Jerry Brown. Brown is promoting the expansion of fracking and extreme oil extraction methods in California and is overseeing water policies that are driving winter run-Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species closer and closer to extinction.</p>
<p>As if those examples of Brown’s tainted environmental legacy weren’t bad enough, Brown has promoted carbon trading and REDD policies that pose an enormous threat to Indigenous Peoples around the globe; has done nothing to stop clear cutting of forests by Sierra-Pacific and other timber companies; presided over record water exports from the Delta in 2011; and oversaw massive fish kills of Sacramento splittail and other species in 2011.</p>
<p>Jerry Brown also oversaw the “completion” of so-called “marine protected areas” under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, overseen by a Big Oil lobbyist and other corporate interests, in December 2012. These faux “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling, fracking, pollution, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.</p>
<p>Governor Brown’s anti-environmental policies, particularly his fervent support of fracking in spite of his cynical eco-babble about “green energy” and “defending science,” are the result of the millions of dollars that Brown has received from Big Oil, Big Ag and other corporate interests in recent years.</p>
<p>Consumer Watchdog’s report, “Brown’s Dirty Hands,” documents donations totaling $9.8 million dollars to Jerry Brown’s campaigns, causes, and initiatives, and to the California Democratic Party since he ran for Governor from 26 energy companies with business before the state. The companies included the state’s three major investor-owned utilities, as well as Occidental, Chevron, and NRG.</p>
<p>The report alleges that energy companies donated $4.4 million to the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party gave $4.7 million to Brown’s re-election between 2011 and 2014. Consumer Watchdog submitted its report to the FPPC as a sworn complaint.</p>
<p>Brown spouts “green” rhetoric when he flies off to climate conferences and issues proclamations about John Muir Day and Earth Day, but his actions and policies regarding fish, water and the environment should be challenged by all of those who care about the future of California and the West Coast.</p>
<p>To read Brown’s Dirty Hands, <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/dirtyhands" type="external">go here</a>.</p> | true | 4 | california governor jerry brown january 24 delivered state state address portraying administration resistance policies donald trump time praising president plan spend 1 trillion infrastructure funding many mainstream media outlets california politicians immediately gushed speech apparently heard read entire address one hand governor vowed defend everybody every man woman child come hereand contributed wellbeing state committed protecting states gains immigration health care climate change guided principles make california great exception truth civility perseverance brown cited english poet john donne said man island entire every man piece continent part mainand therefore never send know bell tolls tolls thee california well america well california hurts america hurts said brown brown also warned californians one knows new leaders actually signs disturbingwe must prepare uncertain times however brown switched directions praised president trumps plan 1 trillion infrastructure spending quoted trump inaugural address build new roads highways bridged airport tunnels railways across wonderful nation brown proclaimed work together sacramento washington well roads tunnels railroads even dam president could help us create goodpaying american jobs departing prepared remarks brown stated say amen brother reference trumps focus new infrastructure read browns prepared speech barbara barriganparrilla executive director restore delta rtd responded browns address statement questioning whether brown sees ally president trump declaring california lead resistance trump administration went praise trumps proposed infrastructure spending plan governor brown see ally president trump waiting federal approval permits destructive project asked seems governor brown plans compromise health safety delta residents project leave delta water fail meet clean water act standards stated outlined damage delta tunnels would cause west coat fisheries environmental justice communities family farms people california proposed delta tunnels received low marks epa october 2015 said leave hundreds thousands people delta part california environmental justice communities degraded water quality decimate californias fisheries historic delta farms project fails meet economic social environmental justice standards brown administration claims champion plus construction overruns project cost interest operation fees around 60 billion brown counting southern california ratepayers property taxpayers foot bill governor brown wants use northern california water create even wealth richer urban areas top 1 growers westside san joaquin valley expense economically distressed delta cities like stockton wants president trump help isnt resistance concluded barriganparrilla governor brown wants use northern california water create even wealth richer urban areas top 1 growers westside san joaquin valley expense economically distressed delta cities like stockton wants president trump help isnt resistance said barriganparrilla besides giving loud extemporaneous amen trump administration trilliondollar infrastructure rhetoric brown state state speech also congratulated californians passing water bond reason given according ron stork senior policy advocate friends river governor brown even told assembled legislators would like spend trump infrastructure largess dam probably sites reservoir near retirement ranch stork pointed dam needs lot free money built ordinarily would expensive build operate backers hope get 22 billion state taxpayer money water bond brown boosted another couple billions gift uncle sam might sufficient subsidy sunch frank rhetoric bit departure brown administration democratic leadership rhetoric proffered onesided campaign proposition 1 bond storage privately attempting sooth us notion would end spent groundwater storage dams well appears governor republican congress dams dam minds concluded background dark side browns environmental legacy exposed many mainstream reporters editors apparently done little research actual environmental policies brown administration preferring often act virtual stenographers press release writers governor although written browns environmental policies many articles published array media outlets good idea review governors legacy project delta tunnelscalifornia waterfix poses huge threat ecosystems sacramento san joaquin klamath trinity river systems contrast browns claims project could help native fish rebound edge extinction project based untenable premise taking water river reaches estuary somehow restore san francisco bay delta precious fish wildlife species unfortunately california waterfix environmentally devastating policy promoted governor jerry brown brown promoting expansion fracking extreme oil extraction methods california overseeing water policies driving winter runchinook salmon delta longfin smelt green sturgeon species closer closer extinction examples browns tainted environmental legacy werent bad enough brown promoted carbon trading redd policies pose enormous threat indigenous peoples around globe done nothing stop clear cutting forests sierrapacific timber companies presided record water exports delta 2011 oversaw massive fish kills sacramento splittail species 2011 jerry brown also oversaw completion socalled marine protected areas privately funded marine life protection act mlpa initiative overseen big oil lobbyist corporate interests december 2012 faux yosemites sea fail protect ocean oil drilling fracking pollution corporate aquaculture human impacts ocean sustainable fishing gathering governor browns antienvironmental policies particularly fervent support fracking spite cynical ecobabble green energy defending science result millions dollars brown received big oil big ag corporate interests recent years consumer watchdogs report browns dirty hands documents donations totaling 98 million dollars jerry browns campaigns causes initiatives california democratic party since ran governor 26 energy companies business state companies included states three major investorowned utilities well occidental chevron nrg report alleges energy companies donated 44 million democratic party democratic party gave 47 million browns reelection 2011 2014 consumer watchdog submitted report fppc sworn complaint brown spouts green rhetoric flies climate conferences issues proclamations john muir day earth day actions policies regarding fish water environment challenged care future california west coast read browns dirty hands go | 851 |
<p>Now that the police believe they have in custody the Suburban Sniper, George W. Bush can once again try to get the people to focus on his message that as many as 24 million Iraqis need to be wiped off the earth in order to destroy Saddam Hussein and avenge the uncompleted work of George the Elder.</p>
<p>Saddam, with a Florida-rigged re-election, has done more to destroy human rights in Iraq than any other leader in that nation’s 70-year history as an independent kingdom. So far, the U.S. has been unable to remove Saddam by assassination or force. So, to kill Saddam, President Bush plans to destroy his country.</p>
<p>Beating the war drums at political pep rallies and at State dinners, the President has prepared Americans for war by declaring that Iraq has chemical, biological and, maybe, nuclear weapons. He says we are already fighting a war against terrorism. But, more than two dozen countries now have biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, and there is no credible evidence there are links between Iraq and the terrorists who destroyed about 3,000 lives on 9/11.</p>
<p>The talk of war with Iraq to stop terrorism and the possible use of weapons against the U.S. is probably the President’s smoke screen to divert attention from the oil slick lobby, which has a long fiduciary interest with the President and his aides. It is also the failure to deal with international terrorism and critical domestic issues. The U.S. hasn’t destroyed al-Queda, nor has it located Osama bin Laden, who may be dead or hiding in a country that was far less capable of waging war than Iraq. But, Iraq does have industrial complexes that blow-up much nicer than do caves for the 6 O’Clock News. Underlying all of these reasons is that the President wants to end the work his father failed to finish more than a decade earlier.</p>
<p>To assure compliance with his wishes, President Bush–with the rabid encouragement of the Vice-President, defense secretary, and attorney general–none of whom ever saw combat–has tightened the noose around the Constitution, declaring that dissent is unpatriotic. They have ordered new restrictions, scripted by the fear of “terrorism,” to be enforced against bookstores, libraries, and American citizens who once thought they were living in a democracy, and not in a nation that has adopted some of the tactics against its own citizens that dictatorships use against theirs.</p>
<p>When the U.S. finishes its sabre-rattling and when the President, backed by a waffling Congress, launches an invasion, we will learn that a war against Iraq may cost $9-$10 billion a month. We will also learn that a “pre-emptive strike,” the kind President Bush proposes and which Japan once launched against the U.S., will undoubtedly bring in additional countries on both sides, escalating the war, the financial cost, and the casualties. To make sure everyone knows we won, we will keep score.</p>
<p>Because most Americans didn’t understand the Vietnam War, and most came to oppose it, the government, aided by a gullible media, turned the war into a sporting contest, with points scored based upon body counts. The more “body kills,” the higher the score. By the end of the war, if readers believed the media and the military, they would have learned that every North Vietnamese and Viet Cong civilian and soldier was killed at least twice. Even accounting for inflated figures, the final score was about a million of the enemy and our allies killed vs. “only” about 54,000 Americans.</p>
<p>During the Gulf War, which helped restore American pride from what is now conceded as a military and diplomatic loss in Vietnam, “only” 282 of the 50,000-120,000 killed were Americans. The military had prepared for Dover Air Force Base to receive as many as 20,000 body bags. We proclaimed victory, but Saddam continued his dictatorship.</p>
<p>By the end of the U.S.-Iraqi War, we will destroy Iraq’s infrastructure, its businesses and homes; we will kill more civilians than military, and write it off as “collateral damage.” Then, as President Bush promised, we will rebuild Iraq at a cost of $150 to $250 billion, more than the President will budget for health care reform or educational improvements; more than he thinks appropriate to improve the transportation system or to reduce the levels of poverty in the United States. The $127 billion budget surplus, which vanished under this President’s stewardship, has been replaced by a $157 billion budget deficit, a reminder of the President’s dismal economic, domestic, and foreign policies.</p>
<p>For at least a decade, the United States will expend funds for an occupation army that future administrations will have to deal with.</p>
<p>Opposing the upcoming war are numerous military leaders who have distinguished themselves in battle and don’t believe a “pre-emptive strike” is necessary or wise. Among those who oppose the President’s call to arms without provocation are Gen. Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to this president’s father; Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf who led the Coalition force against Iraq in 1990-1991; and, for the most part, Gen. Colin Powell, currently secretary of state, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the Gulf War. They are well aware we may still need those 20,000 body bags for a war the enemy did not start.</p>
<p>But the only voice that counts is that of a former jet jockey for the Texas Air National Guard who never saw combat outside of a bar, and seems to think putting more than three million Americans in harm’s way justifies killing one dictator from the “axis of evil.”</p>
<p>Final Score: President Bush, 1; Everyone else’s opinion: It doesn’t count.</p>
<p>Walter Brasch, professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University, is the author of 13 books; his latest is “ <a href="" type="internal">The Joy of Sax: America During the Bill Clinton Era</a>” a probing and witty look at the Clinton administration. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:wbrasch@planetx.bloomu.edu" type="external">wbrasch@planetx.bloomu.edu</a></p> | true | 4 | police believe custody suburban sniper george w bush try get people focus message many 24 million iraqis need wiped earth order destroy saddam hussein avenge uncompleted work george elder saddam floridarigged reelection done destroy human rights iraq leader nations 70year history independent kingdom far us unable remove saddam assassination force kill saddam president bush plans destroy country beating war drums political pep rallies state dinners president prepared americans war declaring iraq chemical biological maybe nuclear weapons says already fighting war terrorism two dozen countries biological chemical nuclear weapons credible evidence links iraq terrorists destroyed 3000 lives 911 talk war iraq stop terrorism possible use weapons us probably presidents smoke screen divert attention oil slick lobby long fiduciary interest president aides also failure deal international terrorism critical domestic issues us hasnt destroyed alqueda located osama bin laden may dead hiding country far less capable waging war iraq iraq industrial complexes blowup much nicer caves 6 oclock news underlying reasons president wants end work father failed finish decade earlier assure compliance wishes president bushwith rabid encouragement vicepresident defense secretary attorney generalnone ever saw combathas tightened noose around constitution declaring dissent unpatriotic ordered new restrictions scripted fear terrorism enforced bookstores libraries american citizens thought living democracy nation adopted tactics citizens dictatorships use us finishes sabrerattling president backed waffling congress launches invasion learn war iraq may cost 910 billion month also learn preemptive strike kind president bush proposes japan launched us undoubtedly bring additional countries sides escalating war financial cost casualties make sure everyone knows keep score americans didnt understand vietnam war came oppose government aided gullible media turned war sporting contest points scored based upon body counts body kills higher score end war readers believed media military would learned every north vietnamese viet cong civilian soldier killed least twice even accounting inflated figures final score million enemy allies killed vs 54000 americans gulf war helped restore american pride conceded military diplomatic loss vietnam 282 50000120000 killed americans military prepared dover air force base receive many 20000 body bags proclaimed victory saddam continued dictatorship end usiraqi war destroy iraqs infrastructure businesses homes kill civilians military write collateral damage president bush promised rebuild iraq cost 150 250 billion president budget health care reform educational improvements thinks appropriate improve transportation system reduce levels poverty united states 127 billion budget surplus vanished presidents stewardship replaced 157 billion budget deficit reminder presidents dismal economic domestic foreign policies least decade united states expend funds occupation army future administrations deal opposing upcoming war numerous military leaders distinguished battle dont believe preemptive strike necessary wise among oppose presidents call arms without provocation gen brent scowcroft national security advisor presidents father gen norman schwartzkopf led coalition force iraq 19901991 part gen colin powell currently secretary state chairman joint chiefs gulf war well aware may still need 20000 body bags war enemy start voice counts former jet jockey texas air national guard never saw combat outside bar seems think putting three million americans harms way justifies killing one dictator axis evil final score president bush 1 everyone elses opinion doesnt count walter brasch professor journalism bloomsburg university author 13 books latest joy sax america bill clinton era probing witty look clinton administration reached wbraschplanetxbloomuedu | 531 |
<p>If you live in Falls Church, Virginia, and you see a funny looking aircraft circling over your neighborhood don’t be alarmed. It’s just the Pentagon looking for the sniper. CNN says Rummy wants to help out, so he has approved “military reconnaissance” of undetermined origin to snoop around the Washington area. CNN says the Pentagon has not disclosed what kind of equipment will be used. Yet earlier in the day I saw a report indicating the military will use General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator UAV drones. They even showed video footage of the damn things.</p>
<p>Rummy just shot another big hole in the Posse Comitatus Act. It’s looked like Swiss cheese for years, ever since the military was “enlisted” to combat evil drug dealers. You know, drug dealers who sell CIA certified heroin and cocaine on the streets of American cities. According to CNN, the Pentagon is not really trashing the Posse Comitatus Act because there is no “direct involvement” between the cops and the military.</p>
<p>Maybe the copywriters over at CNN need to read up on the Posse Comitatus Act. “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” Of course, Rummy does not need Congress to tell him what to do. His “guidelines,” recently published in the New York Times, demonstrate what he thinks about Congress and the American people.</p>
<p>Predator drones are “part of the Army or the Air Force,” even if guys in cammies and helmets toting M16s are not accompanying the cops as they look for the sniper. Well, a lot of cops are wearing cammies and helmets and toting M16s these days, so maybe the point is moot. I’m sure David Koresh didn’t see a lot of difference between ATF agents and Nazi storm troopers. Or did the father of Elian Gonzalez. Or do a lot of dark skinned people in America’s inner cities. But never mind. I’m digressing.</p>
<p>It’s October. That means the Pentagon may have to fly its drones in bad weather — and the Predator does not do well in rain, wind, snow, or cold temperatures. Predators crash, too, although the Pentagon does not release such embarrassing statistics. A French journalist reported a while back that a UAV drone was inadvertently thrown off course over Kosovo. It seems a French officer used the same radio frequency on which the UAV was operating. He interrupted the connection between the aircraft and its ground control station. The drone ended up in the hands of the Serbs, who were likely ecstatic. In 1998, the Pakistanis were thankful as well when two of Clinton’s cruise missiles went off target and landed in their front yard unscathed. It was a benefit bestowed to Pakistan’s missile program which, at the time, was under US embargo.</p>
<p>Think of all the air traffic over Washington. Think about all the telephone wires, high power lines, microwave towers and cell phone repeaters. Rummy’s idea of catching the sniper with the help of a drone is an accident waiting to happen. Maybe Rummy didn’t think this one through. Then again, maybe he did. Maybe this is yet another hole shot through the Swiss cheese that is the Posse Comitatus Act. Maybe if Dubya and Rummy keep blurring the lines a lot of us will no longer be able to tell the difference between cops and soldiers. Maybe we will finally believe this is what needs to be done to protect us from vicious terrorists. Maybe we will give up the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments to the Constitution in order to fight terrorism. Maybe we will give up the third amendment for good measure–you know, the one prohibiting “peacetime quartering of troops in private dwellings without owners’ consent” (well, the Pentagon will have to base those UAV stations somewhere). Then again, if Dubya has his way, peace will soon become a curious anachronism.</p>
<p>The absurdity of the whole sniper affair is stunning. For instance, last week Ari Fleischer remarked to reporters in the White House briefing room that “the cost of one bullet” was much preferable to war against Iraq. He was talking about taking out Saddam by way of assassination, something the CIA and military intel have done for decades — from Pegasus to Phoenix and beyond. In 1997, responding to Freedom of Information Act requests, the CIA released its notorious “Operation PBSUCCESS” assassination manual, used in the 1954 coup to oust — and kill — the elected president of Guatemala. So-called conservatives have talked about assassination and mass murder for years — killing people they disagree with by single bullet or multiple bunker-buster munitions. They now say the CIA must be allowed to get back into the murder and torture business. Some of us think they never got out of the business.</p>
<p>Dubya and clan have created a moral climate where murder is simply a political option — and, lately, the preferred political option. Instead of negotiation and containment, they insist on “pre-emption,” which is simply another word for killing the other guy before he even thinks about killing you — or maybe before he can extend the dreaded olive branch. Perhaps most insane and irresponsible, Team Dubya has managed to demolish the taboo surrounding the unthinkable use of nuclear weapons in the name of geopolitical expediency. It seems Dubya and Crew want the entire world to believe America is a nation filled with Washington Beltway snipers. America has a rep known around the world – everywhere, that is, except in America. Corporate media generated distraction and deception is an artform in the good old U.S. of A. History, as Henry Ford opined, is bunk.</p>
<p>Fact is, US politicians like mass murderers. In the recent past, the US befriended and supported — both overtly and covertly — sundry murderers and demented thugs. Here’s the short list — Mohamed Suharto (2 million killed in Indonesia, 250,000 in East Timor), Ferdinand Marcos (not only killed thousands in the Philippines, but also looted more than $35 billion), Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (had the democratically elected president of Chile murdered; thousands of political opponents killed and disappeared; 250,000 people gaoled, tortured, or exiled), Anastasio Somoza Debayle (50,000 killed in Nicaragua; 120,000 exiled and 600,000 made homeless), and Pol Pot (3 million killed, or between a quarter and a third of Cambodia’s population). Oh, and let’s not forget Saddam Hussein, acquaintance and yes-man of various US presidents until 1990 when he misunderstood his marching orders. He has gassed and killed his own people with US assistance.</p>
<p>The Washington sniper is small potatoes. More people are killed each week from unsafe working conditions, uninspected food, medical malpractice, and entirely legal (and profitable) drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. But then, of course, those are mundane and wholly non-sensational crimes when compared to a sniper who it now appears received his training — or, at least, his inspiration — from the US military. All told, the Washington sniper may turn out to be yet another unexpected instance of blowback, if not politically at least culturally.</p>
<p>But never mind. I think I hear a Predator buzzing outside my window.</p>
<p>KURT NIMMO is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:nimmo@zianet.com" type="external">nimmo@zianet.com</a></p>
<p>Cartoon by Ben Tripp.</p> | true | 4 | live falls church virginia see funny looking aircraft circling neighborhood dont alarmed pentagon looking sniper cnn says rummy wants help approved military reconnaissance undetermined origin snoop around washington area cnn says pentagon disclosed kind equipment used yet earlier day saw report indicating military use general atomics aeronautical systems predator uav drones even showed video footage damn things rummy shot another big hole posse comitatus act looked like swiss cheese years ever since military enlisted combat evil drug dealers know drug dealers sell cia certified heroin cocaine streets american cities according cnn pentagon really trashing posse comitatus act direct involvement cops military maybe copywriters cnn need read posse comitatus act whoever except cases circumstances expressly authorized constitution act congress willfully uses part army air force posse comitatus otherwise execute laws shall fined title imprisoned two years course rummy need congress tell guidelines recently published new york times demonstrate thinks congress american people predator drones part army air force even guys cammies helmets toting m16s accompanying cops look sniper well lot cops wearing cammies helmets toting m16s days maybe point moot im sure david koresh didnt see lot difference atf agents nazi storm troopers father elian gonzalez lot dark skinned people americas inner cities never mind im digressing october means pentagon may fly drones bad weather predator well rain wind snow cold temperatures predators crash although pentagon release embarrassing statistics french journalist reported back uav drone inadvertently thrown course kosovo seems french officer used radio frequency uav operating interrupted connection aircraft ground control station drone ended hands serbs likely ecstatic 1998 pakistanis thankful well two clintons cruise missiles went target landed front yard unscathed benefit bestowed pakistans missile program time us embargo think air traffic washington think telephone wires high power lines microwave towers cell phone repeaters rummys idea catching sniper help drone accident waiting happen maybe rummy didnt think one maybe maybe yet another hole shot swiss cheese posse comitatus act maybe dubya rummy keep blurring lines lot us longer able tell difference cops soldiers maybe finally believe needs done protect us vicious terrorists maybe give fourth fifth sixth amendments constitution order fight terrorism maybe give third amendment good measureyou know one prohibiting peacetime quartering troops private dwellings without owners consent well pentagon base uav stations somewhere dubya way peace soon become curious anachronism absurdity whole sniper affair stunning instance last week ari fleischer remarked reporters white house briefing room cost one bullet much preferable war iraq talking taking saddam way assassination something cia military intel done decades pegasus phoenix beyond 1997 responding freedom information act requests cia released notorious operation pbsuccess assassination manual used 1954 coup oust kill elected president guatemala socalled conservatives talked assassination mass murder years killing people disagree single bullet multiple bunkerbuster munitions say cia must allowed get back murder torture business us think never got business dubya clan created moral climate murder simply political option lately preferred political option instead negotiation containment insist preemption simply another word killing guy even thinks killing maybe extend dreaded olive branch perhaps insane irresponsible team dubya managed demolish taboo surrounding unthinkable use nuclear weapons name geopolitical expediency seems dubya crew want entire world believe america nation filled washington beltway snipers america rep known around world everywhere except america corporate media generated distraction deception artform good old us history henry ford opined bunk fact us politicians like mass murderers recent past us befriended supported overtly covertly sundry murderers demented thugs heres short list mohamed suharto 2 million killed indonesia 250000 east timor ferdinand marcos killed thousands philippines also looted 35 billion augusto pinochet ugarte democratically elected president chile murdered thousands political opponents killed disappeared 250000 people gaoled tortured exiled anastasio somoza debayle 50000 killed nicaragua 120000 exiled 600000 made homeless pol pot 3 million killed quarter third cambodias population oh lets forget saddam hussein acquaintance yesman various us presidents 1990 misunderstood marching orders gassed killed people us assistance washington sniper small potatoes people killed week unsafe working conditions uninspected food medical malpractice entirely legal profitable drugs tobacco alcohol course mundane wholly nonsensational crimes compared sniper appears received training least inspiration us military told washington sniper may turn yet another unexpected instance blowback politically least culturally never mind think hear predator buzzing outside window kurt nimmo photographer multimedia developer las cruces new mexico reached nimmozianetcom cartoon ben tripp | 716 |
