Bawarchi's Blast

The Leak Gets Larger

2010-12-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire. - Peter Gabriel

There is now a new voice in the world of leaked documents and transparent government. A new site dedicated to a free press,OpenLeaks, is preparing to debut. OpenLeaks, started by former WikiLeaks workers, is not so much a competitor as another alternative. Begun partially as a way to distance the WikiLeaks approach from its public face, Julian Assange, OpenLeaks is now another means to by which the public can get information.

WikiLeaks, as I noted in a previous post, is but a messenger. The real battle here is over transparency and open government. Efforts to kill WikiLeaks will have little real effect now that the idea has grown into a movement.

Techno D-Day

2010-12-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

It was a techno D-Day, a techno D-Day, out on Omaha Beach.
Where the troops believe in the life of freedom.
This is all about free speech. - Joe Strummer

In reaction to the arrest of Julian Assange, front man for Wikileaks, "hacktivists" began symbolic attacks upon Swedish government sites, Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and others today. In England (correction: Holland) a 16-year-old was arrested for hacking in connection with the actions.

Actions such as the arrest of the 16-year-old just demonstrates how those who are trying to stop Wikileaks simply don't get it. Wikileaks is not just a one man show run by Assange. He is merely the public face. Calls for Assange to be prosecuted on various charges such as espionage, etc. demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of the information age. Assange is only the messenger. He is but a soldier. This is about free speech and freedom of the press.

Efforts to stop Wikileaks have come from various corners over the past couple of weeks. What these attempts to silence them have done is to produce the exact opposite effect. Mirror sites have been proliferating and more hackers have rallied to the defense of Wikileaks. The free speech and free press advocates have been united in a common cause.

The world has changed. Everything is public now, whether anyone wants it to be or not. World governments must accept this reality, multinational corporations must accept this reality, every single individual must accept this reality.

A battle has begun. The battle is between the old way of doing things, with secrets and hidden information and the new way, where everything is dragged into the light. Even if Assange were to go to prison, nothing can stop what has begun. The beaches have been stormed.

Good News & Bad News

2010-12-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

First; the good news:

Over the past few days it has been reported by various news services that Dick Cheney has been indicted in Nigeria for crimes committed while CEO of Halliburton.

And now; the bad news:

Neither Cheney nor Bush have yet been indicted for the war crimes committed during their administration. Cheney will likely remain free as he is in an undisclosed location supervising Halliburton's reconstruction of the Death Star.

Assault on Free Speech

2010-12-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

If you have been looking for the WikiLeaks documents today you likely received a message that the server is not responding. What has happened is that the U.S. State Department has put enormous pressure on various companies and now WikiLeaks domain name - Wikileaks.org is no longer functional.

For a country that is allegedly committed to free speech and a free press the U.S. government is acting completely contrary to that ideal. Threatening to charge Julian Assange, WikiLeaks public face, with espionage is only the tip of the iceberg. Amazon, formerly hosting WikiLeaks, has now kicked them off their servers.

Aside from the sheer stupidity of trying to remove information from the Internet (this genie is never going back in the bottle)the idea of official government censorship of the press is abhorrent. A democracy depends on citizen's knowledge and access to information.

The truth about WikiLeaks is that little of importance that was not already known or suspected was revealed. The hue and cry is more about the embarrassment this is causing for world leaders than any threat to security. Really, what have we learned? The Saudi's are two faced with other Arab nations? Silvio Berlusconi is a vain, corrupt egomaniac? Karzai's brother is a narcotics trafficker? Diplomats sometimes collect information? Gasp and swoon. Anyone unaware of these things hasn't been paying attention anyway.

WikiLeaks is now available at the domain WikiLeaks.ch. Happy reading lovers of a free press.

Gore Admits Error

2010-11-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

Al Gore recently expressed that he was wrong to champion the use of corn as a fuel alternative. Speaking in Greece, Gore noted that his own promotion of the food as fuel was likely influenced by his political aspirations and farmers in his home state of Tennessee and the important caucus state, Iowa.

Gore is absolutely right. Turning food into fuel is little more than a financial boondoggle to corn producers. The fuel created is neither efficient nor cheap. Its real value is the subsidy to the producers. Its real costs is to the food budgets of the poor.

Alternative energy is a necessity, but converting food into fuel seems incomprehensible. Incomprehensible to everyone but a corn producer.

The subsidy for corn to ethanol is due to expire. Whether it is renewed or not will likely depend on the factors that have little or nothing to do with energy independence or security. Instead, it will depend on lobbyists. Who will win? In a battle between the profits of agribusiness and food for the poor, I'm afraid the decision has already been made. Please pass the fuel.

Pelicans in Siberia

2010-11-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

According to Reuters News Service, a flock of African pink pelicans became confused during their migration and ended up in Siberia. The pelicans, native to Africa (as the name suggests) were apparently fooled by the warm weather in Siberia.

African birds ending up in Siberia is more than a curiosity. It is a sign of things to come. The birds were thrown off their normal migratory patterns by what is being described as abnormally warm temperatures. Abnormally warm for the past, but maybe not the future. Animals such as birds and insects operate largely out of instinct. When this instinct becomes confused or the signals that trigger migration change, behavior is altered in unpredictable ways.

Global warming is more than a abstract concept about the temperature of the earth. In an inter-related system, what affects one thing will affect others. The future is upon us and its going to the birds.

Bush Admits War Crimes

2010-11-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

George W. Bush, in his new memoir, Decision Points (he was "The Decider" after all), admitted that he authorized water-boarding. Admission of water-boarding, held to be torture by treaties the U.S. has signed, is grounds for prosecution as a war criminal. The ACLU has already called on Bush to be tried and will be joined by this writer and others interested in international law in the very near future.

Under international law, the country in which the war criminal lives is given first responsibility for the prosecution of such acts. Should the U.S. fail to act, then other countries are then tasked with prosecution. While it is unlikely that Bush will ever be prosecuted in the U.S., it is likely that he will soon find it difficult to travel outside the boundaries of the country without risk of arrest.

What an embarrassment this man has been to the nation. "W" doesn't just stand for wrong, it also stands for war criminal.

Why We're Doomed - Part 3

2010-11-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

This morning I stopped at a local cafe for breakfast. Having an aversion to chain restaurants I am always on the lookout for unique local places. Traveling a route that I don't normally take I spied a red barn styled place that had a full parking lot, the greatest endorsement any restaurant can have. When I entered the place appeared full of promise. It was just the way I like local places; cramped, chaotic and confusing. Coffee was only ninety-nine cents.

Then the food came. First of all, let me say that the food was first rate. Tasty and filling, all at a reasonable price. I will never eat there again. The food came served on a plastic plate with plastic utensils. The coffee was in a Styrofoam cup.

Clearly this packed restaurant could afford to upgrade to real plates and silverware. I cannot imagine that in the long term it is not cheaper to buy reusable plates, cups, and utensils than to constantly buy them and throw them away. I inquired as to why they used the approach they did. The answer was that it cost too much in the short run to make the change. In effect, short term costs were more relevant to the owners than long term profitability. Environmental costs aside, this is simply a bad business decision.

I grow more pessimistic every day when it comes to reversing the tide building towards an impending ecological disaster. When businesses won't do the environmentally responsible thing even when it is in their economic interests there is little hope that society as a whole will address these issues.

Forget cap and trade legislation. The economic world is governed by short term concerns and appears unable to consider what is in its best interests in the long term. My local restaurant is only a symbol of this mindset. They will get no more of my business, no matter how good the food.

One Small Sliver of Light

2010-11-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

As the cloud of knee-jerk conservatism descends upon the nation, there emerges on sliver of light on the otherwise dark horizon. That small sliver is the election of Jerry Brown as Governor of California. Brown, who now holds the distinction of being both the youngest and oldest person elected to lead the most populous state, is in a position to actually push an agenda that affects the whole country.

California, with its overwhelming size and economy (8th largest in the world according to EconPost), can and does alter what goes on in the country as a whole. When California passes environmental regulations or manufacturing standards the nation as a whole is generally forced to adopt them in order to do business in the state. With corporate shill Meg Whitman as the alternative, Brown's election is important. Coupled with the defeat of Proposition 23, which would have rolled back environmental protections, California is now likely to be the backstop that prevents the country from abandoning efforts to produce green technology.