<p>Update</p>
<p>: Sam Harris responds to the Muhammad cartoon controversy.</p>
<p>In recent days, crowds of thousands have gathered throughout the Muslim worldburning European embassies, issuing threats, and even taking hostagesחin protest over 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that were published in a Danish newspaper. The problem is not merely that the cartoons were mildly derogatory. The furor primarily erupted over the fact that the Prophet had been depicted at all. Muslims consider any physical rendering of Muhammad to be an act of idolatry. And idolatry is punishable by death. Criticism of Muhammad or his teachingwhich was also implicit in the cartoonsחis considered blasphemy. As luck would have it, blasphemy is also punishable by death. Pious Muslims, therefore, have two reasons to not accept less than a severing of the heads of those responsible,” as was elucidated by a preacher at the Al Omari mosque in Gaza.</p>
<p>Let us take stock of the moral intuitions now on display in the House of Islam: on Aug. 17, 2005, an Iraqi insurgent helped collect the injured survivors of a car bombing, rushed them to a hospital, and then detonated his own bomb, murdering those who were already mortally wounded as well as the doctors and nurses struggling to save their lives. Where were the cries of outrage from the Muslim world? Religious sociopaths murder innocents by the hundreds in the capitols of Europe, blow up the offices of the U.N. and the Red Cross, purposefully annihilate crowds of children gathered to collect candy from U.S. soldiers on the streets of Baghdad, kidnap journalists, behead them, and the videos of their butchery become the most popular form of pornography in the Muslim world, and no one utters a word of protest because these atrocities have been perpetrated ӓin defense of Islam. But draw a picture of the Prophet, and pious mobs convulse with pious rage. One could hardly ask for a better demonstration of the manner in which religious dogmatism and its pseudo-morality eclipses basic, human goodness. This behavior would be impossible without religious belief. It is time we realized that the endgame for civilization is not political correctness. It is not respect for the abject religious certainties of the mob. It is reason.</p>
<p />
<p>While ԓ <a href="" type="internal">An Atheist Manifesto</a> received considerable support from readers of Truthdig, a variety of criticisms surfaced in the reader commentary. I summarize and respond to some of these below:</p>
<p>1. Just because you havenԒt seen God doesnt mean He doesnҒt exist. Atheism, therefore, is as much an act of faith as theism is.</p>
<p>Bertrand Russell demolished this fallacy nearly a century ago with his famous teapot argument. As his response appears to me to be perfect, I simply offer it here:</p>
<p>Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.</p>
<p>If a valid retort to Russell has ever seen the light of day, Im not aware of it. As I tried to make clear in my essay, the atheist is not in the business of making claims on insufficient evidence, he merely resists such claims whenever they appear on the lips of the faithful. I donҒt think it can be pointed out too often that the faithful do this as well. Every Christian knows what it is like to find the claims of Muslimsthat the Holy Koran is the perfect word of God, that Muhammad flew to heaven on a winged horse, etc.חto be utterly incredible. Everyone who is not a Mormon knows at a glance that Mormonism is bogus. And everyone of every religious denomination knows what it is like not to believe in Zeus. Everyone has rejected an infinite number of spurious claims about God. The atheist rejects infinity plus one.</p>
<p>2. You will never get rid of religion, so criticizing it is just a waste of time.</p>
<p>I would be the first to admit that the prospects for eradicating religious dogmatism in our world do not seem good. Still, the same could have been said about efforts to abolish slavery at the beginning of the 19th century. Anyone who spoke about eradicating slavery in the United States around 1810 surely appeared to be wasting his time, and wasting it dangerously. The analogy is not perfect, but it is suggestive. If we ever do transcend our religious bewilderment, we will look back upon this period in human history with absolute astonishment. How could it have been possible for people to believe such things in the 21st century? How could it be that they allowed their world to become so dangerously fragmented by empty notions about God and Paradise? The answers to these questions are as embarrassing as those that sent the last slave ship sailing to America as late as 1859 (the same year that Darwin published “The Origin of Species”).</p>
<p>3. Religion is our only source of morality. Without it, we would be plunged into a secular moral chaos.</p>
<p>This concern is so widespread that I have responded to it at some length. A version of this response will soon be published in the magazine Free Inquiry ( <a href="http://www.secularhumanism.org" type="external">www.secularhumanism.org</a>) as The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos.Ӕ</p>
<p>One cannot criticize religious dogmatism for long without encountering the following claim, advanced as though it were a self-evident fact of nature: there is no secular basis for morality. Raping and killing children can only be really wrong, the thinking goes, if there is a God who says it is. Otherwise, right and wrong would be mere matters of social construction, and any society will be at liberty to decide that raping and killing children is actually a wholesome form of family fun. In the absence of God, John Wayne Gacy would be a better person than Albert Schweitzer, if only more people agreed with him.</p>
<p>It is simply amazing how widespread this fear of secular moral chaos is, given how many misconceptions about morality and human nature are required to set it whirling in a persons brain. There is undoubtedly much to be said against the spurious linkage between faith and morality, but the following three points should suffice.</p>
<p>If a book like the bible were the only reliable blueprint for human decency that we have, it would be impossible (both practically and logically) to criticize it in moral terms. But it is extraordinarily easy to criticize the morality one finds in bible, as most of it is simply odious and incompatible with a civil society.</p>
<p>The notion that the bible is a perfect guide to morality is really quite amazing, given the contents of the book. Human sacrifice, genocide, slaveholding, and misogyny are consistently celebrated. Of course, GodҒs counsel to parents is refreshingly straightforward: whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13: 24, 20:30, and 23:13-14). If they are shameless enough to talk back to us, we should kill them (Exodus 21:15, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Mark.7:9-13 and Matthew 15:4-7). We must also stone people to death for heresy, adultery, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, worshipping graven images, practicing sorcery, and for a wide variety of other imaginary crimes. Most Christians imagine that Jesus did away with all this barbarism and delivered a doctrine of pure love and toleration. He didnt (Matthew 5:18-19, Luke 16:17, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 20-21, John 7:19). Anyone who believes that Jesus only taught the Golden Rule and love of oneҒs neighbor should go back and read the New Testament. And pay particular attention to the morality that will be on display if he ever returns to Earth trailing clouds of glory (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, 2:8; Hebrews 10:28-29; 2 Peter 3:7; and all of Revelation). It is not an accident that St. Thomas Aquinas thought heretics should be killed and that St. Augustine thought they should be tortured. (Ask yourself, what are the chances that these good doctors of the Church hadnt read the New Testament closely enough to discover the error of their ways?) As a source of objective morality, the bible is one of the worst books we have. It might have been the very worst, in fact, if we didnҒt also happen to have the Koran.</p>
<p>It is important to point out that we decide what is good in the Good Book. We read the Golden and Rule and judge it to be a brilliant distillation of many of our ethical impulses; we read that a woman found not to be a virgin on her wedding night should be stoned to death, and we (if we are civilized) decide that this is the most vile lunacy imaginable. Our own ethical intuitions are, therefore, primary. So the choice before us is simple: we can either have a 21st century conversation about ethicsavailing ourselves of all the arguments and scientific insights that have accumulated in the last 2,000 years of human discourseחor we can confine ourselves to a first century conversation as it is preserved in the bible.</p>
<p>If religion were necessary for morality, there should some evidence that atheists are less moral than believers. But evidence for this is in short supply, and there is much evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>People of faith regularly allege that atheism is responsible for some of the most appalling crimes of the 20th century. Are atheists really less moral than believers? While it is true that the regimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were irreligious to varying degrees, they were not especially rational. In fact, their public pronouncements were little more than litanies of delusion–delusions about race, economics, national identity, the march of history or the moral dangers of intellectualism. In many respects, religion was directly culpable even here. Consider the Holocaust: the anti-Semitism that built the Nazi crematoria brick by brick was a direct inheritance from medieval Christianity. For centuries, Christian Europeans had viewed the Jews as the worst species of heretics and attributed every societal ill to their continued presence among the faithful. While the hatred of Jews in Germany expressed itself in a predominately secular way, its roots were undoubtedly religiousand the explicitly religious demonization of the Jews of Europe continued throughout the period. (The Vatican itself perpetuated the blood libel in its newspapers as late as 1914.) Auschwitz, the gulag and the killing fields are not examples of what happens when people become too critical of unjustified beliefs; to the contrary, these horrors testify to the dangers of not thinking critically enough about specific secular ideologies. Needless to say, a rational argument against religious faith is not an argument for the blind embrace of atheism as a dogma. The problem that the atheist exposes is none other than the problem of dogma itself–of which every religion has more than its fair share. I know of no society in recorded history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.</p>
<p>According the United Nationsג Human Development Report (2005), the most atheistic societies–countries like Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdomare actually the healthiest, as indicated by measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate and infant mortality. Conversely, the 50 nations now ranked lowest by the U.N. in terms of human development are unwaveringly religious. Of course, correlational data of this sort do not resolve questions of causalityחbelief in God may lead to societal dysfunction; societal dysfunction may foster a belief in God; each factor may enable the other; or both may spring from some deeper source of mischief. Leaving aside the issue of cause and effect, these facts prove that atheism is perfectly compatible with the basic aspirations of a civil society; they also prove, conclusively, that religious faith does nothing to ensure a societys health.</p>
<p>If religion really provided the only conceivable, objective basis for morality, it should be impossible to posit a non-theistic, objective basis for morality. But it is not impossible; it is rather easy.</p>
<p>Clearly, we can think of objective sources of moral order that do not require the existence of a law-giving God. In “The End of Faith,” I argued that questions of morality are really questions about happiness and suffering. If there are objectively better and worse ways to live so as to maximize happiness in this world, these would be objective moral truths worth knowing. Whether we will ever be in a position to discover these truths and agree about them cannot be known in advance (and this is the case for all questions of scientific fact). But if there are psychophysical laws that underwrite human well-beingҗand why wouldnt there be?җthen these laws are potentially discoverable. Knowledge of these laws would provide an enduring basis for an objective morality. In the meantime, everything about human experience suggests that love is better than hate for the purposes of living happily in this world. This is an objective claim about the human mind, the dynamics of social relations, and the moral order of our world. While we do not have anything like a final, scientific approach to maximizing human happiness, it seems safe to say that raping and killing children will not be one of its primary constituents.</p>
<p>One of the greatest challenges facing civilization in the 21st century is for human beings to learn to speak about their deepest personal concerns–about ethics, spiritual experience and the inevitability of human suffering–in ways that are not flagrantly irrational. Nothing stands in the way of this project more than the respect we accord religious faith. Incompatible religious doctrines have balkanized our world into separate moral communities, and these divisions have become a continuous source of human conflict. The idea that there is a necessary link between religious faith and morality is one of the principal myths keeping religion in good standing among otherwise reasonable men and women. And yet, it is a myth that is easily dispelled.</p>
<p /> | true | 4 | update sam harris responds muhammad cartoon controversy recent days crowds thousands gathered throughout muslim worldburning european embassies issuing threats even taking hostagesחin protest 12 cartoons depicting prophet muhammad published danish newspaper problem merely cartoons mildly derogatory furor primarily erupted fact prophet depicted muslims consider physical rendering muhammad act idolatry idolatry punishable death criticism muhammad teachingwhich also implicit cartoonsחis considered blasphemy luck would blasphemy also punishable death pious muslims therefore two reasons accept less severing heads responsible elucidated preacher al omari mosque gaza let us take stock moral intuitions display house islam aug 17 2005 iraqi insurgent helped collect injured survivors car bombing rushed hospital detonated bomb murdering already mortally wounded well doctors nurses struggling save lives cries outrage muslim world religious sociopaths murder innocents hundreds capitols europe blow offices un red cross purposefully annihilate crowds children gathered collect candy us soldiers streets baghdad kidnap journalists behead videos butchery become popular form pornography muslim world one utters word protest atrocities perpetrated ӓin defense islam draw picture prophet pious mobs convulse pious rage one could hardly ask better demonstration manner religious dogmatism pseudomorality eclipses basic human goodness behavior would impossible without religious belief time realized endgame civilization political correctness respect abject religious certainties mob reason ԓ atheist manifesto received considerable support readers truthdig variety criticisms surfaced reader commentary summarize respond 1 havenԒt seen god doesnt mean doesnҒt exist atheism therefore much act faith theism bertrand russell demolished fallacy nearly century ago famous teapot argument response appears perfect simply offer many orthodox people speak though business sceptics disprove received dogmas rather dogmatists prove course mistake suggest earth mars china teapot revolving sun elliptical orbit nobody would able disprove assertion provided careful add teapot small revealed even powerful telescopes go say since assertion disproved intolerable presumption part human reason doubt rightly thought talking nonsense however existence teapot affirmed ancient books taught sacred truth every sunday instilled minds children school hesitation believe existence would become mark eccentricity entitle doubter attentions psychiatrist enlightened age inquisitor earlier time valid retort russell ever seen light day im aware tried make clear essay atheist business making claims insufficient evidence merely resists claims whenever appear lips faithful donҒt think pointed often faithful well every christian knows like find claims muslimsthat holy koran perfect word god muhammad flew heaven winged horse etcחto utterly incredible everyone mormon knows glance mormonism bogus everyone every religious denomination knows like believe zeus everyone rejected infinite number spurious claims god atheist rejects infinity plus one 2 never get rid religion criticizing waste time would first admit prospects eradicating religious dogmatism world seem good still could said efforts abolish slavery beginning 19th century anyone spoke eradicating slavery united states around 1810 surely appeared wasting time wasting dangerously analogy perfect suggestive ever transcend religious bewilderment look back upon period human history absolute astonishment could possible people believe things 21st century could allowed world become dangerously fragmented empty notions god paradise answers questions embarrassing sent last slave ship sailing america late 1859 year darwin published origin species 3 religion source morality without would plunged secular moral chaos concern widespread responded length version response soon published magazine free inquiry wwwsecularhumanismorg myth secular moral chaosӔ one criticize religious dogmatism long without encountering following claim advanced though selfevident fact nature secular basis morality raping killing children really wrong thinking goes god says otherwise right wrong would mere matters social construction society liberty decide raping killing children actually wholesome form family fun absence god john wayne gacy would better person albert schweitzer people agreed simply amazing widespread fear secular moral chaos given many misconceptions morality human nature required set whirling persons brain undoubtedly much said spurious linkage faith morality following three points suffice book like bible reliable blueprint human decency would impossible practically logically criticize moral terms extraordinarily easy criticize morality one finds bible simply odious incompatible civil society notion bible perfect guide morality really quite amazing given contents book human sacrifice genocide slaveholding misogyny consistently celebrated course godҒs counsel parents refreshingly straightforward whenever children get line beat rod proverbs 13 24 2030 231314 shameless enough talk back us kill exodus 2115 leviticus 209 deuteronomy 211821 mark7913 matthew 1547 must also stone people death heresy adultery homosexuality working sabbath worshipping graven images practicing sorcery wide variety imaginary crimes christians imagine jesus away barbarism delivered doctrine pure love toleration didnt matthew 51819 luke 1617 2 timothy 316 2 peter 2021 john 719 anyone believes jesus taught golden rule love oneҒs neighbor go back read new testament pay particular attention morality display ever returns earth trailing clouds glory eg 2 thessalonians 179 28 hebrews 102829 2 peter 37 revelation accident st thomas aquinas thought heretics killed st augustine thought tortured ask chances good doctors church hadnt read new testament closely enough discover error ways source objective morality bible one worst books might worst fact didnҒt also happen koran important point decide good good book read golden rule judge brilliant distillation many ethical impulses read woman found virgin wedding night stoned death civilized decide vile lunacy imaginable ethical intuitions therefore primary choice us simple either 21st century conversation ethicsavailing arguments scientific insights accumulated last 2000 years human discourseחor confine first century conversation preserved bible religion necessary morality evidence atheists less moral believers evidence short supply much evidence contrary people faith regularly allege atheism responsible appalling crimes 20th century atheists really less moral believers true regimes hitler stalin mao pol pot irreligious varying degrees especially rational fact public pronouncements little litanies delusiondelusions race economics national identity march history moral dangers intellectualism many respects religion directly culpable even consider holocaust antisemitism built nazi crematoria brick brick direct inheritance medieval christianity centuries christian europeans viewed jews worst species heretics attributed every societal ill continued presence among faithful hatred jews germany expressed predominately secular way roots undoubtedly religiousand explicitly religious demonization jews europe continued throughout period vatican perpetuated blood libel newspapers late 1914 auschwitz gulag killing fields examples happens people become critical unjustified beliefs contrary horrors testify dangers thinking critically enough specific secular ideologies needless say rational argument religious faith argument blind embrace atheism dogma problem atheist exposes none problem dogma itselfof every religion fair share know society recorded history ever suffered people became reasonable according united nationsג human development report 2005 atheistic societiescountries like norway iceland australia canada sweden switzerland belgium japan netherlands denmark united kingdomare actually healthiest indicated measures life expectancy adult literacy per capita income educational attainment gender equality homicide rate infant mortality conversely 50 nations ranked lowest un terms human development unwaveringly religious course correlational data sort resolve questions causalityחbelief god may lead societal dysfunction societal dysfunction may foster belief god factor may enable may spring deeper source mischief leaving aside issue cause effect facts prove atheism perfectly compatible basic aspirations civil society also prove conclusively religious faith nothing ensure societys health religion really provided conceivable objective basis morality impossible posit nontheistic objective basis morality impossible rather easy clearly think objective sources moral order require existence lawgiving god end faith argued questions morality really questions happiness suffering objectively better worse ways live maximize happiness world would objective moral truths worth knowing whether ever position discover truths agree known advance case questions scientific fact psychophysical laws underwrite human wellbeingҗand wouldnt beҗthen laws potentially discoverable knowledge laws would provide enduring basis objective morality meantime everything human experience suggests love better hate purposes living happily world objective claim human mind dynamics social relations moral order world anything like final scientific approach maximizing human happiness seems safe say raping killing children one primary constituents one greatest challenges facing civilization 21st century human beings learn speak deepest personal concernsabout ethics spiritual experience inevitability human sufferingin ways flagrantly irrational nothing stands way project respect accord religious faith incompatible religious doctrines balkanized world separate moral communities divisions become continuous source human conflict idea necessary link religious faith morality one principal myths keeping religion good standing among otherwise reasonable men women yet myth easily dispelled | 1,311 |
<p>MEXICO CITY</p>
<p>Bush’s body posture betrays him. As he steps away from the podium after scrimmaging with reporters at a late June White House press conference, his shoulders slump precariously as if he were carrying a great burden and doesn’t know where to park it. The correspondents’ questions had been timid darts but the President is thin-skinned these days and they stung and turned off his brain so that he had appeared inarticulate yet again. How had this happened to him, the commander in chief of the worldwide crusade against terror?</p>
<p>Bush can’t help but feel a bit like Joe Btfsplk, “the world’s worst jinx” – remember the little guy who was always shadowed by a black cloud in Al Capp’s ornery strip “Little Abner”? His main man Kenny Boy Lay, the moneybags of his 2000 campaign, has just been handed an 11 count criminal indictment that could salt him away for the next 145 years. The news from Iraq is bleak (see “Burying Iraq, Burying Bush I”) and the June dip in job creation guarantees that Bush will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net job loss.</p>
<p>While Kerry the War Hero flashes his Vietnam credentials in TV commercial, no one believes the President when he alibis that the military accidentally destroyed the last shred of evidence that might have vindicated him on charges of desertion from the Alabama National Guard at the nadir of that evil war.</p>
<p>Even declaring victory in the Terror War has blown up in Bush’s face after the State Department “inadvertently” issued numbers that sought to prove incidents of terrorism had decreased to their lowest level since the 1970s when, in fact, such attacks were at a record high. We got the numbers wrong apologized Colin Powell whose capacity for public humiliation is pathological, underscoring once again that the brightest and biggest liars amongst the Bushites have no regard for human lives.</p>
<p>The scrawls on the wall are writ large. When the Democrats took two special House seat elections deep in rock-solid Republican turf and the margin of victory in both ballotings was attributed to the winning candidates’ opposition to the Bush war, Karl Rove woke up, caught a whiff of the coffee, and circled the wagons.</p>
<p>At the war council, one question led to another. The President was coming apart in public. He was like a man in a hole trying to dig his way out and with each shovelful only digging himself in deeper. Bush was digging his own grave, burying himself alive. The White House gang desperately needed to change the subject.</p>
<p>In the month I slept on North American mattresses during a recent West Coast promo tour for my latest literary opus “Murdered By Capitalism”, Bush’s ratings plummeted into the low 40s. 60% of those polled said the war in Iraq wasn’t worth it and a shade over 50% gave the President poor marks as commander in chief in the War on Terror. Overall, Bush had lost 13 points since April, one of the cruelest months for U.S. losses in Iraq. At this pace, simply by standing still, two white guys named John are moving into the White House next November.</p>
<p>How to staunch this hemorrhage? The Bush brain trust studies its options: trot out Osama on election eve? (Unpredictable.) Steal the election again, maybe this time in California where Arnold runs the circus and the voters cast their ballots electronically? (Two Bush election heists in a row strains credibility.) A fresh terrorist strike? (Could work – after all, Al Qaeda supports the U.S. president because “his stupidity and religious fundamentalism will benefit Islamic causes.”) Moreover, such an attack would allow the White House to call off the November elections until such time as the Fear Factor swells Bush’s majority, a brilliant strophe! Can we pin down the how to on this one, Dick “Fuck you!” Cheney urges?</p>
<p>While the legal beagles scope out the constitutional mechanisms to put the November election on hold, the war council decides on a short-term ploy to drive the wolves from the White House door: switching off Ronald Reagan.</p>
<p>“My father’s funeral provided some relief for the American people who were growing tired of seeing naked men on leashes on television” Ron Reagan Jr. optimized. The younger Reagan, a Buddhist, then asked the Sunday Times Magazine writer who she thought Jesus would have tortured?</p>