Jerry Brown has long advocated alternative energy and green power. Long before it was popular or fashionable to do so, Brown was a major supported of environmental initiatives. Embracing the label of liberal when others ran from it he was declared dead in the political arena. But Brown did something few politicians have ever done - he put his career on the line and held to his values. Becoming mayor after being a presidential candidate is almost unheard of in American politics, yet that is what Brown did. He became mayor of Oakland and quickly proved himself a capable leader who could get things done. Now he is in a position to effect the entire nation.

Jerry Brown - good to have you back.

Send in the Clowns

2010-11-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

In a fit of collective amnesia the American electorate has decided to return to power the very people who created the mess in which we now find ourselves. After spending 30 years busting the bank while pleading fiscal conservatism, Republicans have returned to power after only two short years. How? The clown approach.

Clowns are loud and obnoxious and create a big distraction for the audience while one act leaves the circus and the next gets ready. The clowns serve to keep the crowd from getting bored and noticing what else is going on. Their true selves are hidden by costumes, make-up and general garishness. Now they have taken over the political arena.

Claiming that they will cut the deficit while pushing a tax cut for the wealthy that will increase the national debt by 4 TRILLION dollars, promising smaller government while pushing a social agenda that will have government in everyone's private lives, championing the rights of seniors while attempting to privatize Social Security, the Republican Party and their incoherent allies in the Tea Party have seized the government. This election is a triumph of propaganda and manipulation. Now the clowns will leave the stage and the elephants will stomp all over us all.

Get ready for efforts to roll back every piece of progressive legislation passed in the last 50 years. The government will now belong to corporate interests and the poor will now fund a tax break for the wealthy.

A study conducted at the University of Sheffield in 2008 found that children almost universally fear clowns. It is time to listen to the children.

Criminal Negligence & Reckless Endangerment

2010-10-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Investigators into the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico have uncovered evidence that BP and Halliburton, the company that poured the cement for the well, had knowledge that the cement mixture was unstable. In three of four tests performed by Halliburton on the mixture, it failed. Neither company appeared to have any concerns at the time that these failures might cause problems. Of course, both are now pointing the finger at each other.

Three failures out of four tests. A 75 percent failure rate and both of these corporations decided to risk it. No reasonable individual would dare think of using a product that failed three-quarters of the time. In a situation such as underwater drilling one would think that there would be a need for certainty rather than an expectation of failure.

Gambling that something that has failed 75 percent of the time will work flawlessly defies logic. The legal terms for what happened here are criminal negligence and reckless endangerment. Negligence may be too mild a term for completely ignoring evidence that a system is likely to fail. The workers were more than endangered, eleven of them died.

It is easy to see why Halliburton and BP are pointing their fingers at each other - when reckless endangerment leads to death the charges are manslaughter or murder. Too strong? What do you think would be the result of an individual putting workers on a scaffolding working at their house that collapsed? What do you think would happen in this case if it were shown the homeowner knew the scaffolding was substandard and likely to collapse? The answer is clear. That individual would be prosecuted.

When will corporations be held to the same standards as individuals? Do they only get to claim personhood when they are dumping unlimited cash into elections?

** Halliburton's history of cutting costs at the expense of safety is well documented. Recall that it was Halliburton that managed to electrocute soldiers by cross wiring electrical services into plumbing at bases in Iraq.

Nagoya: Important & Unnoticed

2010-10-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

One hundred ninety three (193) nations began meeting today in Nagoya, Japan to address the issue of biodiversity. Following up on the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) negotiated in Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit, the task before the attendees is enormous. The goals outlined in the 1992 Convention have remained largely unmet with continued deforestation and an accelerated loss of species. Biodiversity as an issue is largely ignored by the public and political figures. The United States remains one of the few countries that has failed to ratify the 1992 agreement.

Little attention has been given to this meeting. Hopes that the world had begun to recognize the necessity of action to address major environmental concerns appear to have been premature. Last years climate conference in Copenhagen ended without any agreement and momentum seems lost.

As I satirized in my novel, The Dirt People (2007, Blue Throat Press), governmental inaction is largely the by-product of a lack of political will and corporate manipulation (through both lobbying and propaganda). This "fiddling as Rome burns," lack of effort to deal with our environmental problems is often couched in economic terms. The costs of green energy are amplified, the effects of clean ups are exaggerated and the benefits of sustainability are minimized. Meanwhile, phthalates (see yesterday's post) and other toxic chemicals are ubiquitous in our environment, mining disasters continue to occur, oil platforms continue to explode and that giant mass of plastic goo continues to grow in the Pacific.

The lack of effort on a worldwide level to address our expanding environmental destruction is alarming. As China and other nations continue to develop and consume, attempting to emulate the Western world in its consumption and attendant destruction, the future is imperiled. Concern for the wealth of transnational corporations seems to be more important to politicians than the health of the planet and its citizens.

Why is this not the lead story in the news? Why is the environment not the major issue of every election? Why is it that I expect it to get worse?

Only when the last tree has died, when the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, only then will you realize that you can't eat money. -Cree saying

Phthalates: The Problem With Plastic

2010-10-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

It is becoming increasingly clear that modern life is a health risk. All around, we are surrounded by untested chemicals that have the potential to alter our lives. Reuters News, in a special report by Pete Harrison, has noted that phthalates, the chemicals that make plastic pliable, are particularly suspect as regards health concerns, especially in the case of impaired fertility and reproductive development.

Phthalates are used in a wide variety of products. Just about anything synthetic that needs to be flexible contain the chemicals. Many of these materials are used to make containers for food and likely have entered the bloodstreams of most people alive today. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)has listed four phthalates among its list of 38 chemicals classified as "substances of very high concern," (Harrison, 2010 at http://reuters.com/assets. The four listed phthalates,of course, seem to be those most commonly used.

Phthalates are not our only problem. In addition to the chemicals identified by the ECHA, Greenpeace has assembled a list of 356 suspect chemicals while the European Trade Union Confederation has 334 substances it believes should also be banned. Most of these suspect chemicals serve as building blocks for the materials of modern life.

Are the conveniences of modern life worth our lives?

Freedom of the Press Apparently NOT a Tea Party Value

2010-10-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Joe Miller, the Tea Party candidate for Senate in Alaska, apparently is no fan of the freedom of the press. After refusing to answer questions about his private life on numerous occasions, Miller has seemed surprised that reporters continue to ask him questions. He appears has found a solution to those pesky reporters - he has them "arrested."

According to various news sources, Miller's private security forces detained a reporter for the Alaska Dispatch named Tony Hopfinger. Miller was speaking at a public school in Alaska when Hopfinger repeatedly questioned him. Miller's security guards informed Hopfinger that he was trespassing (an interesting concept at a public place)and then proceeded to "arrest" him by putting handcuffs on him. You will note that I have put arrest in quotes because I am not aware of any authority for private individuals to detain a reporter. Illegal detention of a person is called kidnapping, not arrest. The validity, or lack thereof, of this detainment is best illustrated by the fact that the Anchorage Police let Hopfinger go when they arrived.

It is interesting that a number of the Tea Party candidates have refused to speak to the press. Sharron Angle famously ran from reporters at her own press conference and Rand Paul and Christine O'Donnell seem to speak only to Fox News.

Pay attention - those trumpeting their dedication to freedom and liberty appear to have little respect for these values in practice. I still don't know what the Tea Party is for, but I'm starting to figure out what they are against.

Good News About the Economy

2010-10-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, some good news about the economy. Well, actually it's not good news about the economy, it's good news because of the economy. On Sunday, October 10th, in an article by Matthew Wald, entitled "Sluggish Economy Curtails Prospects for Building Nuclear Reactors," that appeared in The New York Times, it was reported that the recession and continued economic fears have driven efforts to build nuclear plants to a halt.

The fight over nuclear power has waxed and waned for decades. Every so often an accident occurs and the true costs of nuclear power becomes evident. After Chernobyl and Three Mile Island it appeared for a brief period of time that the world was beginning to understand that the dangers associated with nuclear reactors may be more than we can handle. Problems of storage of nuclear waste and its by-products are an ongoing difficulty that plague all nuclear facilities. Occasionally local communities become attuned to this issue when a storage facility is proposed in their backyards.

When the problems associated with nuclear energy are shoved into our consciousness, it is easy to see the folly that is nuclear power. However, as soon as the price of oil starts to rise and society is confronted with the true costs of its consumption, nuclear power advocates begin trumpeting it as a solution. This occurs despite the fact that no nuclear power plant has ever produced any cost efficient energy. The costs of construction and storage of waste make subsidies necessary to even pursue this course of action.

Costs aside, the most ludicrous claim is that nuclear energy is safe. Compared to what? Yes, oil wells explode and miners get trapped underground, but these industries don't have a monopoly on accidents. The nature of all human endeavors is that mistakes occur and accidents happen. Unfortunately, for nuclear energy to be safe there needs to be perfect safety. Even if one ignores the possibility of deliberate acts of sabotage or terrorism, it will never happen that nuclear energy can be fail safe. It is human arrogance and hubris that suggests otherwise.

Look at the damage done by the BP disaster. Drilling for oil is simple compared to harnessing the power of the atom. Think oil is difficult to clean up, try plutonium - it has a half-life of forever.

Rescue in Chile Under Way

2010-10-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The rescue of the 33 miners in Chile has begun. As of just a few moments ago, 12 of the miners had already been removed from the mine. The ongoing operation appears to be going well. The rescue and survival has been a heart-warming - a mining disaster that has turned into a triumphant story.

Little attention has been paid to the circumstances that led to this near tragedy. The positive outcome will likely become the focus of the story. However, at the heart of this matter is our addiction to cheap energy. Mining disasters are far too frequent and often do not have such an upbeat ending (look for future features about mining disasters on this site).

Averted tragedy must not be used as an excuse to ignore the very real human costs of our addiction. Yes, this disaster seems to have turned out well, but every years, scores of miners die and, through pollution, coal indirectly contributes to the deaths of countless people around the world. In addition to the human costs, there are the environmental costs. Cheap energy is not cheap, it is exploitative.

Everyone wants cheap energy, but at what costs?

Genocide Day

2010-10-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Officially it is Columbus Day. While I like having a day off as much as anyone, having a holiday to celebrate Columbus is like having a holiday to celebrate heart disease. Columbus didn't discover America - he invaded it.

Is there any other place in the world where there is a national holiday to celebrate such a completely incompetent and horrific person? Columbus, who "discovered" a land populated with millions of human beings, must have been the worst sailor in the world. He called the native population "Indians" because he thought he was in India. This despite the fact that there is abundant proof that North America was already known to Europeans at the time.

But it is not Columbus' ignorance of geography for which he should be condemned. It is his behavior. His men hunted native peoples for sport and as food for their dogs (Loewen, 1996). In his own hand he wrote letters to his brother Bartholomew bragging about the price he could get for children in the sex slave trade (Loewen, 1996). Directly and indirectly his actions led to the deaths of an estimated 100 million people (Churchill, 1994).

Columbus is no hero. Honoring such a person is an insult to decency. Let us recognize that in having a day for Columbus the nation is choosing to both celebrate a lie (that Columbus discovered America) and engaging in a purposeful cover-up of his actions.

Churchill, W. (1994). Indians are us. Common Courage Press.

Loewen, J. W. (1996). Lies my teacher told me. Touchstone Publishing.

Sold to the Highest Bidder

2010-10-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

As we approach the mid-term elections an unseen force begins to exert undue influence over our political process. This force, money, is not new to the political process nor is it new to undue influence over said process. However, what is now new is that moneyed interests now have a legal right to attempt to buy the outcome. Legal precedent established in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission case now make it lawful for corporations to put as much money as they desire into elections. Unlike individuals, corporations are able to donate as much as they would like and can even directly air advertising.

The Citizen's United ruling hinges on an even greater misrepresentation from the 1886 ruling in Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad, in which corporations were granted personhood (see link elsewhere on this page for a review of the court case). As is commonly known, the case did not actually rule on that issue, but rather the clerk scribbled it after the fact on the document.

Of course it defies logic that corporations are people, but what defies logic even more is the ruling in Citizen's United that removes limits on political spending by corporations. Logically it would seem to follow that if limits can be placed on individuals who are actual people, then limits could also be imposed on corporations, which as people are legal fictions.

Beyond this egregious idea that corporations are people with the rights of individuals, is the other idea to emerge from the Citizen's United ruling that these groups can give money without identifying the source.

On Sunday, speaking on Face the Nation, presidential advisor David Axelrod stated that foreign corporations are involved in donating money through Republican groups to influence the election. The Democrats apparently are even rolling out an ad campaign around this idea.

"Foul!" cry the Republicans, "you can't prove it." Well obviously not. It is impossible to prove who anonymous donors are. That is completely the point. As long as donors are able to remain anonymous it will be impossible to know who is trying to buy our democracy. What is really strange is that the holier-than-thou Tea Party seems completely silent about this matter. Could it be that they are using this to their advantage? Witness Art Robinson, global warming denier and Oregon congressional candidate. Mysteriously, ads critical of Robinson's opponent have appeared allegedly without his knowledge as to the source of funding.

Back to the issue of foreign money. To think that corporations are giving money and there is no foreign involvement strains credibility as to how corporations are organized. Corporations, those large enough to give money on the scale that influences elections, are rarely single nation entities. Transnational corporations are the norm rather than the exception. Many of these global behemoths have financial resources greater than most nations, yet are treated as if they are individual American citizens. Is there anyone who believes that these entities are above trying to influence an election, or for that matter, all elections?

Without limits on corporate spending and without disclosure laws there is absolutely nothing to prevent foreign entities, corporate or state, from clandestinely providing resources in an attempt to buy a government. Our representatives are already beholden enough to moneyed interests. Without disclosure and limits, the government is up for auction.

Follow the money. Notice who defends this state of affairs that would allow for the unlimited flow of dollars from foreign companies, governments and individuals to influence U.S. elections. Will Exxon, China and Bin Laden decide who we elect next?

Nine Years

2010-10-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Today, October 7th, 2010, marked the ninth anniversary of United States entry into the quagmire of Afghanistan. According to PBS News, 1321 U.S. soldiers have died to date in the conflict. So far, all that seems to have been accomplished is that the war has spilled over into Pakistan.

Also, today, it was reported that Sgt. First Class Lance Vogeler was killed during his 12th deployment.

The Sleeper Has Awaken

2010-10-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

For the past two months this blog has been inactive. Several factors, mostly too mundane to mention, contributed to this. However, the primary factor was that the BP disaster in the Gulf has led me to rethink the nature of this site.

As you may have noticed, the subtitle has changed to "A Chronicle of the Destruction of ...". The BP spill became a slow motion disaster that eventually numbed the public with its never ending pattern of incompetence. Now that its over, people are clamoring for more off shore drilling. It seems we will never learn.

The continuing destruction of the planet as evidenced by the toxic spill in Hungary, the continued ongoing disaster of oil spills/leaks/seeps (you name it) in Nigeria, and ongoing nuclear proliferation does not bode well for the future.

While it is true that the weather is not the same as climate, it is hard not to note that it was 113 degrees in Los Angeles last week, that wildfires in Russia burned around Chernobyl and floods in Pakistan displaced millions. Meanwhile, California is on the verge of having environmental reforms gutted by a ballot initiative funded primarily by oil companies.

It is the link between the destruction of the environment and corporate greed that will become the focus of this site as it slowly updates over the next several months. Several features will change and some will be eliminated. Others, such as lists of the worst oil spills, nuclear accidents, etc. will become regular fixtures.

Dead in the Water

2010-07-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Gulf Oil Spill is likely to continue its damage for many years. The amount of oil that has leaked will likely never be accurately known thanks to the actions of BP in obscuring the size of the leak to avoid fines. The number of fish and birds killed will never be fully counted. What is for sure is that oil is death to living things.

The Gulf of Mexico already has a huge dead zone where the Mississippi empties into the ocean. Industrial pollution is largely to blame. The BP spill should be put in perspective. The murder of animals and the destruction of the environment is the consequence of modern industrial society. In a larger sense, the BP spill is not unique. There has been oil seeping into the oceans off the coast of Africa for decades, Saudi Arabia had a massive spill a few years ago and there has even been another major spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the past. Not to mention the Exxon Valdez travesty, leaks in China, Russia, Nigeria, etc. Pipeline leaks throughout Africa, Alaska and apparently even Michigan as was learned yesterday. For details of these disasters, just enter the names above and "oil spill" or "oil leak" into a search engine.

We are killing the oceans. To paraphrase a Cree saying: "Only when the last fish has been killed will you learn that you can't eat money." Cheap oil is not worth the price. Turns out, its not so cheap.