<p>Reagan’s death presented Bush with a platinum opportunity to recover his leaking credibility. Looking appropriately presidential for once, Bush hovered over the coffin laid out on the Capitol rotunda like a bereaved grandson as the flag dipped to half mast in national mourning for the amiable, Teflon-plated butcher of Central America (ask my friend Carlos Mauricio just how amiable Reagan’s hired killers were.)</p>
<p>But despite the hoopla, the Bushites have a hard time convincing a conspiracy-minded nation of much these days. Electronic rumors were soon swirling on the lunatic fringe that Rove and his boys had kept the ex-prez, reported brain dead in 2003, on ice for a year awaiting just such a crisis to spring his cadaver loose on an unsuspecting public.</p>
<p>We will never know the truth. Immediately after the Washington protocols, Reagan (if it was really Reagan inside that box) was flown back to southern California and sealed up in a hilltop crypt on the grounds of the presidential library. The only witnesses were several Secret Service agents and Duke Blackwood, the director of the Reagan Presidential Library which is located in Simi Valley, a suburban community populated entirely by Caucasians in whose superior courtrooms 12 years ago the cops who pulped Rodney King were declared innocent, thereby igniting the L.A. riots.</p>
<p>Whenever he died, Ronald Reagan was now dead again and burying his corporeal remains had provided only transient relief for a besieged administration. The war hangs like Coleridge’s albatross around the President’s neck, weighting him down, hunching him over. “We did the right thing,” he repeats at every campaign stop but he keeps having this sinking feeling. “We did the right thing” Now the parents of dead G.I.s are beginning to attend his rallies to ask what it was their kids died for?</p>
<p>John Kerry concurs wholeheartedly that “we did the right thing” in Iraq–both he and his running mate voted to allow Bush to invade that evil empire. Although the Johns now claim they were duped by CIA fakery, they both once again voted to prolong the war this June when the Senate unanimously approved a supplemental $25 billion USD Pentagon appropriation to sustain the slaughter in Iraq.</p>
<p>We just can’t turn tail and run, Kerry blurts up on the stump -“it would be unthinkable now for us to retire in disarray” exclaims the Vietnam war hero (translation: he mowed down a lot of Vietnamese) turned anti-war vet turned Senate political boss who has married his own considerable fortune to that of billionaire ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz to construct the most well-heeled candidacy ever foisted upon the Democratic party.</p>
<p>John Kerry has no intention of tamping down the bloodshed in Iraq. What he wants instead is a better, cleaner, wider (a real multilateral coalition) war, a “victory” to be followed by “peace with honor.” Oops, sorry! Another Vietnam flashback.</p>
<p>Now the Kerry-Edwards war mongering will be set in concrete in Boston when the “Democratic” Party platform will back the Bush war, call for 40,000 more troops for Iraq and 16 more months of bloody occupation. Where have we heard this before? (Try 1968 in Chicago.)</p>
<p>As Bill Clinton successfully argued with Amy Goodman in a telling 2000 election morning interview, there are significant distinctions on domestic policy between the two heads of the American Cyclops–but when it comes to Iraq, both heads agree that the murder must go on. Am I having yet another Vietnam flashback?</p>
<p>Under the Democratic war plan and extrapolating Vietnam as a model, we can anticipate ten years more of G.I. body parts littering the Baghdad streets. If the coalition dead total a thousand now, they will total ten thousand then. If either Kerry or Bush is selected to govern these United States in November, the war will go on and on and on.</p>
<p>The U.S. Left has two fundamental tasks: (1) to effectively oppose Washington’s aggressions against the rest of the planet and its peoples, and (2) to build an alternative to the bi-cephalic monster that passes itself off as the party system in our country. In 2004, we have failed abjectly on both counts.</p>
<p>In our frenzy to beat Bush, we have frittered away what political capital we had accrued from 2000 when the Dems falsely perceived that the Greens had stolen the election for Bush. In truth, Nader may have damaged Gore in New Hampshire but Gore crushed him in Florida and would have won the state if his party had not allowed the Supreme Court to shut down the vote count.</p>
<p>Whether or not the Greens actually stole the election from the Democratic Party is moot–what’s pertinent is that the Democratic Party believes this fantasy, and such a perception, under threat of further damage this November, could have been used to club delegates in Boston like so many baby harp seals into accepting an anti-war plank in exchange for the retirement of a Nader candidacy. Indeed, securing such a plank was the only justification for yet another Nader candidacy.</p>
<p>Under such a scenario, Green votes could then have been honorably blended into the much-hoped for Democratic landslide which, even if it sustains capitalist exploitation, at least will allow the planet and its people a little breathing room for the near future.</p>
<p>But it was not to be. In mid-June, the Left, or at least the green part of it, convened in a Milwaukee convention center and denied the Great Nader and his just-announced running mate Peter Camejo, a California Green bigwig, ex-Trot, and “responsible” investment broker (comrades at table recently startled me by complaining about all the money they had lost to his responsible investments) who had pledged to carry the anti-war spear across the nation.</p>
<p>The eventual selection of David Cobb, not a Texas lawyer at all as he was touted to be but rather, one more refugee from Ecotopia (Eureka California) as Green Party presidential candidate, nullified any leverage the party might have had over the Democratic platform. Cobb’s “safe states” strategy, Svengalied by Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin under the baton of facilitator Matt (“four letters that will turn back the darkness”) Gonzalez, San Francisco’s one-time almost Green mayor, is sort of like safe sex. Under Cobb’s scheme, Green voters in swing states where Kerry is endangered would be free to don full-body condoms soas not to be infected by the virus of expediency and cast their suffrage for the war party of their choice. This is how the U.S. Left lost the presidential election of 2004.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, his petition drives obstructed by Democrat and Republican militias trying to keep him on and off the ballots in Arizona and Oregon, Nader, the only Arab candidate for U.S. president, has been reduced to appearing on just six state ballots as the standard bearer of the Reform Party. Created in 1992 by H. Ross Perot to battle NAFTA, the Reform Party stole the election from the first Bush for Clinton when the pipsqueak Texas billionaire pulled 19% of the popular vote, a third party effort you never hear the Democrats grousing about. Nader, who took a measly 3% in 2000, inherited the shell of the Reform machine from the Buchananites, racist rats who sacked the party and then abandoned ship after 2000. No wonder Michael Moore has decided to put clothespins on his schnoz and vote for warmonger Kerry.</p>
<p>Although Moore is often so full of himself (and that is a lot to fill) that he never seems to notice the U.S. is not the center of the universe, “Fahrenheit 9/11” (Ray Bradbury charges the cineaste stole his title “and couldn’t even get the numbers right”) performs an important service–if only for the final line of the screen credits urging the viewer to “do something.” The movie truly incites one to go out and kick some ass–I saw the flick at the venerable Minor Theater in Arcata California and my first impulse was to kick out every window in that north coast town’s boutique-ridden plaza.</p>
<p>Some of the most valuable footage recovered by Moore, along with the Bushites’ blunders and Saudi Arabian peccadilloes, was that of members of the congressional black caucus pleading fruitlessly for a single senator to sign their petition protesting disenfranchisement of black voters in the Florida election that gave the state and the presidency to Bush as Al Gore gaveled them down one by one.</p>
<p>The wannabe Wahabis’ protests that “9/11” is racist because it speaks ill of the Saudi royal family is so patently absurd that it merits mention here. The Bush Saudis put on a full court press to keep the film in the can until after the November elections, pushing their pals at Disney to put a hammerlock on Miramax which wanted this potential election summer blockbuster so bad it formed a separate company and gave up 60% of the profits to white bread charities, in its lust to distribute it.</p>
<p>Thirsting for revenge, the Bush Saudis had Jack Valenti slap an R rating on “Fahrenheit” to keep 17 year-olds about to be sucked up by both the military and/or the voting booth from seeing the awful truth. Sneak into the theaters, Moore advised the kids, steal the DVD! (an update of St. Abbie’s Steal This Book!)</p>
<p>Despite the giveaway, 21 million Americans stormed more than 500 screens the first weekend “9/11” was out, whipping “White Chicks” handily for the top gross (“Spiderman II” buried Moore the next week.)</p>
<p>“Fahrenheit 9/11” won the Palme de Oro at Cannes as a gesture of worldwide aberrance for Bush and his mafia but weathers critical appraisal on its own merits. The San Francisco Chronicle even extolled it as “Red Dawn” in reverse, comparing Moore’s docudrama with that Reagan-era neo-con classic in which Soviet ogres invade the U.S. across the Mexican border and are ultimately repelled by Colorado high school jocks turned guerrilla freedom fighters–only this time around, we are the Soviet ogres.</p>
<p>Sadly, Moore’s flag-waving dulls his blade and “9/11” becomes a maudlin lament for our boys and girls in uniform who have volunteered to kill and be killed in the name of Yanqui imperialism. In the end, “Fahrenheit 9/11” is all about converting those 21 million admissions into votes for the war candidate John Kerry. The Left loses again.</p>
<p>Now the convention madness is upon us and Tom Ridge is warning that the terrorists could strike in Boston and, more pertinently, at Madison Square Garden where the Bushwas will convene on the eve of the third anniversary of 9/11 in the shadow of the World Trade Center to commodity a national tragedy for which their president shares maximum responsibility. The color-coded terror alerts will be a green light for mass police suppression a la Chicago ’68 that will turn Manhattan at the end of August into a remake of another neo-con classic, “Escape From New York.” I wouldn’t miss it for the world.</p>
<p>Whether Al Qaeda strikes during the conventions or before or after the November election or never, the Islamic militants have already hijacked the first Tuesday in November. They are now calling the shots, defining the agenda, dominating the content, and deciding the winner.</p>
<p>What does Osama want? U.S. troops out of the Muslim world? I’m for that. A free Palestinian state? I’m really for that. In fact, I think we ought to cut our losses, sue for peace, and turn tail and run although saying so will get my face bashed in in any red-blooded redneck bar from California up to Maine these days.</p>
<p>Eerily, at the Arcata showing, Moore’s docudrama was accompanied by a trailer for another classic of the genre–“The Battle of Algiers”, a movie that changed my life the first time around.</p>
<p>Last year, as the occupation began to encounter resistance, the Pentagon launched weekly lunch hour showings of this monumental work. The idea I think was to teach officers a lesson about winning and losing the hearts and minds of an occupied Muslim population but the showings did little good. Bush has lost the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people hands down just as he has lost the hearts and minds of my fellow Americans. John Kerry, unfortunately, does not fill the vacuum.</p>
<p>On or about twilight this past July 4th, a handful of spectators milled about the flag-bedecked parking lot of the Patriot mini-mall between the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet and the Greyhound depot in Eureka California. The fog was opaque. The fireworks down on the docks lifted into the gloom, disappeared with a dull thud in the thick soup, and were lost forever in the fog of war blanketing America in the summer of 2004.</p>
<p>Like Bush, I too have this sinking feeling. We will bury him in November but his war will go on and on and on.</p>
<p>JOHN ROSS will be on the spot in Mexico City for much of July and August before sallying forth to do maximum mischief at the Republican National Convention in Manhattan from where he will launch the intergalactic tour of his latest instant cult classic “ <a href="" type="internal">Murdered By Capitalism–A Memoir of 150 Years of Life &amp; Death on the U.S. Left</a>“.</p> | true | 4 | mexico city bushs body posture betrays steps away podium scrimmaging reporters late june white house press conference shoulders slump precariously carrying great burden doesnt know park correspondents questions timid darts president thinskinned days stung turned brain appeared inarticulate yet happened commander chief worldwide crusade terror bush cant help feel bit like joe btfsplk worlds worst jinx remember little guy always shadowed black cloud al capps ornery strip little abner main man kenny boy lay moneybags 2000 campaign handed 11 count criminal indictment could salt away next 145 years news iraq bleak see burying iraq burying bush june dip job creation guarantees bush first president since herbert hoover preside net job loss kerry war hero flashes vietnam credentials tv commercial one believes president alibis military accidentally destroyed last shred evidence might vindicated charges desertion alabama national guard nadir evil war even declaring victory terror war blown bushs face state department inadvertently issued numbers sought prove incidents terrorism decreased lowest level since 1970s fact attacks record high got numbers wrong apologized colin powell whose capacity public humiliation pathological underscoring brightest biggest liars amongst bushites regard human lives scrawls wall writ large democrats took two special house seat elections deep rocksolid republican turf margin victory ballotings attributed winning candidates opposition bush war karl rove woke caught whiff coffee circled wagons war council one question led another president coming apart public like man hole trying dig way shovelful digging deeper bush digging grave burying alive white house gang desperately needed change subject month slept north american mattresses recent west coast promo tour latest literary opus murdered capitalism bushs ratings plummeted low 40s 60 polled said war iraq wasnt worth shade 50 gave president poor marks commander chief war terror overall bush lost 13 points since april one cruelest months us losses iraq pace simply standing still two white guys named john moving white house next november staunch hemorrhage bush brain trust studies options trot osama election eve unpredictable steal election maybe time california arnold runs circus voters cast ballots electronically two bush election heists row strains credibility fresh terrorist strike could work al qaeda supports us president stupidity religious fundamentalism benefit islamic causes moreover attack would allow white house call november elections time fear factor swells bushs majority brilliant strophe pin one dick fuck cheney urges legal beagles scope constitutional mechanisms put november election hold war council decides shortterm ploy drive wolves white house door switching ronald reagan fathers funeral provided relief american people growing tired seeing naked men leashes television ron reagan jr optimized younger reagan buddhist asked sunday times magazine writer thought jesus would tortured reagans death presented bush platinum opportunity recover leaking credibility looking appropriately presidential bush hovered coffin laid capitol rotunda like bereaved grandson flag dipped half mast national mourning amiable teflonplated butcher central america ask friend carlos mauricio amiable reagans hired killers despite hoopla bushites hard time convincing conspiracyminded nation much days electronic rumors soon swirling lunatic fringe rove boys kept exprez reported brain dead 2003 ice year awaiting crisis spring cadaver loose unsuspecting public never know truth immediately washington protocols reagan really reagan inside box flown back southern california sealed hilltop crypt grounds presidential library witnesses several secret service agents duke blackwood director reagan presidential library located simi valley suburban community populated entirely caucasians whose superior courtrooms 12 years ago cops pulped rodney king declared innocent thereby igniting la riots whenever died ronald reagan dead burying corporeal remains provided transient relief besieged administration war hangs like coleridges albatross around presidents neck weighting hunching right thing repeats every campaign stop keeps sinking feeling right thing parents dead gis beginning attend rallies ask kids died john kerry concurs wholeheartedly right thing iraqboth running mate voted allow bush invade evil empire although johns claim duped cia fakery voted prolong war june senate unanimously approved supplemental 25 billion usd pentagon appropriation sustain slaughter iraq cant turn tail run kerry blurts stump would unthinkable us retire disarray exclaims vietnam war hero translation mowed lot vietnamese turned antiwar vet turned senate political boss married considerable fortune billionaire ketchup heiress teresa heinz construct wellheeled candidacy ever foisted upon democratic party john kerry intention tamping bloodshed iraq wants instead better cleaner wider real multilateral coalition war victory followed peace honor oops sorry another vietnam flashback kerryedwards war mongering set concrete boston democratic party platform back bush war call 40000 troops iraq 16 months bloody occupation heard try 1968 chicago bill clinton successfully argued amy goodman telling 2000 election morning interview significant distinctions domestic policy two heads american cyclopsbut comes iraq heads agree murder must go yet another vietnam flashback democratic war plan extrapolating vietnam model anticipate ten years gi body parts littering baghdad streets coalition dead total thousand total ten thousand either kerry bush selected govern united states november war go us left two fundamental tasks 1 effectively oppose washingtons aggressions rest planet peoples 2 build alternative bicephalic monster passes party system country 2004 failed abjectly counts frenzy beat bush frittered away political capital accrued 2000 dems falsely perceived greens stolen election bush truth nader may damaged gore new hampshire gore crushed florida would state party allowed supreme court shut vote count whether greens actually stole election democratic party mootwhats pertinent democratic party believes fantasy perception threat damage november could used club delegates boston like many baby harp seals accepting antiwar plank exchange retirement nader candidacy indeed securing plank justification yet another nader candidacy scenario green votes could honorably blended muchhoped democratic landslide even sustains capitalist exploitation least allow planet people little breathing room near future midjune left least green part convened milwaukee convention center denied great nader justannounced running mate peter camejo california green bigwig extrot responsible investment broker comrades table recently startled complaining money lost responsible investments pledged carry antiwar spear across nation eventual selection david cobb texas lawyer touted rather one refugee ecotopia eureka california green party presidential candidate nullified leverage party might democratic platform cobbs safe states strategy svengalied code pinks medea benjamin baton facilitator matt four letters turn back darkness gonzalez san franciscos onetime almost green mayor sort like safe sex cobbs scheme green voters swing states kerry endangered would free fullbody condoms soas infected virus expediency cast suffrage war party choice us left lost presidential election 2004 meanwhile petition drives obstructed democrat republican militias trying keep ballots arizona oregon nader arab candidate us president reduced appearing six state ballots standard bearer reform party created 1992 h ross perot battle nafta reform party stole election first bush clinton pipsqueak texas billionaire pulled 19 popular vote third party effort never hear democrats grousing nader took measly 3 2000 inherited shell reform machine buchananites racist rats sacked party abandoned ship 2000 wonder michael moore decided put clothespins schnoz vote warmonger kerry although moore often full lot fill never seems notice us center universe fahrenheit 911 ray bradbury charges cineaste stole title couldnt even get numbers right performs important serviceif final line screen credits urging viewer something movie truly incites one go kick assi saw flick venerable minor theater arcata california first impulse kick every window north coast towns boutiqueridden plaza valuable footage recovered moore along bushites blunders saudi arabian peccadilloes members congressional black caucus pleading fruitlessly single senator sign petition protesting disenfranchisement black voters florida election gave state presidency bush al gore gaveled one one wannabe wahabis protests 911 racist speaks ill saudi royal family patently absurd merits mention bush saudis put full court press keep film november elections pushing pals disney put hammerlock miramax wanted potential election summer blockbuster bad formed separate company gave 60 profits white bread charities lust distribute thirsting revenge bush saudis jack valenti slap r rating fahrenheit keep 17 yearolds sucked military andor voting booth seeing awful truth sneak theaters moore advised kids steal dvd update st abbies steal book despite giveaway 21 million americans stormed 500 screens first weekend 911 whipping white chicks handily top gross spiderman ii buried moore next week fahrenheit 911 palme de oro cannes gesture worldwide aberrance bush mafia weathers critical appraisal merits san francisco chronicle even extolled red dawn reverse comparing moores docudrama reaganera neocon classic soviet ogres invade us across mexican border ultimately repelled colorado high school jocks turned guerrilla freedom fightersonly time around soviet ogres sadly moores flagwaving dulls blade 911 becomes maudlin lament boys girls uniform volunteered kill killed name yanqui imperialism end fahrenheit 911 converting 21 million admissions votes war candidate john kerry left loses convention madness upon us tom ridge warning terrorists could strike boston pertinently madison square garden bushwas convene eve third anniversary 911 shadow world trade center commodity national tragedy president shares maximum responsibility colorcoded terror alerts green light mass police suppression la chicago 68 turn manhattan end august remake another neocon classic escape new york wouldnt miss world whether al qaeda strikes conventions november election never islamic militants already hijacked first tuesday november calling shots defining agenda dominating content deciding winner osama want us troops muslim world im free palestinian state im really fact think ought cut losses sue peace turn tail run although saying get face bashed redblooded redneck bar california maine days eerily arcata showing moores docudrama accompanied trailer another classic genrethe battle algiers movie changed life first time around last year occupation began encounter resistance pentagon launched weekly lunch hour showings monumental work idea think teach officers lesson winning losing hearts minds occupied muslim population showings little good bush lost hearts minds iraqi people hands lost hearts minds fellow americans john kerry unfortunately fill vacuum twilight past july 4th handful spectators milled flagbedecked parking lot patriot minimall allyoucaneat chinese buffet greyhound depot eureka california fog opaque fireworks docks lifted gloom disappeared dull thud thick soup lost forever fog war blanketing america summer 2004 like bush sinking feeling bury november war go john ross spot mexico city much july august sallying forth maximum mischief republican national convention manhattan launch intergalactic tour latest instant cult classic murdered capitalisma memoir 150 years life amp death us left | 1,653 |
<p>Introduction by Tom Engelhardt</p>
<p>[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Here’s a scheduling update. I’ll be out of town and largely off-line Wednesday through Sunday, though it should barely affect the TD send-out schedule. I will, however, be unlikely to respond to letters, requests, admonitions, or anything else that comes in. As I’ve said before, I think of the TD email box as the university of my later life, regularly filled with surprises and fascinations, and I read everything that arrives with some care. I do my best to answer all of you, however briefly, but as I’m usually the only one here and regularly drowning in my complicated life, it’s a hit or miss matter. Don’t think, because no reply comes back, that I don’t appreciate hearing from you. In addition, I’m truly appreciative of those who so generously have used the “Resist Empire. Support TomDispatch” button and sent in contributions (including recurring ones). They allow us to offer a little extra money to young writers, to be a bit more adventurous in thinking about future pieces, and to build up a modest rainy-day fund for… sigh… bad times. Think of this, then, as my collective bow to all of you, since I don’t thank contributors individually. Tom]</p>
<p>Leaving London’s March fog for the Caribbean’s balmy tropical breezes, Barack Obama this week continues his administration’s efforts to push the “reset” button on U.S. foreign relations. On Friday, he will attend the Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. More than five centuries ago, that archipelago nation was one of Christopher Columbus’s first stops. It’s safe to say that, as in London and Paris, Obama will be greeted with fervor there.</p>
<p>After eight disastrous years of George W. Bush, Latin Americans are ready to breathe an enormous sigh of relief. The new U.S. president is wildly popular. Even Fidel Castro <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/globalNews/idUKN0748416820090409?pageNumber=2&amp;virtualBrandChannel=0" type="external">asked</a> a visiting delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus how he could “help President Obama” succeed—though Cuba is the only American nation excluded from the meeting.</p>
<p>Keep an eye on how Obama’s new policies begin to play out this week in Latin America, since—as historian Greg Grandin has written in his superb book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805083235/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external">Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism</a>—previous administrations have regularly sorted out their future global policies in “our backyard.” (Coming in June, by the way, is Grandin’s newest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805082360/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external">Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City</a>, a deep dive into another hubris-ridden American experiment in Latin America.) History isn’t exactly an American strength, but understanding where we’ve been is a great, underused tool when it comes to grasping where we might be heading. No writer at this site does that better than TomDispatch regular Grandin. So prepare to take a remarkable tour of our south-of-the-border past, all in the service of illuminating our unsettled and potentially unsettling future. Tom&#160;</p>
<p>What Can Obama Do in Latin America? By Greg Grandin</p>
<p>What if Barack Obama had picked the Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel or Democracy Now! anchor Amy Goodman to advise him at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this week? Unlikely, to say the least, but 75 years ago President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did something just like that, tapping a former Nation editor and fierce critic of U.S. militarism to advise his administration on Latin American policy. As a result—consider this your curious, yet little known, fact of the day—anti-imperialism saved the American empire.</p>
<p>FDR took office in 1933 looking not just to stabilize the U.S. economy, but to calm a world inflamed: Japan had invaded Manchuria the year before; the Nazis had seized power in Germany; European imperialists were tightening their holds over their colonies; and the Soviet Union had declared its militant “third period” strategy, imagining that global capitalism, plunged into the Great Depression, was in its last throes.</p>
<p>When, soon after his March inauguration, Roosevelt put forward a call to the “nations of the world” to “enter into a solemn and definitive pact of non-aggression,” the colonialists, militarists, and fascists who ruled Europe and Asia balked. Because the new president’s global reach came nowhere near his global ambitions, the London Economic Conference—convened that July by the equivalent of today’s G-20—broke up rancorously over how to respond to that moment’s global meltdown.</p>