100 Days: Broken Promises, Bogus Plans, and Big Problems

2010-07-28T11:08:00.001-07:00

100 Days. The British Petroleum oil spill is now 100 days old. Oil has been pumping into the Gulf of Mexico for over three months. The amount of oil spilled is somewhere between 150 and 300 MILLION gallons. An entire ecosystem is threatened and a fishing industry is ruined, possibly for the foreseeable future.

What has been learned is that BP made promises that no such disaster could occur, bogus plans to clean up after such a disaster, and has likely made matters worse by its efforts to use dispersants, apparently in a bid to prevent an accurate accounting of the actual spill amounts.

This whole fiasco has demonstrated that the oil industry has been feeding the public a barrel of lies (covered in oil) as regards its ability to prevent, contain and clean up from such a disaster. Its promises to pay for the spill and reimburse those whose livelihoods it has destroyed must be viewed with skepticism given their past track record for lying.

Several politicians have shown their true colors in attempting to defend Big Oil. Many have even made pleas for continued and accelerated drilling. Disappointingly, almost none have pushed for major reforms and any real effort to address the deleterious effects of the oil industry on the planet. They cash the checks while the Gulf drowns.

HMS Stupidity

2010-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tony Hayward, disgraced British Petroleum executive, was in attendance at a yacht race in the Isle of Wight over the weekend. No doubt this is part of his efforts to get his life back. Yes, one would need to engage in a little relaxation after stonewalling Congress concerning one's knowledge of the negligent safety procedures employed by one's company.

No time to attend to the greatest oil spill disaster in history, there's a yacht race. Less than a week after BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg referred to the victims of the spill as the "small people" Hayward demonstrates utter contempt for those who lost their lives and those who have lost their livelihoods.

Such cavalier attitudes displayed by Hayward and Svanberg stand as testimony as to why corporations, especially BP, cannot be allowed to police themselves. These men should be in custody not enjoying a yacht race.

GOP: Gobs of Petroleum

2010-06-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

It is nearly impossible to believe, but there are actually politicians in this country who are working to protect BP from their responsibilities to the people of the U.S. Joe Barton, Republican House member, actually apologized to BP executive Tony Hayward and called efforts to make them pay for what they have done a "shakedown." Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota) and Sarah Palin (R-Insanity) have made similar comments.

The truth is coming out. Republicans are shills for the oil companies and transnational corporations in general. Big business is their real constituency. Their outrage towards big government is really about removing any roadblocks to the looting of the resources of the nation by big corporations.

Don't buy the rhetoric, the tea is poison, flavored with oil.

BP: Beach Petroleum

2010-06-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

British Petroleum continues its bumbling efforts to stop the flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The latest effort, involving cutting through a riser pipe so it could be capped, has failed as the diamond bladed saw became stuck. Now they are planning to use giant shears (think scissors) to cut through the pipe. Thad Allen just announced that the pipe has been cut and phase two of this process begins.

In what little permit process there was and in what little review occurred for this project prior to drilling BP assured regulators that it could handle a spill ten times as large as what is currently transpiring. Given their clearly inept efforts and even more glaring lack of any preparation or plans for what to do in the event of an accident, BP lied during the permit process. The Justice Department is looking for criminal behavior, fraud in the application process seems the first place to start. The deaths of the eleven workers should be investigated as negligent homicide at the least.

I'm tired of hearing the BP management team bemoan the fact that their task is difficult because they are working a mile underwater. That is exactly why they should have had multiple contingency plans. Instead of trusting that nothing could go wrong, they should have planned for the worst case scenario.

But they didn't plan. Now oil is in the wetlands and rolling onto the beaches. Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi have already had oil on their beaches and Florida is expecting it before the day is out. An area of 750,000 square miles has been closed to fishing. Plumes of oil fill the water column and the oil spill is clearly visible on satellite images. The oil and the dispersants are entering the food chain.

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, stated over the weekend that he wanted his "life back." The people of the Gulf would like their ecosystem and fishing industry back.

Drowning in a Bathtub of Oil

2010-05-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

For all the advocates of small government who want government to get so small it can be "drowned in a bathtub," this past six weeks of environmental destruction in the Gulf should serve as a wake up call that their ideology is dangerous when put into action. Government has a function in society and often that function requires action on the massive scale.

It is more than a little ironic to see Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana and Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi, criticize the federal governments response to the oil spill. Both governors, it should be recalled, have attempted to block stimulus funds and generally oppose any federal efforts.

The lack of government as regards regulations and regulatory oversight have directly contributed to the size, duration and occurrence of the spill. Putting oilmen in office in 2000, the nation developed an energy policy in secret with Dick Cheney as Chief Operating Officer of the transnational cabal.

Turning over government to private corporations and privatizing all of the functions thereof is not the way to run a society. It is the way to take all the wealth from the public commons and transfer it to private citizens while socializing the costs and risks.

Drowning government in a bathtub is a great slogan right up until there is a disaster that requires a definitive response. The corporatist response, that which we are seeing from BP, is only about cost containment and public relations.

The folly of the "death to government," crowd as exemplified by Grover Norquist and the Teabaggers, becomes apparent in moments such as this. Time to recognize that government has a role in society. Right now that role has been impeded by the actions of the previous administration and the inaction of the current administration. Time for the Obama Adminstration to step up and use government and quit worrying about the criticisms.

BP: Biblical Proportions - 40 Days & a Plague of Oil

2010-05-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

British Petroleum has failed in its latest attempt to plug the hole in the bottom of the sea that is currently unleashing a plague of oil upon the Gulf of Mexico and its ecosystem. Estimates of the spill range from the governments 12,000 to 19.000 barrels (approximately 500,000 to 800,000 gallons) per day. Some independent scientists put the flow from the spill even higher. No matter what figures are used, at least 20 million barrels have already leaked and there is no end in sight.

As noted, BP's effort to plug the spill using high density drilling fluid (called mud in the trade) failed. Their next effort will involve sitting a container over the top of the faulty blowout preventer. Efforts to drill another well to relieve the pressure will likely not be completed until August.

What is happening is an entire ecosystem is being destroyed while BP fiddles about. Initially attempting to minimize the spill, reporting only 1000 barrels a day flow, BP has consistently underestimated damage and overestimated their technical abilities. It is now coming out, as reported on ABC News, that BP used a riskier metal casing on the well head due to its costs.

From its explosion at a refinery in Texas to its shoddy pipeline maintenance in wilderness areas, BP has a history of cutting corners when it comes to safety and environmental protection. Its efforts to maximize its profits have always come ahead of these priorities. BP Managing Director Bob Dudley, making the rounds on the morning news shows, defended BP's actions and attempted to minimize their blame. Had a relief well been drilled along with the first well, or there had been redundancy in the blowout preventer, this tragedy could have been averted. Dudley repeatedly stressed how difficult it is to stop this. EXACTLY, that's why extraordinary safety precautions should have been taken before beginning to drill a mile underwater.

When a similar disaster occurred off the coast of Saudi Arabia years ago, the spill was surrounded by tankers which sucked up the water and removed the oil. Dudley stated that it was not feasible to do this because it was a different mixture of oil. In essence, he admitted that the reason BP is not doing this is that it is cost prohibitive. He failed to mention that there are no tankers available because of a world oil glut that has tankers sitting full all over the world awaiting better prices before selling (don't take my word for this, check it out and you'll find that its true).

From using environmentally toxic dispersants to failing to protect the beaches, from cutting costs by not drilling relief wells to using cheaper metal casings than recommended, BP has been responsible for creating this disaster. It is not just an accident, it is criminal negligence. If a private citizen had a tool shed full of gasoline and it exploded and killed the neighbor, no one would see it as just an accident. The negligence of improper behavior would likely result in a charge of homicide. Given that eleven workers have already been killed, it is only proper to expect charges of criminally negligent homicide in their deaths. Who has jurisdiction?

Beautiful Protest:: CODEPINK Calls Out BP

2010-05-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

CodePink descended on the Houston headquarters of British Petroleum today in protest of the continuing failure to stop the volcano of oil that has been erupting for the last five weeks in the Gulf of Mexico.

The members of CodePink, a group originally founded to speak out against the Oil Wars started by the Bush Administration, stripped in front of the corporate offices and covered themselves in oil. Calling their demonstration the "Naked Truth," the organization's effort was designed to draw attention to the catastrophe in the Gulf.

Don't expect British Petroleum executives to do more than send photos of the protest to their friends. It is illustrative of the whole debacle that BP has figured out a way to siphon and recover the oil but has yet to figure out how to stop the leak. Please note that the amount they are now recovering (around 5000 barrels a day) is the amount they have claimed was leaking. Film footage of the leak, however, shows that it is still continuing to blast oil into the Gulf.

It is time to for BP to allow responsible and independent scientists calculate the actual flow rate. It is time for the government to take over the efforts to stop the leak. It is time for BP to be held accountable.

"Accidents Happen": The Tea is Spilling

2010-05-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

"Accidents happen," according to Tea Partier and Kentucky Senate nominee, Rand Paul. Running officially as a Republican, Paul, a libertarian and the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), spouted the statement when referring to the British Petroleum oil volcano in the Gulf of Mexico.

Paul, apparently views the Gulf spill as just one of those things that happen. Blinded by libertarian ideology, Paul is unable to see that his philosophical views are disastrous when society actually tries to function according to them. A non-regulated society is the ultimate goal of libertarians. However, their refusal to see that the unwillingness to regulate corporations leads to destruction of people and the environment, is more than myopic, it is tragic.

Sadly, after ten years of dismantling the very regulations that should have prevented this disaster, there are still people pretending to be responsible leaders who continue to sing the praises of deregulation. Rand Paul, and others who claim to be libertarians, seem oblivious to the real world consequences of their philosophical meanderings.

In less than one week since his primary victory, Rand Paul has exposed himself as a fanatic. In denouncing elements of the Civil Rights Acts almost immediately after his primary victory and then defending British Petroleum, Paul has demonstrated that he is only interested in ideology and is unfit to lead.

Noam Chomsky Detained in Israel

2010-05-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Noam Chomsky, scheduled to speak at Bir Zeit University, was denied entry into the West Bank by the government of Israel. Chomsky was apparently detained for several hours by authorities who freely admitted that the detention and refusal of entry was due to Chomsky's past criticisms of the government.

Chomsky, often considered America's premier intellectual, has spoken in Palestinian territories on previous occasions. This refusal of the Israeli government to allow his speech demonstrates the fear it has of criticism and open discussion.

Artist boycotts are beginning to occur as a result of such oppressive policies. Elvis Costello cancelled concerts as a result of the Chomsky detention and joins other artists such as Bono and Gil-Scott Heron in refusing to perform in the country.

Mitch McConnell: Lamest Excuse Ever

2010-05-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), gave what might be the lamest excuse ever heard for his opposition to a bill this Sunday morning. McConnell, speaking with David Gregory on Meet the Press, stated that he was opposed to raising the $75 million cap on oil companies for the damages they create because it would hurt "the small operator."

I thought McConnell was from Kentucky until I heard this remark and now realize he must be from another planet. The idea that raising the cap from $75 million might somehow produce conditions that would prevent small operators from being players in the oil market is straight out of fantasy world. Does McConnell, or anyone else for that matter, actually think that there are small time, mom and pop operators in the oil exploration businesses? Companies with $75 million are apparently small operators in McConnell world and oil world.

Get real. Oil is a business restricted to transnational conglomerates that hide behind laws written by their politicians. The company in question, British Petroleum, made billions last year alone. McConnell cannot possibly expect anyone to believe his talking point that he is concerned with the little guy.

For Mitch McConnell the truth is as murky as the Gulf of Mexico.

Behemoth Proportions: BP Spill Likely Larger Than Estimated

2010-05-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

New evidence suggests that the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may be far larger than the 5,000 barrels a day estimate given by BP and the U.S. government. Remember that BP initially reported that the spill was only 1000 barrels a day. That estimate was ratcheted up when the Coast Guard arrived and began to investigate the spill.

Ian McDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State has estimated the flow to be four to five times the government estimate. According to an article by Justin Gillis in the New York Times on Friday, May 14th, McDonald and other researchers are questioning the official government estimate of 146 gallons per minute. Alun Lewis, an expert in the area, estimated that the flow was much higher than the official tally after viewing film of the leak itself. NBC News, in a report by Thahn Truong, reported that as much as 70,000 barrels a day (close to 3 million gallons a day) may be leaking.

All told, the estimates by scientists seem to conclude that a minimum of one million gallons a day is leaking into the Gulf ecosystem. Tar blobs have begun to wash onto area beaches and the worst of the damage will likely not be known for some time.

BP: Beyond Preposterous.

BP: Beyond Pathetic

2010-05-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

British Petroleum announced that it may attempt plug the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by shooting garbage into the hole. The technique, known as a "junk shot," involves spraying garbage such as shredded tires into the opening in hopes that it will plug the hole.

Project foreman, Wile E. Coyote, stated that the Acme company would be contracted to complete some of the work.

Beyond Propaganda: BP Fails in Attempt to Stop Spill

2010-05-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

British Petroleum (BP) failed in its effort to cap the ail spill dumping at least 5000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The attempt to place what was essentially a concrete and steel box around the spill failed because the water is so cold down at the ocean floor and ice crystals formed on the equipment. BP is reportedly going to try to use a similar approach later today using a smaller container with the idea that it may not freeze because it's smaller. If that doesn't work they are reportedly considering an approach where they attempt to shoot debris into the opening to plug it.

It seems to me that BP has no earthly clue how to stop this spill. The current efforts seem less than haphazard and clearly indicates that the company had no contingency plan in place in the event of an emergency.

As it turns out, we really have no way to measure the scope of this disaster. The 5000 barrels a day figure that is commonly reported is at best a low estimate. The actual amount may be much greater. The spill is likely to surpass the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska as the largest in U.S. history. Eleven people died in the initial explosion and the Gulf fisheries industry is likely to be devastated for a generation. Yet, BP assures us it is doing all it can.

British Petroleum claims that it will pay the full costs of the spill. It remains to be seen at what level they will live up to that claim. In their advertising campaigns, talking a good game is something at which BP seems to excel, living up to it is an altogether different matter. From its poor record in maintaining its pipelines in Nigeria, to the explosion at a refinery in Texas in 2005 to the current disaster, BP has a long history of environmental damage. Mother Jones magazine has twice named BP one of the worst corporations on the planet in terms of its environmental record.

This leak in the Gulf is an accident that didn't need to happen. Proper safety equipment that already exists could have prevented this incident. The equipment was not installed because it was deemed too costly. The oil industry has essentially been allowed to regulate themselves and as a consequence safety concerns have taken a back seat. The costs of ignoring safety and environmental issues are now greater than the costs of addressing these concerns. The response to any suggestion of increased regulation and greater safeguards from BP and the rest of the oil industry is to step up their lobbying efforts.

Safety is about more than an advertising campaign.

British Petroleum: Killing the Planet by Cutting Corners

Bob Bennett Teabagged in Utah

2010-05-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Senator Bob Bennett of Utah finished third in the Republican Party conclave this weekend. In Utah, Republicans hold a convention to see who can even run in their primary. Bennett, a staunch conservative, was apparently not conservative enough, as he will now be ineligible for the primary. A three-term senator who took over the seat from his father, a four-term senator, Bennett is without question conservative but seemed unable to outrun his insider label. He was challenged over voting for the bank bailout and for attempting to each a bipartisan compromise over health care. His biggest mistake seems to be that he was not completely unreasonable. Utah will now in all likelihood have even more conservative representation in the Senate.

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues

2010-05-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan once wrote a song entitled "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" jesting at the John Birch Society and its tendency to see communists everywhere. In 1959 the Birchers declared that Republican President Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower was a communist. Ike, the man who led the troops in World War II, had Nixon as a vice-president and was the very model of staid conservatism was too liberal for the John Birch Society. Of course, their declaration that he was a communist was met with appropriate ridicule even from other conservatives such as William F. Buckley.

Buckley is dead so that leaves it to Dylan to provide the update. I suggest the working title: "Rush Limbaugh Spewing the Delusional News." Limbaugh, for those who avoid windbags and missed it, claimed on his radio show that environmentalists caused the BP drilling disaster as part of a cunning plot to stop off-shore drilling. The sheer ludicrous nature of this claim should have led to rapid denouncements if not commitment to a mental health facility. Unfortunately, Limbaugh's ridiculous rant was given credence by former Bush spokesperson Dana Perino.

It about time for the right to stop the hyperbole. Everything that happens is not a giant conspiracy designed to "push a liberal agenda." Obama is not a socialist, the end times are not here, the lizard people have not taken over and that tin foil hat won't provide any protection at all. Next thing you know, we'll hear that Ike planned the whole operation.