<p>Luckily for Roosevelt, the Seventh Pan-American Conference was scheduled to take place that December in Montevideo, Uruguay. Admittedly the very idea of pan-Americanism—that the American republics shared common ideals and political interests—was then moribund. Every few years, in an international forum, Latin American delegates simply submitted to Washington’s directives while silently seething about the latest U.S. military intervention—in Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, or Haiti. (Take your pick.)</p>
<p>Momentum was then building among Latin American nations for a revision of international law, which effectively granted great powers the right to intervene in the affairs of smaller republics. Venezuelan diplomats, for instance, were insisting that the U.S. affirm the principle of absolute sovereignty. Argentines put forth their own “non-aggression” treaty codifying non-intervention as the law of the hemisphere. Caribbean and Central American politicians insisted that detachments of U.S. Marines, then bogged down in counterinsurgencies in Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, get out.</p>
<p>FDR dispatched his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to the summit, but instructed him not to offer anything more than a promise to build a few new roads. The demand that the U.S. give up the right of intervention was “unacceptable.”</p>
<p>Yet Roosevelt, who had a way of mixing and matching unlikely advisors, also asked Ernest Gruening (recommended by Harvard law professor and soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter) to accompany Hull. In 1964, as a senator from Alaska, Gruening would become famous for casting one of only two votes against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which President Lyndon Johnson would use to escalate the Vietnam War, but in the 1930s, he was already a committed anti-imperialist.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805083235/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external" />In the pages of the Nation and other left-wing journals, he had helped expose the use of torture, forced labor, and political assassinations that took place under Marine occupations in the Caribbean, atrocities he likened to European brutality in India, Ireland, and the Congo. After touring Haiti and the Dominican Republic, he lobbied Congress to cut off the funding of counterinsurgency operations in the region, and he excoriated the “horde of carpet-bagging concessionaires that are the camp-followers of American militaristic imperialism.” That such an uncompromising critic of U.S. diplomacy would be chosen to advise the Secretary of State reflects the strength of the left in the 1930s—and Roosevelt’s willingness to tap it.</p>
<p>Burnin’ and Murdewin’</p>
<p>As the delegation set sail for Montevideo, Gruening was shocked to learn that the U.S. had “no program except to be friendly with everyone and radiate goodwill.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Secretary,” he reported himself telling Hull, “the one issue that concerns every Latin-American country is intervention. We should come out strongly for a resolution abjuring it.”</p>
<p>Hull, whom Gruening later described as speaking in the thick accent of a born and bred member of the Tennessee gentry, dropping g’s and wrestling with r’s, replied that that would be a hard sell.</p>
<p>“What am Ah goin’t to do when chaos breaks out in one of those countries and armed bands go woamin’ awound, burnin’, pillagin’ and murdewin’ Amewicans?” Hull asked. “How can I tell mah people that we cain’t intervene?”</p>
<p>“Mr. Secretary,” Gruening responded, “that usually happens after we have intervened.”</p>
<p>Hull was, however, afraid of bad press. “If Ah were to come out against intervention,” he said, “the Hearst papers would attack me fwom coast to coast… Wemember, Gwuening, Mr. Woosevelt and Ah have to be weelected.”</p>
<p>“Coming out against intervention would help you get reelected,” Gruening replied. It would, he insisted, help the New Deal jump off the merry-go-round of invasion, occupation, and insurgency that had badly crippled U.S. prestige throughout Latin America and much of the world.</p>
<p>He was right. In Montevideo, Gruening helped bridge the gap between U.S. envoys and “anti-American” Latin American diplomats, including those from Cuba where, well before Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, serial U.S. interventions had strained relations between Havana and Washington. Most importantly, he reconciled the Secretary of State to the principle of non-intervention.</p>
<p>Hull “rose to the occasion magnificently,” Gruening wrote, announcing that the United States would henceforth “shun and reject” the “so-called right-of-conquest… The New Deal indeed would be an empty boast if it did not mean that.” Latin American delegates broke out in “thunderous applause and cheers.” And FDR, ever the agile politician, seized the moment, confirming that the “definite policy of the United States from now on is one opposed to armed intervention.”</p>
<p>“Our Era of ‘Imperialism’ Nears its End,” the New York Times announced. “‘Manifest Destiny’ Is Giving Way to the New Policy of ‘Equal Dealing With All Nations.'”</p>
<p>Twenty-One Different Kinds of Hate</p>
<p>Not quite, of course. Washington would return to a policy of interventionism in the Cold War era. Nonetheless, the importance of this diplomatic sea-change cannot be overstated.</p>
<p>Montevideo was Roosevelt’s first significant foreign policy success, marking a turn in the country’s fortunes as an ascendant superpower. He then ordered the Marines to withdraw from Haiti, while giving the country back its national bank; he abrogated the Cuban constitution’s hated Platt Amendment, which had turned the island into a U.S. vassal-state; and he began to tolerate a degree of economic nationalism in Latin America, including Mexico’s expropriation of the holdings of Standard Oil.</p>
<p>FDR’s enormous popularity in Latin America fired his aspirations to world leadership. Visiting Buenos Aires in 1936, he was greeted by more than a million ecstatic well-wishers who gave him a “wild ovation” and “pelted him with flowers.” Even Buenos Aires’s usually skeptical press heralded him as a “shepherd of democracy,” while hospitals expected an “enormous crop of ‘Roosevelts’ among baby boys,” despite a ban on foreign names for infants.</p>
<p>Improved relations with Latin America also helped the U.S. recover from the Great Depression. With Asia off limits and Europe headed for war, Washington looked south both for markets for manufactured goods and for raw materials, negotiating trade treaties with 15 Latin American countries between 1934 and 1942.</p>
<p>More importantly, Latin America became the laboratory for what eventually became known as liberal multilateralism—the diplomatic framework that, after World War II, would allow the United States to accrue unprecedented power. With the League of Nations practically defunct, diplomats began to discuss the possibility of a new “League of the Americas,” which would eventually evolve into both the Organization of American States and the United Nations. (Each would enshrine in its charter the principle of absolute non-intervention.) Roosevelt himself would hold up the “illustration of the republics of this continent” as a model for global postwar reconstruction.</p>
<p>Cordell Hull got the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to found the U.N. and FDR took credit for overcoming “many times 21 different kinds of hate” to “sell the idea of peace and security among the American republics.” But the thanks really should go to anti-imperialists like Gruening and guerrilla fighters like Nicaragua’s Augusto Sandino who rendered militarism an unsustainable foreign policy.</p>
<p>Seventy-Five Years Later…</p>
<p>The parallels with today are unmistakable: a global economy in tatters; a new president with a mandate for reform, but blocked abroad by rising rivals and hamstrung by the rapid recession of U.S. power and prestige thanks to years of arrogant, unilateral militarism. And coming on the heels of a London summit of economic powers, a Latin American conference: the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be attended by 34 heads of state representing every American country except Cuba.</p>
<p>The last time this summit convened at the Argentinean beach resort town of Mar del Plata in 2005, Argentines greeted George W. Bush not as a shepherd of democracy but as an evangelizer for war, militarism, and savage capitalism. Thousands turned up from all over the continent to burn the president in effigy. Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales convened a festive parallel “People’s Summit,” while Argentine soccer legend Maradona called Bush “human rubbish” and “a bit of an assassin.” To paraphrase Michael Moore’s Academy Award homage to the Dixie Chicks, when Maradona is against you, your time in Latin America is up.</p>
<p>With an aircraft carrier stationed just offshore and fighter jets buzzing overhead, Bush still was nervous and seemed distinctly out of his league. Coming just a few months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, with Iraq careening out of control, Bush’s disastrous performance in Argentina, combined with an impressive display of Latin American unity, hastened the demise of the pretension of the neoconservatives to global supremacy. “The United States continues to see things one way,” said one Latin American diplomat at the Summit, “but most of the rest of the hemisphere has moved on and is heading in another direction.”</p>
<p>And so it had, with a left turn that started with Chávez’s 1998 election as Venezuela’s president and still continues apace. Last year, after all, Paraguay elected a liberation theologian as president; and last month, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front—the guerrilla group turned political party Ronald Reagan spent six billion dollars and 70,000 Salvadorean lives trying to defeat in the 1980s—finally came to power in El Salvador.</p>
<p>This week many will be watching to see if Barack Obama, in what will be his first real engagement with Latin America, is ready to reverse course at this Summit as Roosevelt did more than three-quarters of a century ago. To the United States, Latin America has not just been a source of raw materials and markets, but a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805083235/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external">“workshop,”</a> a place where rising foreign-policy coalitions try out new ways to project U.S. power following periods of acute crisis. FDR did it, as did Reagan and the New Right when, in the 1980s, they used Central America to experiment with junking multilateralism, while remilitarizing and remoralizing foreign policy.</p>
<p>Today, President Obama is enormously popular in Latin America. A number of local politicians in the region even legally <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/15/brazil.barackobama" type="external">adopted</a> his name to give themselves an edge on ballots, and undoubtedly quite a few baby boys will be called Barack. Brazil’s president, known simply as Lula, says he is praying for Obama—and even Maradona <a href="http://sify.com/sports/fullstory.php?id=14813220" type="external">admits</a> he likes him “a lot.”</p>
<p>But popularity only goes so far. For the first time in many decades, an American president might find that the days when the U.S. could use Latin America as an imperial rehearsal space are drawing to a close.</p>
<p>The Colombian Option</p>
<p>So what will Obama offer in Trinidad and Tobago? He will, like Hull in 1933, be intent on “radiating goodwill,” but he will not necessarily “be friendly with everyone.” He’s already poisoned the water by insisting that Hugo Chávez is an “obstacle” to progress. Love Chávez or hate him, he is recognized as a legitimate leader by all Latin American countries and is a close ally to many. For eight years, a Bush administration policy of driving a wedge between the rest of the region and the Venezuelan proved a dismal failure, except when it came to increasing the outflow of Washington’s hemorrhaging power in the hemisphere.</p>
<p>On many fronts, however, the president is likely to discover that his real obstacles to progress south of the border lie uncomfortably close to home.</p>
<p>In preparation for the summit, the Obama administration has made some overtures to Cuba, responding to demands by nearly every Latin American country that Washington end its cold war against Havana. The need to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/931063.html" type="external">keep</a> Democratic senators from Florida and New Jersey (states with large Cuban-American populations) in the fold means that the general travel ban and trade embargo will, however, stay in place, at least for now. (In 1933, Hull tried to prevent the Cuban envoy from speaking, fearing that he would give a fiery anti-American speech; Gruening appealed to the principle of free speech to reverse the ban.)</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Obama will probably reiterate recent official <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/world/americas/26mexico.html" type="external">statements</a> by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, that the United States bears real responsibility for Mexico’s drug-war violence and perhaps bemoan the way an “inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border” fuels drug-related killings. Like every other administration, though, Obama’s will have to answer to the National Rifle Association (NRA), which at this point carries out its own foreign policy.</p>
<p>In 2005, for example, when Brazil held a referendum to implement a stringent gun-control law, the NRA <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,173154,00.html" type="external">spent considerable money</a> lobbying to successfully defeat it. So expect the NRA to fight any attempt to stem the flow of guns south of the border. In fact, Wyoming senator John Barrasso hopes to use the fear of Mexican drug violence to force a greater distribution of assault weapons. As he <a href="http://gunowners.org/sen-barrasso-gets-it-right-in-el-paso.htm" type="external">put the matter</a>, “Why would you disarm someone when they potentially could get caught in the crossfire?… The United States will not surrender our second-amendment rights for Mexico’s border problem.”</p>
<p>And so it goes: On nearly every issue that could either actually help relieve the suffering of Latin Americans or allow the U.S. to win back strategic allies, domestic politics will hinder Obama’s range of action, even if not his immediate popularity.</p>
<p>Just recently, a study group made up of some of Latin America’s leading intellectuals and policy-makers, including former presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, <a href="http://drugsanddemocracy.org/blog/archives/167" type="external">declared</a> the U.S. war on drugs a failure and recommended the legalization of marijuana. Obama is obviously sympathetic to this position, having instructed his Justice Department to back off “medical marijuana” prosecutions. But will he be able to de-escalate the war on drugs in Latin America? Not likely.</p>
<p>As a candidate, the president did say he wasn’t opposed to all wars, just stupid ones—and this one is as stupid as they come. It hasn’t lessened narcotics exports to the U.S., but has spread violence through Central America into Mexico, while entrenching paramilitary power in Colombia. Plan Colombia, the centerpiece of that war, is a legacy of Bill Clinton’s foreign policy, and much of the six billion dollars so far spent to fight it has essentially been <a href="http://projects.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=260&amp;sid=100" type="external">direct-deposited</a> in the coffers of corporate sponsors of the Democratic Party like Connecticut’s United Technologies and other northeastern defense contractors.</p>
<p>Rather than dismantling Plan Colombia, <a href="http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/Blog.php" type="external">plans are evidently afoot</a> to have it go viral beyond the Americas. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently <a href="http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia307.htm" type="external">commented</a> that “many of us from all over the world can learn from what has happened with respect to the very successful developments of Plan Colombia,” and suggested that it be franchised “specifically to Afghanistan.” Washington Post White House correspondent Scott Wilson <a href="http://www.cipcol.org/?p=804" type="external">agrees</a>, urging Obama to use Colombia as a “classroom for learning how to beat the Taliban.” Buried deep in Wilson’s recommendation was a revelation: U.S. officials, he wrote, “privately” told him that death-squad terror was a necessary first step in Plan Colombia, serving as a “placeholder” until the U.S. could train a “professional” army. The Bush administration kept “the money flowing to Colombia’s army despite evidence of its complicity in paramilitary massacres.”</p>
<p>The Path to Latin America Runs Through Brasilia…</p>
<p>Ultimately, imperial Washington’s only real road may run through the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. After all, Obama approaches the region not as a leader of a confident superpower, but of an autumnal hegemon. As such, his best option may lie in forming a partnership with Brazil—Latin America’s largest, most diversified economy, with enormous, newly discovered offshore oil reserves and a fulsome set of political aspirations—to administer the hemisphere. The White House clearly recognizes this to be the case, which was why an administration official called Lula’s recent one-on-one meeting in Washington with Obama a recognition of Brazil’s “global ascendancy.”</p>
<p>Just before the G-20 meeting convened in London, Lula <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae4957e8-1a5f-11de-9f91-0000779fd2ac.html" type="external">blamed</a> the global financial collapse on the “irrational behavior of people that are white” and “blue-eyed.” Standing next to the blanching British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he continued: “I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind, which is victimized more than any other, should pay for the crisis.”</p>
<p>If these words came out of Chávez’s mouth, they would have been taken as but the latest indication of his irrational anti-Americanism, but the Obama administration needs Lula. In London, Obama could barely contain himself: “That’s my man right here,” he said, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7978816.stm" type="external">grabbing</a> Lula’s hand as Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner looked on. “Love this guy. He’s the most popular politician on earth. It’s because of his good looks.” That certainly represented an improvement over George Bush, who asked Lula’s Brazilian predecessor, “Do you have blacks, too?”</p>
<p>Yet Brazil’s cooperation will come at a price, which Obama will have trouble meeting. This country’s baroque and bloated farm subsidy and tariff program—which House and Senate members recently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/us/politics/04farm.html" type="external">refused</a> to let Obama cut—will prevent the president from bowing gracefully to Lula’s central demand: that the U.S. live up to its rhetoric about free trade and open its economy to Brazil’s competitive agro-industry.</p>
<p>…Around Caracas…</p>
<p>And then there’s Venezuela. Seventy-five years ago, Secretary of State Hull feared the Hearst papers would attack him “fwom coast to coast” if he renounced interventionism. Well, the more things change…</p>
<p>When Obama’s State Department declared Venezuela’s recent referendum to remove presidential term limits (and so allow Chávez to stand for reelection) an internal matter “consistent with democratic principles,” it was <a href="http://www.petroleumworld.com/issues09022301.htm" type="external">attacked</a> by the Houston Chronicle, which is <a href="http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=hearst" type="external">owned</a>—you guessed it—by the Hearst Corporation. More criticism followed, sending administration officials “scrambling,” <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123534981856744765.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" type="external">according to</a> the Wall Street Journal, “to assert that the Obama administration hasn’t softened U.S. policy toward Venezuela.”</p>
<p>Since the ongoing <a href="http://nacla.org/node/5344" type="external">demonization of Chávez</a> carries absolutely no domestic costs and its easing plenty of potential debits, Obama might be forced to keep up some version of the Bush administration’s hard-line, perhaps providing the president cover to moderate rhetoric, if not policy, in real danger spots where far more is at stake—as in the Middle East.</p>
<p>…And Ends in Texas</p>
<p>Immigration is one area where Obama might have some room to maneuver, but he would have to overcome the Glenn-Beck wing of the Republican Party. Ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop hunting undocumented Latin American workers (as the presidents of Mexico and Central America have <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h-SRTkyio7DjEF9sFxK7TkZYf_nAD977O7IG0" type="external">demanded</a>) and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09immig.html" type="external">opening</a> a real path to citizenship would go a long way toward improving relations with southern neighbors. It would also guarantee the loyalty of the Latino vote in 2012 and, by creating millions of new voters, perhaps even pull Texas closer to swing-state status.</p>
<p>Returning to the Scene of the Crime</p>
<p>Ultimately, however, Obama’s vision will be limited by the smallness of the imaginations of the counselors he has surrounded himself with. There are neither Gruenings, nor even Hulls in that crowd. He has kept on George W. Bush’s Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Thomas Shannon and has picked Jeffrey Davidow to be his special advisor at the summit.</p>
<p>A career diplomat, Davidow’s foreign service has been largely unremarkable, though his first <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/02/news/mn-45615" type="external">posting</a> was to Guatemala in the early 1970s when U.S.-backed death squads were running wild, and was followed by an assignment as a junior political officer in Chile, where he observed the 1973 U.S.-backed military coup that overthrew elected President Salvador Allende. Committed to the Clinton-era mantra of economic liberalization, these diplomats will never recommend the kind of game-changing ideas Gruening did.</p>
<p>Given that the global financial crisis will dominate this summit, Obama’s appearance will be seen by some as a return to the scene of the crime. After all, it was in Chile that the now-discredited model of deregulated financial capitalism was first imposed. This occurred well before Presidents Reagan and Clinton adopted it in the U.S.</p>
<p>As it then spread through most of the rest of Latin America, the results were absolutely disastrous. For two decades, economies <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&amp;-columns/op-eds-&amp;-columns/latin-america-s-stunted-growth/" type="external">stagnated</a>, poverty deepened, and inequality increased. To make matters worse, just as a new generation of leftists, taking measures to lessen poverty and reduce inequality, was recovering from that Washington-induced catastrophe, a reckless housing bubble burst in the U.S., bringing down the global economy.</p>
<p>Latin Americans will want an accounting. As even Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-3547150,prtpage-1.cms" type="external">put it</a>: “[The] whole world has financed the United States, and I believe that they have a reciprocal debt with the planet.” Hugo Chávez couldn’t have said it better.</p>
<p>Greg Grandin is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805083235/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external">Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism</a> (Metropolitan) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805082360/ref=nosim/?tag=nationbooks08-20" type="external">Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City</a>, forthcoming in June. He can be reached at grandin@nyu.edu.</p>
<p>Copyright 2009 Greg Grandin</p> | true | 4 | introduction tom engelhardt note tomdispatch readers heres scheduling update ill town largely offline wednesday sunday though barely affect td sendout schedule however unlikely respond letters requests admonitions anything else comes ive said think td email box university later life regularly filled surprises fascinations read everything arrives care best answer however briefly im usually one regularly drowning complicated life hit miss matter dont think reply comes back dont appreciate hearing addition im truly appreciative generously used resist empire support tomdispatch button sent contributions including recurring ones allow us offer little extra money young writers bit adventurous thinking future pieces build modest rainyday fund sigh bad times think collective bow since dont thank contributors individually tom leaving londons march fog caribbeans balmy tropical breezes barack obama week continues administrations efforts push reset button us foreign relations friday attend summit americas portofspain capital trinidad tobago five centuries ago archipelago nation one christopher columbuss first stops safe say london paris obama greeted fervor eight disastrous years george w bush latin americans ready breathe enormous sigh relief new us president wildly popular even fidel castro asked visiting delegation congressional black caucus could help president obama succeedthough cuba american nation excluded meeting keep eye obamas new policies begin play week latin america sinceas historian greg grandin written superb book empires workshop latin america united states rise new imperialismprevious administrations regularly sorted future global policies backyard coming june way grandins newest book fordlandia rise fall henry fords forgotten jungle city deep dive another hubrisridden american experiment latin america history isnt exactly american strength understanding weve great underused tool comes grasping might heading writer site better tomdispatch regular grandin prepare take remarkable tour southoftheborder past service illuminating unsettled potentially unsettling future tom160 obama latin america greg grandin barack obama picked nations katrina vanden heuvel democracy anchor amy goodman advise upcoming summit americas trinidad tobago week unlikely say least 75 years ago president franklin delano roosevelt something like tapping former nation editor fierce critic us militarism advise administration latin american policy resultconsider curious yet little known fact dayantiimperialism saved american empire fdr took office 1933 looking stabilize us economy calm world inflamed japan invaded manchuria year nazis seized power germany european imperialists tightening holds colonies soviet union declared militant third period strategy imagining global capitalism plunged great depression last throes soon march inauguration roosevelt put forward call nations world enter solemn definitive pact nonaggression colonialists militarists fascists ruled europe asia balked new presidents global reach came nowhere near global ambitions london economic conferenceconvened july equivalent todays g20broke rancorously respond moments global meltdown luckily roosevelt seventh panamerican conference scheduled take place december montevideo uruguay admittedly idea panamericanismthat american republics shared common ideals political interestswas moribund every years international forum latin american delegates simply submitted washingtons directives silently seething latest us military interventionin panama cuba puerto rico mexico venezuela honduras dominican republic haiti take pick momentum building among latin american nations revision international law effectively granted great powers right intervene affairs smaller republics venezuelan diplomats instance insisting us affirm principle absolute sovereignty argentines put forth nonaggression treaty codifying nonintervention law hemisphere caribbean central american politicians insisted detachments us marines bogged counterinsurgencies nicaragua haiti dominican republic get fdr dispatched secretary state cordell hull summit instructed offer anything promise build new roads demand us give right intervention unacceptable yet roosevelt way mixing matching unlikely advisors also asked ernest gruening recommended harvard law professor soontobe supreme court justice felix frankfurter accompany hull 1964 senator alaska gruening would become famous casting one two votes gulf tonkin resolution president lyndon johnson would use escalate vietnam war 1930s already committed antiimperialist pages nation leftwing journals helped expose use torture forced labor political assassinations took place marine occupations caribbean atrocities likened european brutality india ireland congo touring haiti dominican republic lobbied congress cut funding counterinsurgency operations region excoriated horde carpetbagging concessionaires campfollowers american militaristic imperialism uncompromising critic us diplomacy would chosen advise secretary state reflects strength left 1930sand roosevelts willingness tap burnin murdewin delegation set sail montevideo