The Costs of Drilling

2010-04-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

"Drill, Baby, Drill!" This has been the cry of those who profess to be concerned about the price of oil but who usually happen to reside in petroleum laden areas. Discounting any concerns of safety and disregarding the increased costs of off-shore drilling, there have been fervent efforts to open new areas for oceanic exploration. What could go wrong?

What has gone wrong is the well operated by BP that sank on Earth Day. Estimated to be pouring 5000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day, the spill has been reported to be at least 600 miles in circumference, or around the size of the state of Ohio. Fishermen in the area are concerned that oil is going to completely wipe out the commercial shrimp harvest. Wildlife officials have noted that is is mating season for many animals in the wetlands and that if the slick comes inland it could prove devastating.

The slick, now about 100 miles wide, made landfall Thursday night in the Mississippi delta region. Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano has designated the disaster a "spill of national significance," and stated that the military may need to be used to help contain the problem.

Wednesday, BP did a "controlled burn" of some of the oil that they had corralled using booms. So far, around 175,000 feet (30-35 miles) of booms have been deployed and the problem continues to grow. Numerous efforts to engage the shut off valves have proven unsuccessful. Some methods to stop the leak are estimated to take months to complete.

Eleven workers were killed in the initial explosion that eventually toppled the oil platform. Add to their deaths the recent deaths of coal miners in West Virginia and Kentucky and the true costs of these sources of fuel become staggering.

That allegedly cheap oil is costing lives and wrecking havoc on the environment. Enjoy your shrimp substitute.

First Arrest Made Under New Arizona Anti-Immigration Law

2010-04-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Authorities in Arizona announced that they have made the first arrest under its new anti-immigration legislation. The law requires law enforcement officials to question anyone who looks suspicious and to detain those who cannot provide documentation of citizenship or legal immigration status. Less than a week after the passing of the law, the first arrest has been made.

Phoenix police initially questioned the detainee, a woman who gave only the name Dora, after observing her looking at a map and wearing a backpack. "She sure looked suspicious," the arresting officer was quoted as saying, further noting that when questioned, "She said she was 'exploring', and that just set off alarm bells."

The woman was unable to provide documentation and was taken to the Maricopa County detention center where Sheriff Joe Arpaio immediately had her placed in solitary confinement. Despite concerns that the woman might be a juvenile she was placed in an adult facility under constant observation. Sheriff Arpaio, using the woman's jailhouse moniker, explained that "this woman, this "Dora the Explorer" woman, is clearly a danger to the community and maybe even a terrorist. She's trying to pretend to be innocent, but her story just doesn't add up." Sheriff Arpaio then displayed the sandals the woman was wearing for the members of the press. He pointed out that the shoes were quite worn and of a style not commonly seen in Arizona.

Local law enforcement have also issued an all points bulletin for the woman's companion who fled the scene when police demanded documentation. Described as short with profuse body hair, the man was noted to be wearing bright red boots.

Earth Day 40

2010-04-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

If the climate were a bank they would have saved it by now. - Hugo Chavez

Earth Day turns forty this year. There's a mass of plastic goo in the Pacific the size of Texas and another one forming in the Atlantic. Glaciers are melting and ocean levels are rising along with annual average temperatures. Bangladesh will likely be underwater by 2050.

We're running out of landfill space and toxins accumulate in our environment. Municipal water supplies are showing signs of pharmaceutical and chemical contamination while bottled water has no standards and contributes significantly to the ever growing bulk of plastic in the environment. Recyclable is far more common than recycled.

Algae blooms occur with greater frequency and the oceans are perilously over-fished. The fish we eat is contaminated with mercury and other toxins to the point that our ears are ringing. Genetically modified crops are surreptitiously finding their way into the grocery stores while milk without BGH must be labeled.

Millions of new drivers and their cars are added to the planet every year. Rivers dry up before they reach the ocean. Desertification and deforestation continue at such rates that progress is measured in slowing down the rate of growth. Politicians living in climate controlled bubbles question the science of climate change. People go to tea parties and demand government get out of their lives while their children and grandchildren sustain genetic damage from environmental toxins that proliferate from our deregulated free markets.

The economy is in deep trouble and our infrastructure is crumbling. Green infrastructure building appears to be the obvious solution yet nothing is happening as we constantly hear that it is too expensive to go green. Too expensive to the old economy, the petrol based economy of fossil fuel consumption and continual growth. There's no money to go green, its all being spent on oil and the creation of financial "instruments" on Wall Street.

For half the money spent on the war in Iraq ($2 trillion according to Joseph Stiglitz), for one trillion dollars, we could have put $10,000 worth of solar panels on 100 million living units in the United States. What would that have done for the economy and the culture of the country as compared to a protracted and pointless war?

And right now, as I write this, an exploratory oil platform off the coast of Louisiana that blew up yesterday, just toppled and fell into the ocean.

Happy Earth Day.

George Orwell for GOP Chair

2010-04-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

George Bush once commented that his base was the "... the haves and the have mores." Since that time little has changed within the GOP. Long the party of big money, the banks and the wealthy, the Republicans are working overtime to kill financial reform.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has been leading the charge and walking the tightrope. Aware of public anger over the bank bailouts and Wall Street excesses, McConnell is attempting to protect his constituents - the banks -while feigning populist indignation at the same institutions. Claiming to be intent on changing the status quo while working to insure it is no doubt a difficult balancing act. Luckily for McConnell he is not bound by any notions of truth. Claiming that the very legislation that attempts to prevent further bailouts will cause an endless chain of bailouts is the essence of doublespeak. George Orwell would be proud.

All 41 Republican senators have signed a letter indicating they will oppose financial reform. In addition to the blatant lie that McConnell is propagating, the talking points of free markets and getting government out of lives, the Republican establishment is trying to ignore the fact that they were for the bailouts.

This approach to financial reform, oppose the legislation on political grounds but use political buzzwords to manipulate the populace, is becoming the standard GOP approach to all legislation. No longer does the Republican party even attempt to put forth a coherent counter approach. Instead, their approach has become one centered on manipulating the emotions of the voters by the repetition of the same phrases, no matter their veracity, to the point of absurdity. It seems they are aware that they cannot prevail if they honestly reveal their agenda so they are attempting to shape the debate through neurolinguistic programming.

War is Peace. Hate is Love. The GOP is for the little guy.

Goldman Sachs: The Old Fashioned Way

2010-04-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street firm often derided as Masters of the Universe for their seeming ability to make money no matter what the economic climate, have been indicted for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for fraud.

The details of the case are complex but essentially boil down to Goldman encouraging investors to buy collateral debt obligations that they themselves were betting against. It also seems that they aided and abetted the run up of these financial instruments even as they were creating a climate for their ultimate collapse. Involved, but not charged, John Paulson, an investor who profited from the scheme, appears to have directed Goldman in this effort.

Goldman Sachs is already proclaiming its innocence. Some opinions suggest that the case may be so convoluted that it may be difficult to prosecute before a jury. Others suggest that it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Important in this discussion is how they were able to even conceive of such a scheme. In therapy, medical practice, social services, etc. professionals are taught to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. In the case of bankers, apparently the rules are to obfuscate everything and rely on the investors not asking questions.

This is the free market in action. Take the suckers for all they have. Goldman Sachs has not even attempted to defend its actions as ethical or even above board. When your defense is that the case will be hard to prove in court, there seems to be an admission of improper behavior.

As I write this, Goldman just announced record profits for the first quarter. Goldman Sachs: making money the old fashioned way - stealing it.

More Blackwater Crimes

2010-04-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

Lost amid the Goldman Sachs indictments on last Friday was the news that officials of the firm formerly known as Blackwater were indicted on weapons charges. Former president of the company, Gary Jackson and the former general counsel, Andrew Howell, along with three others were charged with possessing and trading in illegal weapons.

Blackwater, whose founder Eric Prince has been implicated in murder according to work by Jeremy Scahill of The Nation in August 2009, has changed its name to Xe in an effort to hide from their past. Allegations of arms smuggling and lawless behavior have long dogged Blackwater.

More shocking than these allegations is that the U.S. government continues to do business with these thugs. Hiring mercenaries to fight wars is contrary to good sense and the values of the country. Blackwater, Xe and whatever other names they use to hide their behaviors must be held accountable for their actions. Banning them from any further work in the name of the U.S. must occur immediately.

Don't Think About a Pink Elephant

2010-04-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

If I tell you to not think about a pink elephant, the first thing you do is think about a pink elephant. In order to not think about it, you have to first think about it. This is the nature of repression. Attempting not to think about something is ultimately futile. In fact, efforts to not think about something is often the quickest path to obsession. Throw in an absolute taboo on an activity that one is trying not to think about and suddenly the obsession goes underground and mutates.

This bring us to priests and celibacy. With the continuing saga of the pandemic of pedophile priests now dragging the Pope into the cover-up it is not surprising that the Church refuses to address the root causes of its problems. The psychological make-up of those who will undertake a lifetime vow of celibacy must be called into question. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, sex is a basic physiological need akin to food and water. Adult who voluntarily ignore such a need are unlikely to function in a psychologically complete manner.

The idea and ideal underpinning celibacy from a psychoanalytic perspective is that the sexual desire will be sublimated into good works and service. The ideal is usually far from the reality. While some priests, maybe even a majority, achieve this state of sublimating their sexual energy, there are many who clearly do not.

This is the crux of the problem: many individuals who would take a vow of celibacy do so out of a desire to flee from sexual impulses with which they are uncomfortable. The flaw here is that this is analogous to thinking of anything but a pink elephant. The vow of celibacy reminds them that they are not to engage in the behavior and now that they are in the priesthood, even the thoughts become forbidden and there becomes an isolation around the individual.

It is this isolation and forbidden aura around sex that causes some sort of mutation of the sex drive. Yes, I am stating that the requirement of celibacy is linked to the pedophilia. It is likely that many pedophile priests would be classified as immature type pedophiles. By this I mean that they are emotionally immature themselves as regards sexual development. This type of pedophile can be particularly dangerous in that they seem so innocuous and even child like at times. This does not change the fact that they are adults knowing abusing children. With priests, the inherent trust mixed with the social power of the position make them even more dangerous.

The issue of celibacy must be addressed along with the issue of pedophilia. It may not be is cause but it is certainly its cloak and crucible.

Symbol of Shame

2010-04-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

I live in the South, and every day as I drive around I encounter Confederate flags on vehicles. Occasionally, I'll see the same symbol on t-shirts and hats. The governor of Virgina, Republican Bob McDonnell, has proclaimed April to be Confederate History Month.

What's up with these folks? What can possibly be up with any identification with the Confederacy? The Confederate states were losers who fought for an immoral cause. Don't give me any of this culture talk. That culture is inexorably tied to the practice of slavery and treasonous actions against the United States. Those who talk of Southern culture today are paying homage to these sorry behaviors.

At this point someone will no doubt argue that not everyone owned slaves. That is true. It is also true that not all Germans were Nazis. However, most Germans seem ashamed of the past history of their country and are horrified at the display of the swastika. In fact, Germany has laws that actually forbid the display of the swastika even in artistic and historical contexts.

The Confederate flag should rightly be held in the same contempt. It is a symbolic representation of slavery and an attempt to defy the most basic laws of the nation. The Confederacy should not be celebrated, it should be condemned.

I Hope He's Playing Chess

2010-04-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

It has often been said of Barack Obama that he is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. The conclusion of the health care reform battle certainly leads some credence to this idea. Further, through populist messaging and public anger, he has painted the Republicans into a corner over banking reform. If they continue to be obstructionists, they will also be seen as siding with the banks and no amount of free market rhetoric will change that perception.

But what is going on with Obama and energy policy. At a time when it is clear we need to invest in clean, sustainable green technology and infrastructure, he comes out for nuclear power, clean coal, and off shore drilling. Can this really be? Or is it that Obama is once again setting up his opponents? Let us hope that this is only a misdirection ploy that will culminate in green investment. Please Obama, be ten moves ahead, because right now you seem to be surrendering the game on the opening moves.

Christian Soldiers?

2010-03-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Talk about missing the point. Yesterday, nine members of the Hutaree Christian Militia in Michigan were arrested for a plot to kill police officers. They then intended to kill even more people at the funerals. Referring to police as a "brotherhood," the group had apparently expressed its willingness to kill innocent people who stumbled upon them in order to carry out their actions.

It seems strange that people who carry guns and seek to overthrow the government claim to be motivated by Jesus. The man of turn the other cheek seems to have followers who believe in loading the extra clip. Hutaree is just one of hundreds of such groups motivated by anti-government sentiments according to the Southern Poverty Law Center which tracks hate groups. While many of these groups also have racist agendas, the Hutaree belong to the branch of extremists that work hate into their religious values.

As I've said before - if your religion is telling you to kill people, you are missing the point.

But why should any one be surprised. Just because the founder of the religion preached peace and turned the other cheek, no one should expect that of the followers. The hate branch of Christianity is just as alive, and just as misguided, as the hate branches of Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and all the other -isms out there.

The danger of religion lies in the fact that the moment someone decides that he/she has god on their side, there is no stopping that person from believing that every self-deluded, irrational, violent act is justified. The Hutaree, which must mean "incoherent apostates" in some language, are not the first to twist religion for their purposes, nor will they be the last.

I like this Christ, but I do not like Christians. They are so un-Christlike. - Mahatma Gandhi

Par-tay Values

2010-03-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

It was just reported, in a filing for the Federal Elections Commission, that the Republican National Committee spent close to $2000 for an evening at a strip club in Hollywood. According to the Rachel Maddow Show, the strip club features a lesbian bondage theme in its acts. Two thousand dollars at a strip club in one evening for the party that has championed itself the bastion (and arbiter) of morality. This clearly redefines party values. But $2000 in one evening? David Vitters, John Ensign and Mark Sanford must have all been in town.

American Enterprise Institute: One Giant Leap Towards GroupThink

2010-03-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) fired David Frum earlier this week when he wrote an article criticizing the GOP's approach to health care. Stating that their strategy had back fired, Frum was fired simply for stating an opinion. The substance of Frum's remarks are irrelevant. The issue is that an alleged think tank would fire one of it's fellows for analyzing a political event. In essence, he was fired for doing his job.

Frum's real offense was that he questioned the conservative movement. When so called policy institutes and think tanks will not allow deviation from a particular party line they are no longer legitimate organizations.

The American Enterprise Institute has lost all credibility.

Hell Froze Over

2010-03-23T08:40:00.001-07:00

Hell has frozen over. It must have. The Democrats finally passed health care. After squandering a year trying to prove they could not legislate, the Democrats put their overwhelming majority to use and passed health care legislation.

The Republicans, the party of No, and the Tea Baggers, the party of know nothing, have responded by having a tantrum. Hurling racial slurs and homophobic epithets at members of Congress, spitting on at least one other member, and on one occasion taunting a man with Parkinson's, the opponents of the measure demonstrated their utter contempt for humanity.

Vowing to run on repeal of health care, the right wing continues to show they do not get it. Citing polls that show people oppose the health care bill they miss the primary reason - which is that it doesn't go far enough.

This is a start and for that both Obama and Congress deserve their due. But it is just a start. This journey should not end until the U.S. has free, universal, national health care.

Waiting For Senate - Will This Bus Ever Arrive?

2010-03-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Significant legislation has been piling up in the Senate for some time now. According to The Progressive Professor site, 290 bills have passed the House and await action in the Senate. Among the measures is a bill removing earmarks given to for-profit organizations. Conservative Democrats are opposed to it because it will cost jobs. Republicans say their opposition is all about principle and they just want all earmarks removed. Both groups leave out their pockets being stuffed with contributions from these same organizations.

Another bill languishing concerns removing the middleman from the Student Loan Program. At present, private banks administer the governments money to recipients, adding costs to both the lender and recipients. Cutting out the banks and making the government the direct lender would save billions. Who could object? Well, Republicans and conservative Democrats. They claim this will hurt the job market because, it seems, they fear bankers will lose their jobs. There you go, side with the bankers, and then wonder why you lose in November.

National school standards, needed to correct the race to the bottom caused by No Child Left Behind, has also stalled. Conservatives claim this would be too much government interference. I guess they think it was okay to force the states to lower their standards so they would not be punished under the provisions of No Child Left Behind, but somehow it is wrong to reward those who raise standards.

This story is getting tedious. No matter what the issue, the script reads the same. President Obama talks of moving forward on a new initiative with a fresh spirit of bipartisanship. The House of Representatives quickly pass legislation. John Boehner attacks and says "Speaker Pelosi has rammed another bill down our throats." Eric Cantor urges caution about "changing the fabric of our nation." Rush and Beck go apoplectic. Palin continues to be incoherent. And then we get to the Senate. Harry Reid announces that the bill will be carefully considered and all opinions sought. Mitch McConnell will denounce the bill as government expansion on an unprecedented scale, but announce that he is once again "willing to be bipartisan and negotiate." Then Reid appoints Democrats who don't really like the bill to negotiate with Republicans who are planning to stall and negotiate in bad faith. A watered down version with no teeth eventually emerges from the appropriate Senate committee, passing along party lines.