gruening shocked learn us program except friendly everyone radiate goodwill mr secretary reported telling hull one issue concerns every latinamerican country intervention come strongly resolution abjuring hull gruening later described speaking thick accent born bred member tennessee gentry dropping gs wrestling rs replied would hard sell ah goint chaos breaks one countries armed bands go woamin awound burnin pillagin murdewin amewicans hull asked tell mah people caint intervene mr secretary gruening responded usually happens intervened hull however afraid bad press ah come intervention said hearst papers would attack fwom coast coast wemember gwuening mr woosevelt ah weelected coming intervention would help get reelected gruening replied would insisted help new deal jump merrygoround invasion occupation insurgency badly crippled us prestige throughout latin america much world right montevideo gruening helped bridge gap us envoys antiamerican latin american diplomats including cuba well fidel castros 1959 revolution serial us interventions strained relations havana washington importantly reconciled secretary state principle nonintervention hull rose occasion magnificently gruening wrote announcing united states would henceforth shun reject socalled rightofconquest new deal indeed would empty boast mean latin american delegates broke thunderous applause cheers fdr ever agile politician seized moment confirming definite policy united states one opposed armed intervention era imperialism nears end new york times announced manifest destiny giving way new policy equal dealing nations twentyone different kinds hate quite course washington would return policy interventionism cold war era nonetheless importance diplomatic seachange overstated montevideo roosevelts first significant foreign policy success marking turn countrys fortunes ascendant superpower ordered marines withdraw haiti giving country back national bank abrogated cuban constitutions hated platt amendment turned island us vassalstate began tolerate degree economic nationalism latin america including mexicos expropriation holdings standard oil fdrs enormous popularity latin america fired aspirations world leadership visiting buenos aires 1936 greeted million ecstatic wellwishers gave wild ovation pelted flowers even buenos airess usually skeptical press heralded shepherd democracy hospitals expected enormous crop roosevelts among baby boys despite ban foreign names infants improved relations latin america also helped us recover great depression asia limits europe headed war washington looked south markets manufactured goods raw materials negotiating trade treaties 15 latin american countries 1934 1942 importantly latin america became laboratory eventually became known liberal multilateralismthe diplomatic framework world war ii would allow united states accrue unprecedented power league nations practically defunct diplomats began discuss possibility new league americas would eventually evolve organization american states united nations would enshrine charter principle absolute nonintervention roosevelt would hold illustration republics continent model global postwar reconstruction cordell hull got nobel peace prize helping found un fdr took credit overcoming many times 21 different kinds hate sell idea peace security among american republics thanks really go antiimperialists like gruening guerrilla fighters like nicaraguas augusto sandino rendered militarism unsustainable foreign policy seventyfive years later parallels today unmistakable global economy tatters new president mandate reform blocked abroad rising rivals hamstrung rapid recession us power prestige thanks years arrogant unilateral militarism coming heels london summit economic powers latin american conference fifth summit americas attended 34 heads state representing every american country except cuba last time summit convened argentinean beach resort town mar del plata 2005 argentines greeted george w bush shepherd democracy evangelizer war militarism savage capitalism thousands turned continent burn president effigy venezuelas hugo chávez bolivias evo morales convened festive parallel peoples summit argentine soccer legend maradona called bush human rubbish bit assassin paraphrase michael moores academy award homage dixie chicks maradona time latin america aircraft carrier stationed offshore fighter jets buzzing overhead bush still nervous seemed distinctly league coming months hurricane katrina ravaged new orleans iraq careening control bushs disastrous performance argentina combined impressive display latin american unity hastened demise pretension neoconservatives global supremacy united states continues see things one way said one latin american diplomat summit rest hemisphere moved heading another direction left turn started chávezs 1998 election venezuelas president still continues apace last year paraguay elected liberation theologian president last month farabundo martí national liberation frontthe guerrilla group turned political party ronald reagan spent six billion dollars 70000 salvadorean lives trying defeat 1980sfinally came power el salvador week many watching see barack obama first real engagement latin america ready reverse course summit roosevelt threequarters century ago united states latin america source raw materials markets workshop place rising foreignpolicy coalitions try new ways project us power following periods acute crisis fdr reagan new right 1980s used central america experiment junking multilateralism remilitarizing remoralizing foreign policy today president obama enormously popular latin america number local politicians region even legally adopted name give edge ballots undoubtedly quite baby boys called barack brazils president known simply lula says praying obamaand even maradona admits likes lot popularity goes far first time many decades american president might find days us could use latin america imperial rehearsal space drawing close colombian option obama offer trinidad tobago like hull 1933 intent radiating goodwill necessarily friendly everyone hes already poisoned water insisting hugo chávez obstacle progress love chávez hate recognized legitimate leader latin american countries close ally many eight years bush administration policy driving wedge rest region venezuelan proved dismal failure except came increasing outflow washingtons hemorrhaging power hemisphere many fronts however president likely discover real obstacles progress south border lie uncomfortably close home preparation summit obama administration made overtures cuba responding demands nearly every latin american country washington end cold war havana need keep democratic senators florida new jersey states large cubanamerican populations fold means general travel ban trade embargo however stay place least 1933 hull tried prevent cuban envoy speaking fearing would give fiery antiamerican speech gruening appealed principle free speech reverse ban 160 obama probably reiterate recent official statements secretary state hillary clinton among others united states bears real responsibility mexicos drugwar violence perhaps bemoan way inability prevent weapons illegally smuggled across border fuels drugrelated killings like every administration though obamas answer national rifle association nra point carries foreign policy 2005 example brazil held referendum implement stringent guncontrol law nra spent considerable money lobbying successfully defeat expect nra fight attempt stem flow guns south border fact wyoming senator john barrasso hopes use fear mexican drug violence force greater distribution assault weapons put matter would disarm someone potentially could get caught crossfire united states surrender secondamendment rights mexicos border problem goes nearly every issue could either actually help relieve suffering latin americans allow us win back strategic allies domestic politics hinder obamas range action even immediate popularity recently study group made latin americas leading intellectuals policymakers including former presidents brazil colombia mexico declared us war drugs failure recommended legalization marijuana obama obviously sympathetic position instructed justice department back medical marijuana prosecutions able deescalate war drugs latin america likely candidate president say wasnt opposed wars stupid onesand one stupid come hasnt lessened narcotics exports us spread violence central america mexico entrenching paramilitary power colombia plan colombia centerpiece war legacy bill clintons foreign policy much six billion dollars far spent fight essentially directdeposited coffers corporate sponsors democratic party like connecticuts united technologies northeastern defense contractors rather dismantling plan colombia plans evidently afoot go viral beyond americas admiral mike mullen chairman joint chiefs staff recently commented many us world learn happened respect successful developments plan colombia suggested franchised specifically afghanistan washington post white house correspondent scott wilson agrees urging obama use colombia classroom learning beat taliban buried deep wilsons recommendation revelation us officials wrote privately told deathsquad terror necessary first step plan colombia serving placeholder us could train professional army bush administration kept money flowing colombias army despite evidence complicity paramilitary massacres path latin america runs brasilia ultimately imperial washingtons real road may run brazilian capital brasilia obama approaches region leader confident superpower autumnal hegemon best option may lie forming partnership brazillatin americas largest diversified economy enormous newly discovered offshore oil reserves fulsome set political aspirationsto administer hemisphere white house clearly recognizes case administration official called lulas recent oneonone meeting washington obama recognition brazils global ascendancy g20 meeting convened london lula blamed global financial collapse irrational behavior people white blueeyed standing next blanching british prime minister gordon brown continued know black indigenous bankers say wrong part mankind victimized pay crisis words came chávezs mouth would taken latest indication irrational antiamericanism obama administration needs lula london obama could barely contain thats man right said grabbing lulas hand secretary treasury timothy geithner looked love guy hes popular politician earth good looks certainly represented improvement george bush asked lulas brazilian predecessor blacks yet brazils cooperation come price obama trouble meeting countrys baroque bloated farm subsidy tariff programwhich house senate members recently refused let obama cutwill prevent president bowing gracefully lulas central demand us live rhetoric free trade open economy brazils competitive agroindustry around caracas theres venezuela seventyfive years ago secretary state hull feared hearst papers would attack fwom coast coast renounced interventionism well things change obamas state department declared venezuelas recent referendum remove presidential term limits allow chávez stand reelection internal matter consistent democratic principles attacked houston chronicle ownedyou guessed itby hearst corporation criticism followed sending administration officials scrambling according wall street journal assert obama administration hasnt softened us policy toward venezuela since ongoing demonization chávez carries absolutely domestic costs easing plenty potential debits obama might forced keep version bush administrations hardline perhaps providing president cover moderate rhetoric policy real danger spots far stakeas middle east ends texas immigration one area obama might room maneuver would overcome glennbeck wing republican party ordering immigration customs enforcement agents stop hunting undocumented latin american workers presidents mexico central america demanded opening real path citizenship would go long way toward improving relations southern neighbors would also guarantee loyalty latino vote 2012 creating millions new voters perhaps even pull texas closer swingstate status returning scene crime ultimately however obamas vision limited smallness imaginations counselors surrounded neither gruenings even hulls crowd kept george w bushs assistant secretary state latin america thomas shannon picked jeffrey davidow special advisor summit career diplomat davidows foreign service largely unremarkable though first posting guatemala early 1970s usbacked death squads running wild followed assignment junior political officer chile observed 1973 usbacked military coup overthrew elected president salvador allende committed clintonera mantra economic liberalization diplomats never recommend kind gamechanging ideas gruening given global financial crisis dominate summit obamas appearance seen return scene crime chile nowdiscredited model deregulated financial capitalism first imposed occurred well presidents reagan clinton adopted us spread rest latin america results absolutely disastrous two decades economies stagnated poverty deepened inequality increased make matters worse new generation leftists taking measures lessen poverty reduce inequality recovering washingtoninduced catastrophe reckless housing bubble burst us bringing global economy latin americans want accounting even colombian president alvaro uribe close us ally put whole world financed united states believe reciprocal debt planet hugo chávez couldnt said better greg grandin author empires workshop latin america united states rise new imperialism metropolitan fordlandia rise fall henry fords forgotten jungle city forthcoming june reached grandinnyuedu copyright 2009 greg grandin | 2,453 |
<p>“One of the worst mass murders of the twentieth century.” That was how a CIA publication described the killings that began forty years ago last month in Indonesia. It was one of the few statements in the text that was correct. The 300-page text was devoted to blaming the victims of the killings — the supporters of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) — for their own deaths. The PKI had supposedly attempted a coup d’état and a nationwide uprising called the September 30th Movement (which, for some unknown reason, began on October 1). The mass murder of hundreds of thousands of the party’s supporters over subsequent months was thus a natural, inevitable, and justifiable reaction on the part of those non-communists who felt threatened by the party’s violent bid for state power. The killings were part of the “backfire” referred to in the title: Indonesia ­ 1965: The Coup that Backfired. The author of this 1968 report, later revealed to be Helen Louise Hunter, acknowledged the massive scale of the killings only to dismiss the necessity for any detailed consideration of them. She concentrated on proving that the PKI was responsible for the September 30th Movement while consigning the major issue, the anti-PKI atrocities, to a brief, offhanded comment. [1]</p>
<p>Hunter’s CIA report accurately expressed the narrative told by the Indonesian army commanders as they organized the slaughter. That narrative rendered the September 30th Movement ­ a disorganized, small-scale affair that lasted about 48 hours and resulted in a grand total of 12 deaths, among them six army generals ­ into the greatest evil ever to befall Indonesia [2]. The commander of the army, Major General Suharto, justified his acquisition of emergency powers in late 1965 and early 1966 by insisting that the September 30th Movement was a devious conspiracy by the PKI to seize state power and murder all of its enemies. Suharto’s martial law regime detained some 1.5 million people as political prisoners (for varying lengths of time), and accused them of being “directly or indirectly involved in the September 30th Movement.” The hundreds of thousands of people shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, or starved to death were labeled perpetrators, or would-be perpetrators of atrocities, just as culpable for the murder of the army generals as the handful of people who were truly guilty.</p>
<p>The September 30th Movement was Suharto’s Reichstag fire: a pretext for destroying the communist party and seizing state power. As with the February 1933 fire in the German parliament that Hitler used to create a hysterical, crisis-filled atmosphere, the September 30th Movement was exaggerated by Suharto’s clique of officers until it assumed the proportions of a wild, vicious, supernatural monster. The army whipped up an anti-communist propaganda campaign from the early days of October 1965: “the PKI” had castrated and tortured the seven army officers it had abducted in Jakarta, danced naked and slit the bodies of the army officers with a hundred razor blades, drawn up hit lists, dug thousands of ditches around the country to hold countless corpses, stockpiled guns imported from China, and so on. The army banned many newspapers and put the rest under army censorship. It was precisely this work of the army’s psychological warfare specialists that created the conditions in which the mass murder of “the PKI” seemed justified.</p>
<p>The question as to whether or not the PKI actually organized the September 30th Movement is important only because the Suharto regime made it important. Otherwise, it is irrelevant. Even if the PKI had nothing whatsoever to do with the movement, the army generals would have blamed the party for it. As it was, they made their case against the PKI largely on the basis of the transcripts of the interrogations of those movement participants who hadn’t already been summarily executed. Given that the army used torture as standard operating procedure for interrogations, the statements of the suspects cannot be trusted. Hunter’s CIA report, primarily based on those transcripts, is as reliable as an Inquisition text on witchcraft.</p>
<p>The PKI as a whole was clearly not responsible for the September 30th Movement. The party’s three million members did not participate in it. If they had, it would not have been such a small-scale affair. The party chairman, D.N. Aidit, however, does seem to have played a key role. He was summarily and secretly executed in late 1965, as were two of the three other core Politburo leaders (Lukman and Njoto), before they could provide their accounts. The one among them who survived the initial terror, the general secretary of the party, Sudisman, admitted in the military’s kangaroo court in 1967 that the PKI as an institution knew nothing of the September 30th Movement but that certain leaders were involved in a personal capacity. If the movement’s leaders had been treated as the leaders of previous revolts against the postcolonial government, they would have been arrested, put on trial, and sentenced. All the members of their organizations would not have been imprisoned or massacred.</p>
<p>With so little public discussion and so little scholarly research about the 1965-66 mass killings, they remain poorly understood. Many people outside of Indonesia believe that the victims were primarily Indonesian Chinese. While some Indonesian Chinese were among the victims, they were by no means the majority. The violence targeted members of the PKI and the various organizations either allied to the party or sympathetic to it, whatever ethnicity they happened to be: Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, etc. It was not a case of ethnic cleansing. Many people imagine that the killings were committed by frenzied mobs rampaging through villages and urban neighborhoods. But recent oral history research suggests that most of the killings were executions of detainees. [3] Much more research is needed before one can arrive at definitive conclusions.</p>
<p>President Sukarno, the target of the PKI’s alleged coup attempt, compared the army’s murderous violence against those labeled PKI to a case of someone “burning down the house to kill a rat.” He routinely protested the army’s exaggerations of the September 30th Movement. It was, he said, nothing more than “a ripple in the wide ocean.” His inability or unwillingness to muster anything more than rhetorical protests, however, ultimately doomed his rule. In March 1966, Suharto grabbed the authority to dismiss, appoint, and arrest cabinet ministers, even while maintaining Sukarno as figurehead president until March 1967. The great orator who had led the nationalist struggle against the Dutch, the cosmopolitan visionary of the Non-Aligned Movement, was outmaneuvered by a taciturn, uneducated, thuggish, corrupt army general from a Javanese village.</p>
<p>Suharto, a relative nobody in Indonesian politics, moved against the PKI and Sukarno with the full support of the U.S. government. Marshall Green, American ambassador to Indonesia at the time, wrote that the embassy had “made clear” to the army that Washington was “generally sympathetic with and admiring” of its actions. [4] U.S. officials went so far as to express concern in the days following the September 30th Movement that the army might not do enough to annihilate the PKI. [5] The U.S. embassy supplied radio equipment, walkie-talkies, and small arms to Suharto so that his troops could conduct the nationwide assault on civilians. [6] A diligent embassy official with a penchant for data collection did his part by handing the army a list of thousands of names of PKI members. [7] Such moral and material support was much appreciated in the Indonesian army. As an aide to the army’s chief of staff informed U.S. embassy officials in October 1965, “This was just what was needed by way of assurances that we weren’t going to be hit from all angles as we moved to straighten things out here.”[8]</p>
<p>This collaboration between the U.S. and the top army brass in 1965 was rooted in Washington’s longstanding wish to have privileged and enhanced access to Southeast Asia’s resource wealth. Many in Washington saw Indonesia as the region’s centerpiece. Richard Nixon characterized the country as “containing the region’s richest hoard of natural resources” and “by far the greatest prize in the South-East Asian area.” [9] Two years earlier, in a 1965 speech in Asia, Nixon had argued in favor of bombing North Vietnam to protect Indonesia’s “immense mineral potential.” [10] But obstacles to the realization of Washington’s geopolitical-economic vision arose when the Sukarno government emerged upon independence in Indonesia. Sukarno’s domestic and foreign policy was nationalist, nonaligned, and explicitly anti-imperialist. Moreover, his government had a working relationship with the powerful PKI, which Washington feared would eventually win national elections.</p>
<p>Eisenhower’s administration attempted to break up Indonesia and sabotage Sukarno’s presidency by supporting secessionist revolts in 1958.[11] When that criminal escapade of the Dulles brothers failed, the strategists in Washington reversed course and began backing the army officers of the central government. The new strategy was to cultivate anti-communist officers who could gradually build up the army as a shadow government capable of replacing President Sukarno and eliminating the PKI at some future date. The top army generals in Jakarta bided their time and waited for the opportune moment for what U.S. strategists called a final “showdown” with the PKI. [12] That moment came on October 1, 1965.</p>
<p>The destruction of the PKI and Sukarno’s ouster resulted in a dramatic shift in the regional power equation, leading Time magazine to hail Suharto’s bloody takeover as “The West’s best news for years in Asia.” [13] Several years later, the U.S. Navy League’s publication gushed over Indonesia’s new role in Southeast Asia as “that strategic area’s unaggressive, but stern, monitor,” while characterizing the country as “one of Asia’s most highly developed nations and endowed by chance with what is probably the most strategically authoritative geographic location on earth.” [14] Among other things, the euphoria reflected just how lucrative the changing of the guard in Indonesia would prove to be for Western business interests.</p>
<p>Suharto’s clique of army officers took power with a long-term economic strategy in mind. They expected the legitimacy of their new regime would derive from economic growth and that growth would derive from bringing in Western investment, exporting natural resources to Western markets, and begging for Western aid. Suharto’s vision for the army was not in terms of defending the nation against foreign aggression but defending foreign capital against Indonesians. He personally intervened in a meeting of cabinet ministers in December 1965 that was discussing the nationalization of the oil companies Caltex and Stanvac. Soon after the meeting began, he suddenly arrived by helicopter, entered the chamber, and declared, as the gleeful U.S. embassy account has it, that the military “would not stand for precipitous moves against oil companies.” Faced with such a threat, the cabinet indefinitely postponed the discussion. [15] At the same time, Suharto’s army was jailing and killing union leaders at the facilities of U.S. oil companies and rubber plantations. [16]</p>
<p>Once Suharto decisively sidelined Sukarno in March 1966, the floodgates of foreign aid opened up. The U.S. shipped large quantities of rice and cloth for the explicit political purpose of shoring up his regime. Falling prices were meant to convince Indonesians that Suharto’s rule was an improvement over Sukarno’s. The regime’s ability over the following years to sustain economic growth via integration with Western capital provided whatever legitimacy it had. Once that pattern of growth ended with the capital flight of the 1997 Asian economic crisis, the regime’s legitimacy quickly vanished. Middle class university students, the fruits of economic growth, played a particularly important role in forcing Suharto from office. The Suharto regime lived by foreign capital and died by foreign capital.</p>
<p>By now it is clear that the much ballyhooed economic growth of the Suharto years was severely detrimental to the national interest. The country has little to show for all the natural resources sold on the world market. Payments on the foreign and domestic debt, part of it being the odious debt from the Suharto years, swallow up much of the government’s budget. With health care spending at a minimum, epidemic and preventable diseases are rampant. There is little domestic industrial production. The forests from which military officers and Suharto cronies continue to make fortunes are being cut down and burned up at an alarming rate. The country imports huge quantities of staple commodities that could be easily produced on a larger scale in Indonesia, such as sugar, rice, and soybeans. The main products of the villages now are migrant laborers, or “the heroes of foreign exchange,” to quote from a lighted sign at the Jakarta airport.</p>
<p>Apart from the pillaging of Indonesia’s resource base, the Suharto regime caused an astounding level of unnecessary suffering. At his command, the Indonesian military invaded neighboring East Timor in 1975 after receiving a green light from President Gerald Ford and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. The result was an occupation that lasted for almost 24 years and left a death toll of tens of thousands of East Timorese. Within Indonesia proper, the TNI committed widespread atrocities during counterinsurgency campaigns in the resource-rich provinces of West Papua and Aceh, resulting in tens of thousands of additional fatalities.</p>
<p>With Suharto’s forced resignation in 1998, significant democratic space has opened in Indonesia. There are competitive national and local elections. Victims of the “New Order” and their families are able to organize. There is even an official effort to create a national truth commission to investigate past atrocities. Nevertheless, the military still looms large over the country’s political system. As such, there has not been a thorough investigation of any of the countless massacres that took place in 1965-66. History textbooks still focus on the September 30th Movement and make no mention of the massacres. Similarly, no military or political leaders have been held responsible for the Suharto-era crimes (or those that have taken place since), thus increasing the likelihood of future atrocities. This impunity is a source of continuing worry for Indonesia’s civil society and restless regions, as well as poverty-stricken, now-independent East Timor. It is thus not surprising that the government of the world’s newest country feels compelled to play down demands for justice by its citizenry and emphasize an empty reconciliation process with Indonesia. Meanwhile in the United States, despite political support and billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry, military training and economic assistance to Jakarta over the preceding four decades, Washington’s role in Indonesia’s killing fields of 1965-66 and subsequent brutality has been effectively buried, thus enabling the Bush administration’s current efforts to further ties with Indonesia’s military, as part of the global “war on terror.” [17] Suharto’s removal from office has not led to radical changes in Indonesia’s state and economy.</p>
<p>Sukarno used to indict Dutch colonialism by saying that Indonesia was “a nation of coolies and a coolie among nations.” Thanks to the Suharto years, that description remains true. The principles of economic self-sufficiency, prosperity, and international recognition for which the nationalist struggle was fought now seem as remote as ever. It is encouraging that many Indonesians are now recalling Sukarno’s fight against Western imperialism (first the Netherlands and then the U.S.) after experiencing the misery that Suharto’s strategy of collaboration has wrought. In his “year of living dangerously” speech in August 1964 ­ a phrase remembered in the West as just the title of a 1982 movie with Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver ­ Sukarno spoke about the Indonesian ideal of national independence struggling to stay afloat in “an ocean of subversion and intervention from the imperialists and colonialists.” Suharto’s U.S.-assisted takeover of state power forty years ago last month drowned that ideal in blood, but it might just rise again during the ongoing economic crisis that is endangering the lives of so many Indonesians. John Roosa is an assistant professor of history at the University of British Columbia, and is the author of Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup d’État in Indonesia (University of Wisconsin Press, forthcoming in 2006).</p>
<p>Joseph Nevins is an assistant professor of geography at Vassar College, and is the author of A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor (Cornell University Press, 2005).</p>
<p>They may be reached at: <a href="mailto:jonevins@pop.vassar.edu" type="external">jonevins@pop.vassar.edu</a></p>
<p>Notes</p>
<p>1. A former CIA agent who worked in Southeast Asia, Ralph McGehee, noted in his memoir that the agency compiled a separate report about the events of 1965, one that reflected its agents’ honest opinions, for its own in-house readership. McGehee’s description of it was heavily censored by the agency when it vetted an account he first published in the April 11, 1981 edition of The Nation. Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA (New York: Sheridan Square, 1983), pp. 57-58. Two articles in the agency’s internal journal Studies in Intelligence have been declassified: John T. Pizzicaro, “The 30 September Movement in Indonesia,” (Fall 1969); Richard Cabot Howland, “The Lessons of the September 30 Affair,” (Fall 1970). The latter is available online: <a href="" type="internal">http://www.odci.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v14i2a02p_0001.htm</a></p>
<p>2. In Jakarta, the movement’s troops abducted and killed six army generals and a lieutenant taken by mistake from the house of the seventh who avoided capture. In the course of these abductions, a five year-old daughter of a general, a teenaged nephew of another general, and a security guard were killed. In Central Java, two army colonels were abducted and killed.</p>
<p>3. John Roosa, Ayu Ratih, and Hilmar Farid, eds. Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir: Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65; Esai-Esai Sejarah Lisan [The Year that Never Ended: Understanding the Experiences of the Victims of 1965; Oral History Essays] (Jakarta: Elsam, 2004). Also consider the massacre investigated in Chris Hilton’s very good documentary film Shadowplay (2002).</p>
<p>4. Telegram from the Embassy in Indonesia to Department of State, November 4, 1965, in United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. 26, p. 354. This FRUS volume is available online at the National Security Archive website: <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB52/#FRUS" type="external">http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB52/#FRUS</a></p>
<p>5. Telegram from the Embassy in Jakarta to Department of State, October 14, 1965. Quoted in Geoffrey Robinson, The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995), p. 283.</p>
<p>6. Frederick Bunnell, “American ‘Low Posture’ Policy Toward Indonesia in the Months Leading up to the 1965 ‘Coup’,” Indonesia, 50 (October 1990), p. 59.</p>
<p>7. Kathy Kadane, “Ex-agents say CIA Compiled Death Lists for Indonesians,” San Francisco Examiner, May 20, 1990, available online at <a href="http://www.pir.org/kadane.html" type="external">http://www.pir.org/kadane.html</a></p>
<p>8. CIA Report no. 14 to the White House (from Jakarta), October 14, 1965. Cited in Robinson, The Dark Side of Paradise, p. 283.</p>
<p>9. Richard Nixon, “Asia After Viet Nam,” Foreign Affairs (October 1967), p. 111.</p>
<p>10. Quoted in Peter Dale Scott, “Exporting Military-Economic Development: America and the Overthrow of Sukarno,” in Malcolm Caldwell (ed.), Ten Years’ Military Terror in Indonesia (Nottingham (U.K.): Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation for Spokesman Books, 1975), p. 241.</p>
<p>11. Audrey R. Kahin and George McT. Kahin, Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia (New York: The New Press, 1995), p. 1.</p>
<p>12. Bunnell, “American ‘Low Posture’ Policy,” pp. 34, 43, 53-54.</p>
<p>13. Time, July 15, 1966. Also see Noam Chomsky, Year 501: The Conquest Continues (Boston: South End Press, 1993), pp. 123-131.</p>
<p>14. Lawrence Griswold, “Garuda and the Emerald Archipelago: Strategic Indonesia Forges New Ties with the West,” Sea Power (Navy League of the United States), vol. 16, no. 2 (1973), pp. 20, 25.</p>
<p>15. Telegram 1787 from Jakarta to State Department, December 16, 1965, cited in Brad Simpson, “Modernizing Indonesia: U.S.­Indonesian Relations, 1961-1967,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of History, Northwestern University, 2003), p. 343.</p>
<p>16. Hilmar Farid, “Indonesia’s Original Sin: Mass Killings and Capitalist Expansion 1965-66,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 6, no. 1 (March 2005).</p>
<p>17. For information on U.S.-Indonesia military ties, see the website of the East Timor Indonesia Action Network at <a href="http://www.etan.org/" type="external">http://www.etan.org/</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | one worst mass murders twentieth century cia publication described killings began forty years ago last month indonesia one statements text correct 300page text devoted blaming victims killings supporters communist party indonesia pki deaths pki supposedly attempted coup détat nationwide uprising called september 30th movement unknown reason began october 1 mass murder hundreds thousands partys supporters subsequent months thus natural inevitable justifiable reaction part noncommunists felt threatened partys violent bid state power killings part backfire referred title indonesia 1965 coup backfired author 1968 report later revealed helen louise hunter acknowledged massive scale killings dismiss necessity detailed consideration concentrated proving pki responsible september 30th movement consigning major issue antipki atrocities brief offhanded comment 1 hunters cia report accurately expressed narrative told indonesian army commanders organized slaughter narrative rendered september 30th movement disorganized smallscale affair lasted 48 hours resulted grand total 12 deaths among six army generals greatest evil ever befall indonesia 2 commander army major general suharto justified acquisition emergency powers late 1965 early 1966 insisting september 30th movement devious conspiracy pki seize state power murder enemies suhartos martial law regime detained 15 million people political prisoners varying lengths time accused directly indirectly involved september 30th movement hundreds thousands people shot stabbed bludgeoned starved death labeled perpetrators wouldbe perpetrators atrocities culpable murder army generals handful people truly guilty september 30th movement suhartos reichstag fire pretext destroying communist party seizing state power february 1933 fire german parliament hitler used create hysterical crisisfilled atmosphere september 30th movement exaggerated suhartos clique officers assumed proportions wild vicious supernatural monster army whipped anticommunist propaganda campaign early days october 1965 pki castrated tortured seven army officers abducted jakarta danced naked slit bodies army officers hundred razor blades drawn hit lists dug thousands ditches around country hold countless corpses stockpiled guns imported china army banned many newspapers put rest army censorship precisely work armys psychological warfare specialists created conditions mass murder pki seemed justified question whether pki actually organized september 30th movement important suharto regime made important otherwise irrelevant even pki nothing whatsoever movement army generals would blamed party made case pki largely basis transcripts interrogations movement participants hadnt already summarily executed given army used torture standard operating procedure interrogations statements suspects trusted hunters cia report primarily based transcripts reliable inquisition text witchcraft pki whole clearly responsible september 30th movement partys three million members participate would smallscale affair party chairman dn aidit however seem played key role summarily secretly executed late 1965 two three core politburo leaders lukman njoto could provide accounts one among survived initial terror general secretary party sudisman admitted militarys kangaroo court 1967 pki institution knew nothing september 30th movement certain leaders involved personal capacity movements leaders treated leaders previous revolts postcolonial government would arrested put trial sentenced members organizations would imprisoned massacred little public discussion little scholarly research 196566 mass killings remain poorly understood many people outside indonesia believe victims primarily indonesian chinese indonesian chinese among victims means majority violence targeted members pki various organizations either allied party sympathetic whatever ethnicity happened javanese balinese sundanese etc case ethnic cleansing many people imagine killings committed frenzied mobs rampaging villages urban neighborhoods recent oral history research suggests killings executions detainees 3 much research needed one arrive definitive conclusions president sukarno target pkis alleged coup attempt compared armys murderous violence labeled pki case someone burning house kill rat routinely protested armys exaggerations september 30th movement said nothing ripple wide ocean inability unwillingness muster anything rhetorical protests however ultimately doomed rule march 1966 suharto grabbed authority dismiss appoint arrest cabinet ministers even maintaining sukarno figurehead president march 1967 great orator led nationalist struggle dutch cosmopolitan visionary nonaligned movement outmaneuvered taciturn uneducated thuggish corrupt army general javanese village suharto relative nobody indonesian politics moved pki sukarno full support us government marshall green american ambassador indonesia time wrote embassy made clear army washington generally sympathetic admiring actions 4 us officials went far express concern days following september 30th movement army might enough annihilate pki 5 us embassy supplied radio equipment walkietalkies small arms suharto troops could conduct nationwide assault civilians 6 diligent embassy official penchant data collection part handing army list thousands names pki members 7 moral material support much appreciated indonesian army aide armys chief staff informed us embassy officials october 1965 needed way assurances werent going hit angles moved straighten things here8 collaboration us top army brass 1965 rooted washingtons longstanding wish privileged enhanced access southeast asias resource wealth many washington saw indonesia regions centerpiece richard nixon characterized country containing regions richest hoard natural resources far greatest prize southeast asian area 9 two years earlier 1965 speech asia nixon argued favor bombing north vietnam protect indonesias immense mineral potential 10 obstacles realization washingtons geopoliticaleconomic vision arose sukarno government emerged upon independence indonesia sukarnos domestic foreign policy nationalist nonaligned explicitly antiimperialist moreover government working relationship powerful pki washington feared would eventually win national elections eisenhowers administration attempted break indonesia sabotage sukarnos presidency supporting secessionist revolts 195811 criminal escapade dulles brothers failed strategists washington reversed course began backing army officers central government new strategy cultivate anticommunist officers could gradually build army shadow government capable replacing president sukarno eliminating pki future date top army generals jakarta bided time waited opportune moment us strategists called final showdown pki 12 moment came october 1 1965 destruction pki sukarnos ouster resulted dramatic shift regional power equation leading time magazine hail suhartos bloody takeover wests best news years asia 13 several years later us navy leagues publication gushed indonesias new role southeast asia strategic areas unaggressive stern monitor characterizing country one asias highly developed nations endowed chance probably strategically authoritative geographic location earth 14 among things euphoria reflected lucrative changing guard indonesia would prove western business interests suhartos clique army officers took power longterm economic strategy mind expected legitimacy new regime would derive economic growth growth would derive bringing western investment exporting natural resources western markets begging western aid suhartos vision army terms defending nation foreign aggression defending foreign capital indonesians personally intervened meeting cabinet ministers december 1965 discussing nationalization oil companies caltex stanvac soon meeting began suddenly arrived helicopter entered chamber declared gleeful us embassy account military would stand precipitous moves oil companies faced threat cabinet indefinitely postponed discussion 15 time suhartos army jailing killing union leaders facilities us oil companies rubber plantations 16 suharto decisively sidelined sukarno march 1966 floodgates foreign aid opened us shipped large quantities rice cloth explicit political purpose shoring regime falling prices meant convince indonesians suhartos rule improvement sukarnos regimes ability following years sustain economic growth via integration western capital provided whatever legitimacy pattern growth ended capital flight 1997 asian economic crisis regimes legitimacy quickly vanished middle class university students fruits economic growth played particularly important role forcing suharto office suharto regime lived foreign capital died foreign capital clear much ballyhooed economic growth suharto years severely detrimental national interest country little show natural resources sold world market payments foreign domestic debt part odious debt suharto years swallow much governments budget health care spending minimum epidemic preventable diseases rampant little domestic industrial production forests military officers suharto cronies continue make fortunes cut burned alarming rate country imports huge quantities staple commodities could easily produced larger scale indonesia sugar rice soybeans main products villages migrant laborers heroes foreign exchange quote lighted sign jakarta airport apart pillaging indonesias resource base suharto regime caused astounding level unnecessary suffering command indonesian military invaded neighboring east timor 1975 receiving green light president gerald ford secretary state henry kissinger result occupation lasted almost 24 years left death toll tens thousands east timorese within indonesia proper tni committed widespread atrocities counterinsurgency campaigns resourcerich provinces west papua aceh resulting tens thousands additional fatalities suhartos forced resignation 1998 significant democratic space opened indonesia competitive national local elections victims new order families able organize even official effort create national truth commission investigate past atrocities nevertheless military still looms large countrys political system thorough investigation countless massacres took place 196566 history textbooks still focus september 30th movement make mention massacres similarly military political leaders held responsible suhartoera crimes taken place since thus increasing likelihood future atrocities impunity source continuing worry indonesias civil society restless regions well povertystricken nowindependent east timor thus surprising government worlds newest country feels compelled play demands justice citizenry emphasize empty reconciliation process indonesia meanwhile united states despite political support billions dollars us weaponry military training economic assistance jakarta preceding four decades washingtons role indonesias killing fields 196566 subsequent brutality effectively buried thus enabling bush administrations current efforts ties indonesias military part global war terror 17 suhartos removal office led radical changes indonesias state economy sukarno used indict dutch colonialism saying indonesia nation coolies coolie among nations thanks suharto years description remains true principles economic selfsufficiency prosperity international recognition nationalist struggle fought seem remote ever encouraging many indonesians recalling sukarnos fight western imperialism first netherlands us experiencing misery suhartos strategy collaboration wrought year living dangerously speech august 1964 phrase remembered west title 1982 movie mel gibson sigourney weaver sukarno spoke indonesian ideal national independence struggling stay afloat ocean subversion intervention imperialists colonialists suhartos usassisted takeover state power forty years ago last month drowned ideal blood might rise ongoing economic crisis endangering lives many indonesians john roosa assistant professor history university british columbia author pretext mass murder september 30th movement suhartos coup dÉtat indonesia university wisconsin press forthcoming 2006 joseph nevins assistant professor geography vassar college author notsodistant horror mass violence east timor cornell university press 2005 may reached jonevinspopvassaredu notes 1 former cia agent worked southeast asia ralph mcgehee noted memoir agency compiled separate report events 1965 one reflected agents honest opinions inhouse readership mcgehees description heavily censored agency vetted account first published april 11 1981 edition nation deadly deceits 25 years cia new york sheridan square 1983 pp 5758 two articles agencys internal journal studies intelligence declassified john pizzicaro 30 september movement indonesia fall 1969 richard cabot howland lessons september 30 affair fall 1970 latter available online httpwwwodcigovcsikent_csidocsv14i2a02p_0001htm 2 jakarta movements troops abducted killed six army generals lieutenant taken mistake house seventh avoided capture course abductions five yearold daughter general teenaged nephew another general security guard killed central java two army colonels abducted killed 3 john roosa ayu ratih hilmar farid eds tahun yang tak pernah berakhir memahami pengalaman korban 65 esaiesai sejarah lisan year never ended understanding experiences victims 1965 oral history essays jakarta elsam 2004 also consider massacre investigated chris hiltons good documentary film shadowplay 2002 4 telegram embassy indonesia department state november 4 1965 united states department state foreign relations united states 19641968 vol 26 p 354 frus volume available online national security archive website httpwwwgwuedunsarchivnsaebbnsaebb52frus 5 telegram embassy jakarta department state october 14 1965 quoted geoffrey robinson dark side paradise political violence bali ithaca cornell university press 1995 p 283 6 frederick bunnell american low posture policy toward indonesia months leading 1965 coup indonesia 50 october 1990 p 59 7 kathy kadane exagents say cia compiled death lists indonesians san francisco examiner may 20 1990 available online httpwwwpirorgkadanehtml 8 cia report 14 white house jakarta october 14 1965 cited robinson dark side paradise p 283 9 richard nixon asia viet nam foreign affairs october 1967 p 111 10 quoted peter dale scott exporting militaryeconomic development america overthrow sukarno malcolm caldwell ed ten years military terror indonesia nottingham uk bertrand russell peace foundation spokesman books 1975 p 241 11 audrey r kahin george mct kahin subversion foreign policy secret eisenhower dulles debacle indonesia new york new press 1995 p 1 12 bunnell american low posture policy pp 34 43 5354 13 time july 15 1966 also see noam chomsky year 501 conquest continues boston south end press 1993 pp 123131 14 lawrence griswold garuda emerald archipelago strategic indonesia forges new ties west sea power navy league united states vol 16 2 1973 pp 20 25 15 telegram 1787 jakarta state department december 16 1965 cited brad simpson modernizing indonesia usindonesian relations 19611967 phd dissertation department history northwestern university 2003 p 343 16 hilmar farid indonesias original sin mass killings capitalist expansion 196566 interasia cultural studies vol 6 1 march 2005 17 information usindonesia military ties see website east timor indonesia action network httpwwwetanorg 160 160 160 | 2,011 |
<p>The food crisis of 2008 never really ended, it was ignored and forgotten. The rich and powerful are well fed; they had no food crisis, no shortage, so in the West, it was little more than a short lived sound bite, tragic but forgettable. To the poor in the developing world, whose ability to afford food is no better now than in 2008, the hunger continues.</p>
<p>&#160;Hunger can have many contributing factors; natural disaster, discrimination, war, poor infrastructure. So why, regardless of the situation, is high tech agriculture always assumed to be the only the solution? This premise is put forward and supported by those who would benefit financially if their “solution” were implemented. Corporations peddle their high technology genetically engineered seed and chemical packages, their genetically altered animals, always with the “promise” of feeding the world.</p>
<p>&#160;Politicians and philanthropists, who may mean well, jump on the high technology band wagon. Could the promise of financial support or investment return fuel their apparent compassion?</p>
<p>&#160;The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation supposedly works to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa. While these sentiments and goals may be philanthropy at its best, some of the coalition partners have a different agenda.</p>
<p>&#160;One of the key players in AGRA, Monsanto, hopes to spread its genetically engineered seed throughout Africa by promising better yields, drought resistance, an end to hunger, etc. etc. Could a New Green Revolution succeed where the original Green Revolution had failed? Or was the whole concept of a Green Revolution a pig in a poke to begin with?</p>
<p>&#160;Monsanto giving free seed to poor small holder farmers sounds great, or are they just setting the hook? Remember, next year those farmers will have to buy their seed. Interesting to note that the Gates Foundation &#160;purchased $23.1 million worth of Monsanto stock in the second quarter of 2010. Do they also see the food crisis in Africa as a potential to turn a nice profit? Every corporation has one overriding interest— self-interest, but surely not charitable foundations?</p>
<p>&#160;Food shortages are seldom about a lack of food, there is plenty of food in the world, the shortages occur because of the inability to get food where it is needed and the inability of the hungry to afford it. These two problems are principally caused by, as Francis Moore Lappe’ put it, a lack of justice. There are also ethical considerations, a higher value should be placed on people than on corporate profit, this must be at the forefront, not an afterthought.</p>
<p>&#160;In 2008, there were shortages of food, in some places, for some people. There was never a shortage of food in 2008 on a global basis, nor is there currently. True, some countries, in Africa for example, do not have enough food where it is needed, yet people with money have their fill no matter where they live.</p>
<p>&#160;The current food riots in Mozambique were a result of increased wheat prices on the world market. The UN Food and Agriculture organization, (FAO) estimates the world is on course to the third largest wheat harvest in history, so increasing wheat prices were not caused by actual shortages, but rather by speculation on the price of wheat in the international market.</p>
<p>&#160;While millions of people go hungry in India, thousands of kilos of grain rot in storage. Unable to afford the grain, the hungry depend on the government to distribute food. Apparently that’s not going so well.</p>
<p>Not everyone living in a poor country goes hungry, those with money eat. Not everyone living in rich country is well fed, those without money go hungry. We in the US are said to have the safest and most abundant food supply in the world, yet even here, surrounded by an over abundance of food, there are plenty of hungry people and their numbers are growing. Do we too have a food crisis, concurrent with an obesity crisis?</p>
<p>Why is there widespread hunger? Is food a right? Is profit taking through speculation that drives food prices out of the reach of the poor a right? Is pushing high technology agriculture on an entire continent at that could feed itself a (corporate) right?</p>
<p>In developing countries, those with hunger and poor food distribution, the small farmers, most of whom are women, have little say in agricultural policy. The framework of international trade and the rules imposed by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on developing countries, places emphasis on crops for export, not crops for feeding a hungry population.</p>
<p>Despite what we hope are the best intentions of the Gates Foundation, a New Green Revolution based on genetically engineered crops, imported fertilizer and government imposed agricultural policy will not feed the world. Women, not Monsanto, feed most of the worlds population, and the greatest portion of the worlds diet still relies on crops and farming systems developed and cultivated by the indigenous for centuries, systems that still work, systems that offer real promise.</p>
<p>&#160;The report of 400 experts from around the world, The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, is ignored by the proponents of a New Green Revolution, precisely because it shows that the best hope for ending hunger lies with local, traditional, farmer controlled agricultural production, not high tech industrial agriculture.</p>
<p>&#160;To feed the world, fair methods of land distribution must be considered. A fair and just food system depends on small holder farmers having access to land. The function of a just farming system is to insure that everyone gets to eat, industrial agriculture functions to insure those corporations controlling the system make a profit.</p>
<p>&#160;The ultimate cause of hunger is not a lack of Western agricultural technology, rather hunger results when people are not allowed to participate in a food system of their choosing. Civil wars, structural adjustment policies, inadequate distribution systems, international commodity speculation and corporate control of food from seed to table— these are the causes of hunger, the stimulus for food crises.</p>
<p>If the Gates Foundation is serious about ending hunger in Africa, they need to read the IAASTD report, not Monsanto’s quarterly profit report. Then they can decide how their money might best be spent.</p>
<p>JIM GOODMAN is a dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wisconsin.</p> | true | 4 | food crisis 2008 never really ended ignored forgotten rich powerful well fed food crisis shortage west little short lived sound bite tragic forgettable poor developing world whose ability afford food better 2008 hunger continues 160hunger many contributing factors natural disaster discrimination war poor infrastructure regardless situation high tech agriculture always assumed solution premise put forward supported would benefit financially solution implemented corporations peddle high technology genetically engineered seed chemical packages genetically altered animals always promise feeding world 160politicians philanthropists may mean well jump high technology band wagon could promise financial support investment return fuel apparent compassion 160the alliance green revolution africa agra initiative bill melinda gates foundation rockefeller foundation supposedly works achieve food secure prosperous africa sentiments goals may philanthropy best coalition partners different agenda 160one key players agra monsanto hopes spread genetically engineered seed throughout africa promising better yields drought resistance end hunger etc etc could new green revolution succeed original green revolution failed whole concept green revolution pig poke begin 160monsanto giving free seed poor small holder farmers sounds great setting hook remember next year farmers buy seed interesting note gates foundation 160purchased 231 million worth monsanto stock second quarter 2010 also see food crisis africa potential turn nice profit every corporation one overriding interest selfinterest surely charitable foundations 160food shortages seldom lack food plenty food world shortages occur inability get food needed inability hungry afford two problems principally caused francis moore lappe put lack justice also ethical considerations higher value placed people corporate profit must forefront afterthought 160in 2008 shortages food places people never shortage food 2008 global basis currently true countries africa example enough food needed yet people money fill matter live 160the current food riots mozambique result increased wheat prices world market un food agriculture organization fao estimates world course third largest wheat harvest history increasing wheat prices caused actual shortages rather speculation price wheat international market 160while millions people go hungry india thousands kilos grain rot storage unable afford grain hungry depend government distribute food apparently thats going well everyone living poor country goes hungry money eat everyone living rich country well fed without money go hungry us said safest abundant food supply world yet even surrounded abundance food plenty hungry people numbers growing food crisis concurrent obesity crisis widespread hunger food right profit taking speculation drives food prices reach poor right pushing high technology agriculture entire continent could feed corporate right developing countries hunger poor food distribution small farmers women little say agricultural policy framework international trade rules imposed international monetary fund world bank developing countries places emphasis crops export crops feeding hungry population despite hope best intentions gates foundation new green revolution based genetically engineered crops imported fertilizer government imposed agricultural policy feed world women monsanto feed worlds population greatest portion worlds diet still relies crops farming systems developed cultivated indigenous centuries systems still work systems offer real promise 160the report 400 experts around world international assessment agricultural science technology development ignored proponents new green revolution precisely shows best hope ending hunger lies local traditional farmer controlled agricultural production high tech industrial agriculture 160to feed world fair methods land distribution must considered fair food system depends small holder farmers access land function farming system insure everyone gets eat industrial agriculture functions insure corporations controlling system make profit 160the ultimate cause hunger lack western agricultural technology rather hunger results people allowed participate food system choosing civil wars structural adjustment policies inadequate distribution systems international commodity speculation corporate control food seed table causes hunger stimulus food crises gates foundation serious ending hunger africa need read iaastd report monsantos quarterly profit report decide money might best spent jim goodman dairy farmer wonewoc wisconsin | 608 |
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<p>“Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers! These are my last words and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain. I am certain that at least it will be a moral example that will punish the felony, cowardice, and treason.”</p>
<p>— Salvador Allende, Sept. 11, 1973</p>
<p>For Latin Americans, Sept. 11 marked a cataclysmic event well before that same date in 2001 was etched in the conscience of the U.S. populace by terror attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Organization headquarters. On that date in 1973, Chile awoke to a U.S.-supported military coup against its democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende. By 12:15 p.m., Allende lay dead in La Moneda, Chile’s presidential palace.</p>
<p>To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the attack, activists from across the continent gathered in what was more a celebration of the man and his government than a requiem. The International Seminar “At 30 years, Allende lives!” took a close look at the surge of grassroots organizing that grounded Chile’s agrarian reforms, as well as struggles for housing and dignified employment during Allende’s three years as president. Participants stressed the need for similar popular participation to increase democracy in today’s Chile.</p>
<p>U.S. Involvement, End of People’s Government</p>
<p>“The armed forces have acted with patriotic inspiration to take a nation out of chaos, a grave chaos that Allende’s Marxist government caused,” declared a triumphant Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte the night of Sept. 11. Chile’s military junta (1973-1990) replaced Allende’s democratic socialism with a tyranny of terror that continues to haunt the nation.</p>
<p>Allende’s government was targeted as a threat to U.S. strategic policy in Latin America early on. White House tapes reveal that on Sept. 14, 1970, then-President Richard Nixon ordered measures to force the Chilean economy into bankruptcy. “The U.S. will not accept a Marxist government just because of the irresponsibility of the Chilean people,” declared Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s secretary of State. “The CIA had a large role in the strike against Salvador Allende and the Chilean people,” states U.S. author James Cockroft. “Big corporations like [the] ITT American telecommunications giant also played a large role in preparing the conditions for the coup in Chile. Economic blockades, destabilization of the economy, direct military participation were all part of the imperialist intervention of the CIA and U.S. military,” continues Cockroft.</p>
<p>Four U.S. battle ships approached Chile’s coast Sept.11, supposedly to participate in regional military practices. They maintained permanent contact with the coup leaders. Leading up to the coup, in July and August right-wing terrorists trained by U.S intelligence agencies carried out over 250 sabotage actions, exploding electric lines, targeting industry belts, and assassinating key civilians. In October 1972 the Chilean Transport Confederation called a general strike, financed by the CIA, which paralyzed the nation. Months before the military coup, the Chilean army began immobilizing worker-controlled factories by organizing operatives and testing the possible reactions of the working class to a coup. “Three years of economic war permitted the White House and internal opposition to win an important sector of the middle class. It’s here the official rebels found the base of support to develop their plans,” expresses Patricio Guzman in his moving film The Battle of Chile.</p>
<p>“Economic methods to destabilize progressive governments were perfected in 1973,” comments Cockroft. Even while confronting attempts at destabilization, Allende’s approval among public opinion rose. On Sept. 4, 1970 Allende, as candidate of the Popular Unity Front, was elected with 36.4% of votes. In March of 1973, Allende’s party won legislative elections with 43. 4%. In response to employer lock-outs in industry, factories were nationalized and workers organized themselves to control production. Activists from MIR, the Leftist Revolutionary Movement, tell of expropriating buses with pistols in hand and working armed inside factories to guarantee that production and transportation continued.</p>
<p>Workers, peasants, students, and state workers rallied behind Allende in huge street demonstrations, by organizing community deposit centers where food was sold at cost, and by opening supermarkets closed during the business shut-down. On Sept. 4, 1973, in response to the perceived immanence of the coup attempt and a plebiscite planned for Sept. 11, the largest political act in Chile’s history was held in Santiago’s center, mobilizing tens of thousands of people.</p>
<p>Cockcroft notes that as a result of the coup, the Chilean oligarchy and the U.S. imperialists were able to install a repressive dictatorship and a neoliberal economic regime that left the majority of the people poorer than during Allende’s government, when over half the population improved its economic condition. Pinochet immediately applied &lt;U.S.-prescribed&gt; measures of privatization and elimination of restrictions on the circulation of capital. Conditions favorable to foreign investors, including tax exemptions, and the lowering of environmental and labor standards sought to lure foreign investors.</p>
<p>But the neoliberal model imposed after Allende’s fall was only possible through the brutal control of all political dissent, achieved by militarizing society and implementing a state of terror. “After Sept. 11 all military resources were used to repress the Popular Unity Front, with North American compliance and presence,” Guzman narrates. In the ensuing days, sport stadiums were transformed into concentration camps where thousands passed through the hands of the dictatorship’s terror and torture; executions and disappearances became commonplace.</p>
<p>Over the next 17 years, Pinochet’s dictatorship insured a submissive and dependent economy and a stranglehold on dissent. It is estimated that about 550 enterprises under public-sector control, including most of Chile’s largest corporations, were privatized between 1974 and 1990. During the same period, some 3,000 people were officially declared dead or disappeared.</p>
<p>The Past that Lingers</p>
<p>“After 30 years, our history is still an open, bleeding wound,” states Cesar Quiros, Chilean human rights activist from the Manuel Rodriguez Movement. He notes that Chile’s transition to democracy has been full of contradictions. Until the late 80s Pinochet’s regime maintained strong control. On Sept.11, 1980 Pinochet adopted a new Constitution to stay in power and announced a plebiscite for 1988. With civil society pressuring for elections, Pinochet’s regime was rejected in the plebiscite. He remained in power until his executive term ended in 1990.</p>
<p>Pinochet and his supporters formed a political party, the Alliance for Chile. The first candidate of the right-wing alliance was Pinochet’s former Minister of Finance Hernan Buchi Buc, who ran as an independent supported by the pro-government Independent Democratic Union (UDI, by its Spanish initials). Center-left forces formed a coalition made up of 17 parties to defeat the new right and it succeeded with the election of Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, with 55.2% of votes in December 1989. Today, the coalition includes the Christian Democrats and center-left politicians, among them many who supported the coup and participated in the Pinochet dictatorship.</p>
<p>Thirteen years have passed since the end of the dictatorship and the much-heralded “return to democracy,” but many of the old systems of repression remain. Even now, people continue to denounce new cases of disappearances. Chile has not been able to solve past crimes and current contradictions that have permanent effects on today’s society: Some 1,200 disappeared remain unaccounted for; impunity for war criminals continues to be the legal norm; the same military and police forces control the streets; and ex-military leaders of the dictatorship are serving as senators for life. Nelson Mery, chief of Chile’s Investigative Police since 1990, resigned his post on Sept. 26 of this year, more than a month after being formally accused of torturing prisoners during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Pinochet.</p>
<p>Quiros maintains that due to pressures from the right-wing and U.S. political interests, Chile’s return to democracy has brought little fundamental change. “Chile’s democracy is still a dictatorship, nearly intact. Constitutional powers are the same, it’s the same Constitution of 1980. When you talk about Chile’s armed forces, they are the same as under Pinochet. The armed forces continue to claim that they will not allow another popular government like Popular Unity. They’ve made sure that popular sectors are not able to embark on a new attempt to change this unjust society that excludes the majority and is anti-democratic.”</p>
<p>The Chilean Constitution that Pinochet adopted provides the military with autonomy from civil government, allowing armed forces to act unchecked. Referring to the Constitution, current President Ricardo Lagos has stated: “The authoritarian seeds are there intact. Our transition has not been concluded, we don’t have a Magna Carta that has democratic norms.” Nonetheless, many feel that Lagos’ efforts at political reform have been symbolic, while at the same time guaranteeing impunity and amnesty for those responsible for crimes during the dictatorship and dutifully applying neoliberal policies.</p>
<p>“For 30 years, Chile has been a model of imperialism. Now we have both forms, economic and military control. Economic measures today are the same neoliberalism that Pinochet implemented in the 1970s, but it’s more ferocious, sophisticated and complete,” Cockcroft asserts. He adds that today these policies are being imposed by free trade accords, exemplified by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the north and the &lt;U.S.-Chile&gt; Free Trade Agreement in the south.</p>
<p>Although from the same party as Allende, Lagos has been a staunch promoter of the free trade agreement with the United States. In July, the U.S. Congress ratified the free trade Agreement with Chile and the Chilean Congress expects to pass and sign the agreement no later than Oct. 31. The first ratified free trade agreement of this type in South America will then take effect Jan. 1, 2004. The United States is already Chile’s primary client for exports, with total sales to the United States at over $2.87 billion. The agreement with Washington will immediately lift 85% of Chile’s import taxes and will totally abolish tariffs by 2014. Lagos had already signed a free trade agreement with the European Union in 2002.</p>
<p>Conflicts Unresolved</p>
<p>Chile has adopted a model for development that only benefits a small sector of society, led by transnational businesses, and leaving out most workers and peasants. Nearly 22% of the population is living below the poverty line and the unemployment rate stands at 9.2%. The economy has been globalized through privatizations and is dependent on imported capital and foreign investment. Conditions for macroeconomic policies are set by foreign bodies, especially the U.S. government and the multilateral financial institutions. Like its neighbors Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, Chile continues to borrow from financial institutions to stabilize capital flows, while private debt accumulated under the dictatorship has been absorbed by public sectors. In 1980, Chile’s debt was $11.2 billion; by 2002 it had swelled to $40.4 billion.</p>
<p>Agrarian reform carried out under the Allende administration has become a thing of the past. On the contrary, tendencies toward concentration of land have grown stronger in recent years, a cause for concern in a nation where nearly 14% of the labor force works in agriculture. Francisca Ramirez, indigenous activist from Via Campesina, sees the impact of the transnationalization of agriculture on the small farmers she works with every day. “We are demanding that what we produce and eat not be determined by corporations and capital forces. This government’s vision is that agriculture has its basis in the free market, that it’s necessary to produce for those with money.” She reaffirms the need for Chile to be able to sustain its basic needs through developing agricultural diversity and blocking agri-corporations from further extending systems of monoculture.</p>
<p>The past two decades have also seen increasing conflict between Chile’s indigenous peoples–particularly the country’s largest indigenous group, the Mapuche–and a series of Chilean governments over questions of land rights and development. These conflicts have resulted in a number of deaths. Most recently a 17-year-old Mapuche activist, Edmundo Alex Lemun, died on Nov. 12, 2002, five days after being shot in the head during a clash with carabineros (police) who were trying to forcibly remove a group of Mapuches occupying ancestral indigenous lands claimed by the Mininco lumber company in Angol Province. There are dozens of Mapuche activists today being held as political prisoners in Chile’s jails as part of struggles for land rights.</p>
<p>Washington’s policy proclaims that the proposed free trade agreements will help usher in “a hemisphere of liberty.” Linking free markets to democracy, U.S. President George W. Bush has declared that “people who operate in open economies eventually demand more open societies.” The U.S. continues to support governments that adopt favorable conditions to foreign capital and investments, but today it chooses its tactics more carefully. Making back-door trade agreements, setting financial conditions, and controlling the poor through structural adjustment policies of international lending institutions have replaced financing and supporting military dictatorships.</p>
<p>All-Too-Living Legacy</p>
<p>On Sept. 11, while Lagos attended ceremonies in front of La Moneda to commemorate those who lost their lives 30 years ago, Pinochet attended a different ceremony. Twisting history to celebrate himself as a legitimate statesman, Pinochet commemorated 30 years since the military coup and donated his presidential sash to the Pinochet Foundation. This foundation’s objective is to honor the dictatorship. Some 4,000 people attended this ceremony. In a symbolic act, current head of the Chilean military Gen. Juan Emilio Cheyre, made a surprise visit to Pinochet’s home to chat with the ex-dictator–who was Cheyre’s commander-in-chief in 1973. Neither made any public declaration of what they talked about in the meeting. Cheyre also attended ceremonies at the Military School to commemorate the deaths of anti-Allende forces during and after the military coup. In national newspaper headlines he was quoted as saying, “I feel secure about our power to manifest that the Chilean Army has carried out its tradition of military honor.”</p>
<p>Jorge Martinez Busch, former military commander-in-chief and current senator, also publicly defended the military coup. In one of the ceremonies he stated that the military should “wake up and take action,” referring to the military’s power to guarantee immunity for crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>On Sept. 9, family members of the disappeared and ex-detainees peacefully occupied the Mexican, Portuguese, and Swiss embassies to demand an end to impunity for military criminals. “We have organized this action, because at 30 years since the military coup that ended Salvador Allende’s constitutional government, the state has not sought justice for crimes against humanity, or executions perpetrated by the Armed Forces and agencies created to repress a defenseless population,” stated a woman participating in the action. “In 13 years the government of conciliation has not reached truth and justice with respect to the atrocities committed by the dictatorship. There are more than 200 ex-military personnel exempt from judicial process, including Pinochet. Also exempt from justice are many civilians who investigated, collaborated, covered-up, or participated directly in repressive acts.”</p>
<p>Days after the military coup, songwriter Victor Jara was detained, tortured, mutilated, and executed inside Chile’s National Stadium. His body–badly beaten, with 44 bullet wounds and wrists broken by rifle butts–was found days later in an abandoned field. Thirteen years after Chile’s transition to democracy, Lagos agreed to officially rename the stadium after Jara on Sept. 12. This symbolic gesture marks years of struggle by organizations and activists, but it also marks the contradictions between today’s democracy and a system of terror still intact. The night of Sept. 11, hundreds participated in a march to the stadium to realize an act of homage to Victor Jara. As in like cases of so-called “unauthorized” marches, Chile’s police force was ordered to repress. Demonstrators were tear-gassed, water-cannoned, and beaten. Four hundred arrived at the stadium, where thousands of candles were lit to give homage to those revolutionaries who died. Outside, hundreds more gathered after marching down the Alameda where they confronted the police.</p>
<p>During what the newspapers called “the night of terror,” some 200,000 people in the working class neighborhoods outside of Santiago suffered a blackout when electricity lines were cut. Neighborhoods themselves cut the electricity to make it harder for the police to repress demonstrators. The worst battles between police and demonstrators were fought in these working class neighborhoods. After it was all over, police chief Alberto Cienfuegos sent a radio message congratulating the police for their work “with so much passion and energy.” Twelve police officers were wounded in the actions, one shot in the face. There were some 300 demonstrators detained.</p>
<p>History, memory, and personal experiences have not let the events of Chile’s past 30 years be erased. Activities and actions commemorating Allende demonstrate that thousands of Chile’s workers, peasants, and students have not abandoned what is known as the “Battle of Chile.” Chilean organizations and social movements continue to demand justice for the disappeared, an end to impunity, and a real democracy.</p>
<p>“I was here during Allende’s government. I learned a lot from the Chilean people. It’s important for the world to understand who this hero was. The other lesson to learn is that this president didn’t prepare the people for such an attack, an attack so voracious. Many in the government knew that the coup was very probable. It’s hard to say this publicly, but we recognize that we need to prepare ourselves to defend ourselves. Prepare ourselves against a military intervention,” James Cockroft warned at the 30-year anniversary.</p>
<p>Marie Trigona ( <a href="mailto:mtrigona@msn.com" type="external">mtrigona@msn.com</a>) and Fabian Pierucci ( <a href="mailto:alaviodoc@yahoo.com.ar" type="external">alaviodoc@yahoo.com.ar</a>) are members of Grupo Alavio.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | true | 4 | 160 long live chile long live people long live workers last words certain sacrifice vain certain least moral example punish felony cowardice treason salvador allende sept 11 1973 latin americans sept 11 marked cataclysmic event well date 2001 etched conscience us populace terror attacks pentagon world trade organization headquarters date 1973 chile awoke ussupported military coup democratically elected socialist president salvador allende 1215 pm allende lay dead la moneda chiles presidential palace commemorate thirtieth anniversary attack activists across continent gathered celebration man government requiem international seminar 30 years allende lives took close look surge grassroots organizing grounded chiles agrarian reforms well struggles housing dignified employment allendes three years president participants stressed need similar popular participation increase democracy todays chile us involvement end peoples government armed forces acted patriotic inspiration take nation chaos grave chaos allendes marxist government caused declared triumphant gen augusto pinochet ugarte night sept 11 chiles military junta 19731990 replaced allendes democratic socialism tyranny terror continues haunt nation allendes government targeted threat us strategic policy latin america early white house tapes reveal sept 14 1970 thenpresident richard nixon ordered measures force chilean economy bankruptcy us accept marxist government irresponsibility chilean people declared henry kissinger nixons secretary state cia large role strike salvador allende chilean people states us author james cockroft big corporations like itt american telecommunications giant also played large role preparing conditions coup chile economic blockades destabilization economy direct military participation part imperialist intervention cia us military continues cockroft four us battle ships approached chiles coast sept11 supposedly participate regional military practices maintained permanent contact coup leaders leading coup july august rightwing terrorists trained us intelligence agencies carried 250 sabotage actions exploding electric lines targeting industry belts assassinating key civilians october 1972 chilean transport confederation called general strike financed cia paralyzed nation months military coup chilean army began immobilizing workercontrolled factories organizing operatives testing possible reactions working class coup three years economic war permitted white house internal opposition win important sector middle class official rebels found base support develop plans expresses patricio guzman moving film battle chile economic methods destabilize progressive governments perfected 1973 comments cockroft even confronting attempts destabilization allendes approval among public opinion rose sept 4 1970 allende candidate popular unity front elected 364 votes march 1973 allendes party legislative elections 43 4 response employer lockouts industry factories nationalized workers organized control production activists mir leftist revolutionary movement tell expropriating buses pistols hand working armed inside factories guarantee production transportation continued workers peasants students state workers rallied behind allende huge street demonstrations organizing community deposit centers food sold cost opening supermarkets closed business shutdown sept 4 1973 response perceived immanence coup attempt plebiscite planned sept 11 largest political act chiles history held santiagos center mobilizing tens thousands people cockcroft notes result coup chilean oligarchy us imperialists able install repressive dictatorship neoliberal economic regime left majority people poorer allendes government half population improved economic condition pinochet immediately applied ltusprescribedgt measures privatization elimination restrictions circulation capital conditions favorable foreign investors including tax exemptions lowering environmental labor standards sought lure foreign investors neoliberal model imposed allendes fall possible brutal control political dissent achieved militarizing society implementing state terror sept 11 military resources used repress popular unity front north american compliance presence guzman narrates ensuing days sport stadiums transformed concentration camps thousands passed hands dictatorships terror torture executions disappearances became commonplace next 17 years pinochets dictatorship insured submissive dependent economy stranglehold dissent estimated 550 enterprises publicsector control including chiles largest corporations privatized 1974 1990 period 3000 people officially declared dead disappeared past lingers 30 years history still open bleeding wound states cesar quiros chilean human rights activist manuel rodriguez movement notes chiles transition democracy full contradictions late 80s pinochets regime maintained strong control sept11 1980 pinochet adopted new constitution stay power announced plebiscite 1988 civil society pressuring elections pinochets regime rejected plebiscite remained power executive term ended 1990 pinochet supporters formed political party alliance chile first candidate rightwing alliance pinochets former minister finance hernan buchi buc ran independent supported progovernment independent democratic union udi spanish initials centerleft forces formed coalition made 17 parties defeat new right succeeded election christian democrat patricio aylwin 552 votes december 1989 today coalition includes christian democrats centerleft politicians among many supported coup participated pinochet dictatorship thirteen years passed since end dictatorship muchheralded return democracy many old systems repression remain even people continue denounce new cases disappearances chile able solve past crimes current contradictions permanent effects todays society 1200 disappeared remain unaccounted impunity war criminals continues legal norm military police forces control streets exmilitary leaders dictatorship serving senators life nelson mery chief chiles investigative police since 1990 resigned post sept 26 year month formally accused torturing prisoners 19731990 dictatorship pinochet quiros maintains due pressures rightwing us political interests chiles return democracy brought little fundamental change chiles democracy still dictatorship nearly intact constitutional powers constitution 1980 talk chiles armed forces pinochet armed forces continue claim allow another popular government like popular unity theyve made sure popular sectors able embark new attempt change unjust society excludes majority antidemocratic chilean constitution pinochet adopted provides military autonomy civil government allowing armed forces act unchecked referring constitution current president ricardo lagos stated authoritarian seeds intact transition concluded dont magna carta democratic norms nonetheless many feel lagos efforts political reform symbolic time guaranteeing impunity amnesty responsible crimes dictatorship dutifully applying neoliberal policies 30 years chile model imperialism forms economic military control economic measures today neoliberalism pinochet implemented 1970s ferocious sophisticated complete cockcroft asserts adds today policies imposed free trade accords exemplified north american free trade agreement nafta north ltuschilegt free trade agreement south although party allende lagos staunch promoter free trade agreement united states july us congress ratified free trade agreement chile chilean congress expects pass sign agreement later oct 31 first ratified free trade agreement type south america take effect jan 1 2004 united states already chiles primary client exports total sales united states 287 billion agreement washington immediately lift 85 chiles import taxes totally abolish tariffs 2014 lagos already signed free trade agreement european union 2002 conflicts unresolved chile adopted model development benefits small sector society led transnational businesses leaving workers peasants nearly 22 population living poverty line unemployment rate stands 92 economy globalized privatizations dependent imported capital foreign investment conditions macroeconomic policies set foreign bodies especially us government multilateral financial institutions like neighbors argentina brazil uruguay chile continues borrow financial institutions stabilize capital flows private debt accumulated dictatorship absorbed public sectors 1980 chiles debt 112 billion 2002 swelled 404 billion agrarian reform carried allende administration become thing past contrary tendencies toward concentration land grown stronger recent years cause concern nation nearly 14 labor force works agriculture francisca ramirez indigenous activist via campesina sees impact transnationalization agriculture small farmers works every day demanding produce eat determined corporations capital forces governments vision agriculture basis free market necessary produce money reaffirms need chile able sustain basic needs developing agricultural diversity blocking agricorporations extending systems monoculture past two decades also seen increasing conflict chiles indigenous peoplesparticularly countrys largest indigenous group mapucheand series chilean governments questions land rights development conflicts resulted number deaths recently 17yearold mapuche activist edmundo alex lemun died nov 12 2002 five days shot head clash carabineros police trying forcibly remove group mapuches occupying ancestral indigenous lands claimed mininco lumber company angol province dozens mapuche activists today held political prisoners chiles jails part struggles land rights washingtons policy proclaims proposed free trade agreements help usher hemisphere liberty linking free markets democracy us president george w bush declared people operate open economies eventually demand open societies us continues support governments adopt favorable conditions foreign capital investments today chooses tactics carefully making backdoor trade agreements setting financial conditions controlling poor structural adjustment policies international lending institutions replaced financing supporting military dictatorships alltooliving legacy sept 11 lagos attended ceremonies front la moneda commemorate lost lives 30 years ago pinochet attended different ceremony twisting history celebrate legitimate statesman pinochet commemorated 30 years since military coup donated presidential sash pinochet foundation foundations objective honor dictatorship 4000 people attended ceremony symbolic act current head chilean military gen juan emilio cheyre made surprise visit pinochets home chat exdictatorwho cheyres commanderinchief 1973 neither made public declaration talked meeting cheyre also attended ceremonies military school commemorate deaths antiallende forces military coup national newspaper headlines quoted saying feel secure power manifest chilean army carried tradition military honor jorge martinez busch former military commanderinchief current senator also publicly defended military coup one ceremonies stated military wake take action referring militarys power guarantee immunity crimes humanity sept 9 family members disappeared exdetainees peacefully occupied mexican portuguese swiss embassies demand end impunity military criminals organized action 30 years since military coup ended salvador allendes constitutional government state sought justice crimes humanity executions perpetrated armed forces agencies created repress defenseless population stated woman participating action 13 years government conciliation reached truth justice respect atrocities committed dictatorship 200 exmilitary personnel exempt judicial process including pinochet also exempt justice many civilians investigated collaborated coveredup participated directly repressive acts days military coup songwriter victor jara detained tortured mutilated executed inside chiles national stadium bodybadly beaten 44 bullet wounds wrists broken rifle buttswas found days later abandoned field thirteen years chiles transition democracy lagos agreed officially rename stadium jara sept 12 symbolic gesture marks years struggle organizations activists also marks contradictions todays democracy system terror still intact night sept 11 hundreds participated march stadium realize act homage victor jara like cases socalled unauthorized marches chiles police force ordered repress demonstrators teargassed watercannoned beaten four hundred arrived stadium thousands candles lit give homage revolutionaries died outside hundreds gathered marching alameda confronted police newspapers called night terror 200000 people working class neighborhoods outside santiago suffered blackout electricity lines cut neighborhoods cut electricity make harder police repress demonstrators worst battles police demonstrators fought working class neighborhoods police chief alberto cienfuegos sent radio message congratulating police work much passion energy twelve police officers wounded actions one shot face 300 demonstrators detained history memory personal experiences let events chiles past 30 years erased activities actions commemorating allende demonstrate thousands chiles workers peasants students abandoned known battle chile chilean organizations social movements continue demand justice disappeared end impunity real democracy allendes government learned lot chilean people important world understand hero lesson learn president didnt prepare people attack attack voracious many government knew coup probable hard say publicly recognize need prepare defend prepare military intervention james cockroft warned 30year anniversary marie trigona mtrigonamsncom fabian pierucci alaviodocyahoocomar members grupo alavio 160 | 1,725 |
<p>According to studies published this week in The Lancet, <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2012/03/20/daily-aspirin-may-prevent-cancer.html" type="external">aspirin radically reduces</a> the risk of cancer. These studies confirm prodigious past research linking aspirin use to reduced rates of heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, asthma, and yet more cancers. Can a cheap over-the-counter pill a day make the difference between life and death? Here are 15 statistics on aspirin’s effect on health–both the good and the bad.</p>
<p>1. Taking low doses of aspirin for five years reduces the risk of death from cancer by 37 percent.</p>
<p>The brand-new study that yielded this statistic is one of three published in The Lancet on March 21 and produced by an Oxford University-based team. These studies found that regular low-dose aspirin consumption reduced the risks of cancers of the colon, esophagus, and breast, among other body parts. “I am not at all surprised by these findings, which build on the body of research that I covered in my book,” says cardiologist Keith Souter, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1843176327/thedaibea-20/" type="external">An Aspirin a Day: the Wonder Drug That Could Save YOUR Life</a>. The Oxford team’s new studies “have been meticulously performed using a large population and they are highly significant,” Souter says.</p>
<p>Peter M. Rothwell, et al. “Short-term effects of daily aspirin on cancer incidence, mortality, and non-vascular death: analysis of the time course of risks and benefits in 51 randomised controlled trials.” <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61720-0/abstract" type="external">The Lancet</a>, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61720-0.</p>
<p>2. People who take aspirin on at least one day per month are 35 percent less at risk of developing heart disease than people who do not take aspirin on at least one day per month.</p>
<p>“Aspirin is what is known as an antiplatelet drug,” says cardiologist Sarah Samaan, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1615190473/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Best Practices for a Healthy Heart: How to Stop Heart Disease Before or After It Starts</a>. “That means it inactivates our blood platelets, reducing the likelihood of blood clots...Most heart attacks and strokes are caused by unstable cholesterol plaques which rupture or fissure. The body sees this as an injury and sends blood platelets to the injured site. The platelets contribute to clot formation, which is what ultimately closes off the artery, preventing blood and oxygen from reaching the heart muscle or the brain.” A 2011 Mayo Clinic-affiliated study yielded this statistic.</p>
<p>Xianglin Tan, et al. “Aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, and pancreatic cancer risk: a clinic-based case-control study.” <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803981" type="external">Cancer Prevention Research</a>, 4(11):1835-41.</p>
<p>3. Regular aspirin consumption reduces the risk of asthma by 22 percent.</p>
<p>“Aspirin reduced the risk of newly diagnosed adult-onset asthma in a large, randomized clinical trial of apparently healthy, aspirin-tolerant men,” write the authors of the Harvard University-based study that yielded this statistic. “This result requires replication in randomized trials designed a priori to test this hypothesis; it does not imply that aspirin improves symptoms in patients with asthma.” Still, aspirin can have the reverse effect, causing asthma attacks in some people, Souter warns.</p>
<p>R. Graham Barr, et al. “Aspirin and Decreased Adult-Onset Asthma.” <a href="http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/content/175/2/120" type="external">American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine</a>, 175 (2), 120-125.</p>
<p>4. People who take aspirin on at least one day per month have a 26 percent lower risk of developing pancreatic cancer than people who do not take aspirin on at least one day per month.</p>
<p>“Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) show indisputable promise as cancer chemoprevention agent,” begins the text of the 2011 Mayo Clinic-affiliated study that yielded this statistic. Getting down to specifics, the news is even better: “The association between aspirin use and pancreatic cancer was not significantly affected by pancreatic cancer stage, smoking status, or body mass index. Our data suggest that aspirin use...is associated with lowered risk of developing pancreatic cancer.” According to this study, NSAID use is not.</p>
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<p>Xianglin Tan, et al. “Aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, and pancreatic cancer risk: a clinic-based case-control study.” <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803981" type="external">Cancer Prevention Research</a>, 4(11):1835-41.</p>
<p>5. People who take adult-strength aspirin regularly for at least five years are 30 percent less at risk of developing colorectal cancer than people who do not take aspirin regularly.</p>
<p>According to the American Cancer Society-affiliated study that yielded this stat, aspirin might be great for the gut. But before it performs its cancer-preventative wonders, what harm might it wield? Aspirin’s ugly side effects include indigestion, stomach ulceration, and gastrointestinal bleeding, Souter says: “Aspirin is a potentially very valuable and powerful drug, but it is not suitable for everyone. I do not think that anyone should just start taking it. They should discuss this with their own doctor.”</p>
<p>Eric J. Jacobs, et al. “A Large Cohort Study of Long-Term Daily Use of Adult-Strength Aspirin and Cancer Incidence.” <a href="http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/99/8/608.short" type="external">Journal of the National Cancer Institute</a>, 99 (8): 608-615.</p>
<p>6. People who take aspirin regularly for a year or more are about five times as likely to develop Crohn’s disease as people who have not taken aspirin regularly for a year.</p>
<p>The large-scale University of East Anglia-based study that yielded this statistic followed more 200,000 volunteers in five European countries for four years.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2010/may/crohnsdisease" type="external">Andrew Hart, et al</a>. Research presented at the <a href="http://www.ddw.org/" type="external">2010 Digestive Disease Week</a> conference in New Orleans, La.</p>
<p>7. People who take low doses of aspirin regularly and who already have cancer reduce the risk of metastasis—that is, the spread of that cancer to other body parts—by 55 percent.</p>
<p>One of the most promising aspects of the new Lancet studies, Souter says, is that they show the benefits of very low aspirin doses: a mere 75 mg per day. “The benefit of cancer reduction now seems even greater than the benefit in heart attack and stroke reduction,” Souter marvels, “so the overall benefits may outweigh the risks of taking aspirin.” These risks include gut problems, aspirin-induced asthma attacks, and an increased risk of hemorraghic stroke.</p>
<p>Peter M. Rothwell, et al. “Effect of daily aspirin on risk of cancer metastasis: a study of incident cancers during randomised controlled trials.” <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60209-8/abstract" type="external">The Lancet</a>, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60209-8.</p>
<p>8. Women who take at least two aspirin per week for at least one month are 40 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than are women who do not take aspirin regularly.</p>
<p>The UCLA-affiliated study that yielded this statistic found that anti-Parkinson’s effects in aspirin-taking women, but not in aspirin-taking men. Aspirin’s anti-inflammatory powers are afoot yet again: “Markers of neuroinflammation, including activated microglia and increased levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines, have been observed in the brains and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Parkinson disease,” write the study’s authors.</p>
<p>Angelika Wahner, et al. “Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may protect against Parkinson disease.” <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/69/19/1836.abstract" type="external">Neurology</a>: 60:1043-1044.</p>
<p>9. People who take aspirin regularly for five years or longer reduce their risk of developing cancer in the proximal colon—that is, the upper portion of the colon, including the cecum, appendix, ascending colon, hepatic flexure, transverse colon and splenic flexure—by about 70 percent.</p>
<p>“Aspirin taken for several years at doses of at least 75 mg daily reduced long-term incidence and mortality due to colorectal cancer,” write the authors of the Oxford University-affiliated study that yielded this statistic. The benefit “was greatest for cancers of the proximal colon, which are not otherwise prevented effectively by screening with sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.”</p>
<p>Peter M. Rothwell, et al. “Long-term effect of aspirin on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality: 20-year follow-up of five randomised trials.” <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61543-7/abstract" type="external">The Lancet</a>, 376 (9754): 1741-1750.</p>
<p>10. People who have had strokes and are aspirin-resistant—a condition affecting from 5 to 45 percent of the general population—are 10 times more likely to have future strokes as are stroke survivors who are not aspirin-resistant.</p>
<p>Aspirin fails to reduce platelet production in aspirant-resistant individuals. Luckily, aspirin works on most of us. “Aspirin is generally considered standard emergency room treatment when a patient comes in with a heart attack or stroke,” Samaan says. “Aspirin given early on in the course of a stroke can reduce the likelihood of a second stroke, and consequently reduces the risk of dying of the stroke.” Then again: “Since some strokes are actually caused by bleeding in the brain, aspirin can actually make these less common types of stroke worse.”</p>
<p>Peter J. Mason, et al. “Aspirin Resistance and Atherothrombotic Disease.” <a href="http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/46/6/986" type="external">Journal of the American College of Cardiology</a>, 46(6):986-93.</p>
<p>11. Regular aspirin use reduces the risk of non-fatal heart attack by about one-fifth.</p>
<p>“In people at high risk for heart attack and stroke, aspirin can reduce that risk,” Samaan says of the Oxford University-based study that yielded this stat. “For those who have had coronary stents placed, aspirin is usually mandatory in order to prevent the stent from clogging up. However, aspirin also increases the risk for bleeding...It also slightly but measurably increases the risk for bleeding into the brain. If your risk for heart disease is low, then the potential risks outweigh the potential benefits. That’s why we don’t generally recommend aspirin for people under 50 or for those with no risk factors.”</p>
<p>C. Baigent, et al. “Aspirin in the primary and secondary prevention of vascular disease: collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised trials.” <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19482214" type="external">The Lancet</a>, 373 (9678):1849-60.</p>
<p>12. Men who take adult-strength aspirin for at least five years regularly are 20 percent less at risk of developing prostate cancer than men who do not take aspirin regularly.</p>
<p>The American Cancer Society-affiliated study that yielded this statistic was large in scale, examining the incidence of 10 types of cancer in more than 146,000 men and women. Nonetheless, the study’s authors warn: “The potential effect of long-term daily use of higher doses of aspirin on cancer incidence remains uncertain.”</p>
<p>Eric J. Jacobs, et al. “A Large Cohort Study of Long-Term Daily Use of Adult-Strength Aspirin and Cancer Incidence.” <a href="http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/99/8/608.short" type="external">Journal of the National Cancer Institute</a>, 99 (8): 608-615.</p>
<p>13. Aspirin inhibits ovarian-tumor cell growth by as much as 68 percent.</p>
<p>The University of South Florida-affiliated study that yielded this statistic was not performed on human subjects but on cancer cells in vitro. The results are promising, considering that ovarian cancer kills more than 16,000 women in the United States every year and that the disease’s death rates are rising steadily. “The recent news that aspirin may prevent certain forms of cancer is likely to prompt some people to start taking it,” Samaan says. “But again, we have to look at potential risks versus benefits.”</p>
<p>Hector Arango, et al. “Aspirin Effects on Endometrial Cancer Cell Growth.” <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021107074244.htm" type="external">Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology</a>, 97 (3), 423-427.</p>
<p>14. Regular aspirin use reduces the risk of colon polyps by 19 percent.</p>
<p>Known as polyps or adenomas, benign tumors in the colon have the potential to become cancerous. In the Dartmouth University-affiliated study that yielded this statistic, more than 1,000 patients recently diagnosed with colon polyps were randomly given either placebos or low doses of aspirin (81 mg). Follow-up colonoscopies three years hence determined the presence or absence of polyps. “Low-dose aspirin has a moderate chemopreventive effect on adenomas in the large bowel,” the study’s authors conclude.</p>
<p>John Baron, et al. “A Randomized Trial of Aspirin to Prevent Colorectal Adenomas.” <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021735" type="external">The New England Journal of Medicine</a>, 348 (19):1939.</p>
<p>15. Women who have taken aspirin regularly for more than years have a 58 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than are women who never regularly took more than two aspirins per week.</p>
<p>Not all aspirin news is good news. “Extended periods of regular aspirin use appear to be associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer among women,” write the authors of the Harvard-affiliated study that yielded this statistic. “In vitro experiments and limited animal studies suggest that aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may inhibit pancreatic carcinogenesis”—but “few studies have examined the association between aspirin use and pancreatic cancer in humans, and the results have been inconsistent.” So don’t invest your life savings in busloads of Bayer.</p>
<p>E.S. Schernhammer, et al. “A prospective study of aspirin use and the risk of pancreatic cancer in women.” <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709735" type="external">Journal of the National Cancer Institute</a>, 96 (1):22-8.</p> | true | 4 | according studies published week lancet aspirin radically reduces risk cancer studies confirm prodigious past research linking aspirin use reduced rates heart disease stroke parkinsons disease asthma yet cancers cheap overthecounter pill day make difference life death 15 statistics aspirins effect healthboth good bad 1 taking low doses aspirin five years reduces risk death cancer 37 percent brandnew study yielded statistic one three published lancet march 21 produced oxford universitybased team studies found regular lowdose aspirin consumption reduced risks cancers colon esophagus breast among body parts surprised findings build body research covered book says cardiologist keith souter author aspirin day wonder drug could save life oxford teams new studies meticulously performed using large population highly significant souter says peter rothwell et al shortterm effects daily aspirin cancer incidence mortality nonvascular death analysis time course risks benefits 51 randomised controlled trials lancet doi101016s0140673611617200 2 people take aspirin least one day per month 35 percent less risk developing heart disease people take aspirin least one day per month aspirin known antiplatelet drug says cardiologist sarah samaan author best practices healthy heart stop heart disease starts means inactivates blood platelets reducing likelihood blood clotsmost heart attacks strokes caused unstable cholesterol plaques rupture fissure body sees injury sends blood platelets injured site platelets contribute clot formation ultimately closes artery preventing blood oxygen reaching heart muscle brain 2011 mayo clinicaffiliated study yielded statistic xianglin tan et al aspirin nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs acetaminophen pancreatic cancer risk clinicbased casecontrol study cancer prevention research 411183541 3 regular aspirin consumption reduces risk asthma 22 percent aspirin reduced risk newly diagnosed adultonset asthma large randomized clinical trial apparently healthy aspirintolerant men write authors harvard universitybased study yielded statistic result requires replication randomized trials designed priori test hypothesis imply aspirin improves symptoms patients asthma still aspirin reverse effect causing asthma attacks people souter warns r graham barr et al aspirin decreased adultonset asthma american journal respiratory critical care medicine 175 2 120125 4 people take aspirin least one day per month 26 percent lower risk developing pancreatic cancer people take aspirin least one day per month aspirin nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs nsaid show indisputable promise cancer chemoprevention agent begins text 2011 mayo clinicaffiliated study yielded statistic getting specifics news even better association aspirin use pancreatic cancer significantly affected pancreatic cancer stage smoking status body mass index data suggest aspirin useis associated lowered risk developing pancreatic cancer according study nsaid use start finish day top stories daily beast speedy smart summary news need know nothing dont xianglin tan et al aspirin nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs acetaminophen pancreatic cancer risk clinicbased casecontrol study cancer prevention research 411183541 5 people take adultstrength aspirin regularly least five years 30 percent less risk developing colorectal cancer people take aspirin regularly according american cancer societyaffiliated study yielded stat aspirin might great gut performs cancerpreventative wonders harm might wield aspirins ugly side effects include indigestion stomach ulceration gastrointestinal bleeding souter says aspirin potentially valuable powerful drug suitable everyone think anyone start taking discuss doctor eric j jacobs et al large cohort study longterm daily use adultstrength aspirin cancer incidence journal national cancer institute 99 8 608615 6 people take aspirin regularly year five times likely develop crohns disease people taken aspirin regularly year largescale university east angliabased study yielded statistic followed 200000 volunteers five european countries four years andrew hart et al research presented 2010 digestive disease week conference new orleans la 7 people take low doses aspirin regularly already cancer reduce risk metastasisthat spread cancer body partsby 55 percent one promising aspects new lancet studies souter says show benefits low aspirin doses mere 75 mg per day benefit cancer reduction seems even greater benefit heart attack stroke reduction souter marvels overall benefits may outweigh risks taking aspirin risks include gut problems aspirininduced asthma attacks increased risk hemorraghic stroke peter rothwell et al effect daily aspirin risk cancer metastasis study incident cancers randomised controlled trials lancet doi101016s0140673612602098 8 women take least two aspirin per week least one month 40 percent less likely develop parkinsons disease women take aspirin regularly uclaaffiliated study yielded statistic found antiparkinsons effects aspirintaking women aspirintaking men aspirins antiinflammatory powers afoot yet markers neuroinflammation including activated microglia increased levels circulating proinflammatory cytokines observed brains cerebrospinal fluid patients parkinson disease write studys authors angelika wahner et al nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs may protect parkinson disease neurology 6010431044 9 people take aspirin regularly five years longer reduce risk developing cancer proximal colonthat upper portion colon including cecum appendix ascending colon hepatic flexure transverse colon splenic flexureby 70 percent aspirin taken several years doses least 75 mg daily reduced longterm incidence mortality due colorectal cancer write authors oxford universityaffiliated study yielded statistic benefit greatest cancers proximal colon otherwise prevented effectively screening sigmoidoscopy colonoscopy peter rothwell et al longterm effect aspirin colorectal cancer incidence mortality 20year followup five randomised trials lancet 376 9754 17411750 10 people strokes aspirinresistanta condition affecting 5 45 percent general populationare 10 times likely future strokes stroke survivors aspirinresistant aspirin fails reduce platelet production aspirantresistant individuals luckily aspirin works us aspirin generally considered standard emergency room treatment patient comes heart attack stroke samaan says aspirin given early course stroke reduce likelihood second stroke consequently reduces risk dying stroke since strokes actually caused bleeding brain aspirin actually make less common types stroke worse peter j mason et al aspirin resistance atherothrombotic disease journal american college cardiology 46698693 11 regular aspirin use reduces risk nonfatal heart attack onefifth people high risk heart attack stroke aspirin reduce risk samaan says oxford universitybased study yielded stat coronary stents placed aspirin usually mandatory order prevent stent clogging however aspirin also increases risk bleedingit also slightly measurably increases risk bleeding brain risk heart disease low potential risks outweigh potential benefits thats dont generally recommend aspirin people 50 risk factors c baigent et al aspirin primary secondary prevention vascular disease collaborative metaanalysis individual participant data randomised trials lancet 373 9678184960 12 men take adultstrength aspirin least five years regularly 20 percent less risk developing prostate cancer men take aspirin regularly american cancer societyaffiliated study yielded statistic large scale examining incidence 10 types cancer 146000 men women nonetheless studys authors warn potential effect longterm daily use higher doses aspirin cancer incidence remains uncertain eric j jacobs et al large cohort study longterm daily use adultstrength aspirin cancer incidence journal national cancer institute 99 8 608615 13 aspirin inhibits ovariantumor cell growth much 68 percent university south floridaaffiliated study yielded statistic performed human subjects cancer cells vitro results promising considering ovarian cancer kills 16000 women united states every year diseases death rates rising steadily recent news aspirin may prevent certain forms cancer likely prompt people start taking samaan says look potential risks versus benefits hector arango et al aspirin effects endometrial cancer cell growth obstetrics amp gynecology 97 3 423427 14 regular aspirin use reduces risk colon polyps 19 percent known polyps adenomas benign tumors colon potential become cancerous dartmouth universityaffiliated study yielded statistic 1000 patients recently diagnosed colon polyps randomly given either placebos low doses aspirin 81 mg followup colonoscopies three years hence determined presence absence polyps lowdose aspirin moderate chemopreventive effect adenomas large bowel studys authors conclude john baron et al randomized trial aspirin prevent colorectal adenomas new england journal medicine 348 191939 15 women taken aspirin regularly years 58 percent higher risk developing pancreatic cancer women never regularly took two aspirins per week aspirin news good news extended periods regular aspirin use appear associated statistically significantly increased risk pancreatic cancer among women write authors harvardaffiliated study yielded statistic vitro experiments limited animal studies suggest aspirin nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs may inhibit pancreatic carcinogenesisbut studies examined association aspirin use pancreatic cancer humans results inconsistent dont invest life savings busloads bayer es schernhammer et al prospective study aspirin use risk pancreatic cancer women journal national cancer institute 96 1228 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