Then comes the filibuster. Well, not an actual filibuster but a threat of one. This virtual filibuster has served to completely stifle the Senate for some time. Acting as if there can be no votes unless there are sixty votes for something has stymied action on numerous bills. Ah, but the Democrats had sixty you say. Yes, and this is where the next act starts. Raise the curtain on a few "moderate" Democrats who suddenly find reasons to object. This is the hostage scene. Suddenly, a few see the opportunity to grab some pork, power or votes and threaten to bring it all down unless they get their way.

Procedure and process then enter as the fall guys. It's the filibuster we are told. But no one is ever forced to filibuster because somehow that might be going too far.

And that's how a bill doesn't become a law.

Granny D - Gone But Not Forgotten

2010-03-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Long time activist, Doris "Granny D" Haddock died March 10, 2010 at the age of 100. A life long New Hampshire resident, Granny D ran for Senate in 2004 against Judd Gregg. She walked across the country to raise awareness for campaign reform at the age of 89. Continuing to make her voice heard until the end, she serves as a model of citizenship. Rest in peace.

Their Own Worst Enemy

2010-03-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

The Democrats are back in town. You would think after all these years of getting whipped in elections and having one bad bill after another shoved down their throats that they would be kicking ass and taking names. Of course, you would only think that if you didn't know the Democratic Party. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this party can't even pass legislation when they have overwhelming majorities.

Fight among themselves. Why sure, why not? Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY) has decided to take them all down with him if possible. In an story that keeps changing, first resigning for his health, then admitting allegations, now being forced out, he seems intent on damaging the party. As if it needs help with that. Can you say Charlie Rangel? What is up really? You've been in power ten minutes and everything is blowing up. Of course, were these scandals Republican we would see how big time politics are played. Tom DeLay kept power even when he was up to his eyeballs in scandal. Mark Sanford is still governor.

Come on guys, can't you get it together. Eight years of Bush slamming everything through even if Cheney had to be brought out into the light to break a tie vote in the Senate. Even with an alleged filibuster proof majority you got nothing done. By the way, accept the fact that Lieberman is in it only for himself and cut him loose. Don't just take away chairmanships, kick him out of the caucus. Let him sit with the Republicans awhile. They'll throw him back.

Reconciliation, schmeckonciliation. Just pass health care reform. Ram the public option through. That's what the people really want and you all know it. Let the Republicans filibuster. Even if each one talks for a whole day, making a biblical total of forty days, then have a vote and do something significant. By day twenty the whole country would be at the Republicans heals but it would be too much to expect the Democrats to do something smart. How is it that Democrats are so good at policy and so bad at politics and Republicans are so good at politics but so bad at policy? All that ever gets passed are bad bills when Republicans are in power and watered down useless ones with Democrats.

Democrats, stop being your own worst enemy.

Free Markets and Flat Earthers

2010-03-09T09:06:00.000-08:00

As many of you are no doubt aware, there is a Flat Earth Society. This society professes to believe that the earth is flat and refutes all evidence to the contrary. It has never been clear to me that this is more than an elaborate joke that even the members certainly knew to be untrue.

So it now seems with those who continue to tout free market principles. After the past hundred years when free market principles have on at least two occasions nearly destroyed the world's economy it is hard to believe there are still adherents to the idea of unregulated capitalism. Rapacious greed and an amoral approach to business almost assure that those who are unethical will take advantage of any available opening. Lack of regulation, the free market way, makes for an uneven playing field with the honest always going uphill.

Beyond the question of the unethical is the actual behavior of the free marketeers. When they are in trouble the rules no longer apply and they need some government intervention to succeed (or plunder the Treasury as the case may be).

But the ultimate flaw in the free market ideal is the idea that the market takes care of all problems. Unfortunately people die as the market figures out what products are unsafe. Yes, now we know that China gets rid of its toxins by melting it into plastics for children's toys and that cigarette companies deliberately hid information about the effects of their products, but by the time we get around to scientists finding conclusive evidence of cell phones causing brain cancer and that plastic is the greatest hazard to life on the planet, the free market will have made its profit. The idea that the market takes care of it all is an interesting abstract concept but frightening in the real world.

Even with perfect access to perfect information (the greatest absurdity of all the assumptions of free market capitalism) the reality is that the free market has proven anything but free. It is merely a structural means that allows the most unethical people to steal money and call it business.

Bayh Blames Bloggers

2010-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Senator Evan Bayh (IN) announced yesterday that he will not run for re-election this fall. Despite being well ahead in most polls Bayh quit unexpectedly and did so in such a fashion that no one else could qualify for the primary. The Indiana Democratic Party will now pick the primary candidate.

Citing the partisan bickering and the hostile climate, he even took a swipe at progressive bloggers for criticizing him as he announced he would not run again. When a senator has become so thin skinned that he can't take the heat from pundits I guess it is time to go.

Bayh should have no question as to why he faced so much opposition from progressive bloggers. One of the Democratic road blocks to health care reform, Bayh has for years been Republican-lite. But it was the manner in which he resigned that Bayh showed himself worthy of the scorn he has received. His resignation likely helps the party choose a candidate who can win, but it deprives the voters of their chance to have a voice. A career politician from a political family, Bayh's resignation exemplifies the triumph of politics over democracy (maybe I should drop the "lite" from "Republican-lite").

Dick Cheney: War Criminal

2010-02-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

I know, the headline is no surprise. It's just that the man keeps admitting it. This past Sunday, Valentine's Day 2010, Dick Cheney bragged that he had opposed the Bush Administration's attempts to back off torture and stop waterboarding. Making his round on the morning news shows, Cheney unequivocally indicated that he supported waterboarding. He then continued on to criticize the Obama Administration's handling of national security.

What's up with this guy? Eight years in office, he spent most of it in an "undisclosed location," emerging only to shoot his friend in the face in a hunting (if releasing birds from boxes is hunting) incident. You couldn't get this guy to answer a question or utter a word while in office. Even his residence was blurred on satellite map sites. Now that he's out of office, he won't shut up.

Please Dick, go back to an undisclosed location.

The Distinguished Gentleman From Alabama

2010-02-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

Senator Dick Shelby of Alabama is working hard to distinguish himself from his colleagues in the Senate. In a chamber filled with ineffectual and incompetent members, Shelby has risen to the top of the obstructionist pyramid. Placing a blanket hold on at least 70 federal nominees, from post that mean nothing to those that are crucial to the running of the nation, Shelby tried to grind the government to a halt all by himself.

Approximately one hour ago Shelby announced that he would drop most of the holds with the exception of three. Two of these three were the Assistant and the Under Secretary of the Air Force. These targets relate directly to Shelby's real reason to place a road block in the way of staffed government. Pork. Shelby placed the holds until defense contracts in Alabama are secure.

Gumming up government for a little pork is not the only means by which Shelby is trying to claim the title of Chief Obstructionist. He is also the prime culprit holding up banking reform in the Senate committee that regulates this segment of our economy. Here he is standing for his base - his contributors. When did conservatism become about protecting banks that are so fiscally reckless that they nearly destroyed the economy of the world?

This is what passes for leadership in this country.

Teabaggers Go Limp

2010-02-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

The first annual Tea Party Convention was held over the weekend and was a resounding flop. Plagued by infighting that threatened to derail the whole convention, many groups and speakers pulled out, leaving on Sarah Palin to fluff up the crowd.

In the end, only about 600 people showed up for the event. The final speech by Palin was given before an audience in a ballroom that appeared sparsely peopled even though the tables were spread around the room. Even Michelle Bachman didn't show. When you're too loony for her, you're ready for Bugs and Elmer.

I took heart in this fiasco. Despite having the full force of Fox News to advertise the event plus the media's fascination with this rudderless movement, in the end there was little interest. The convention itself revealed the Tea Party movement to be a disjointed group of individuals with nothing in common except a lack of ideas and a need to scream about their loss of white privilege, I mean, "freedom."

Platitudes and anger are the hallmarks of the teabaggers. Ideas have little place in their movement. Sarah Palin is their perfect spokesmodel.

One Year In: The State of the Union

2010-02-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Obama, one year in:

-Gitmo is still open.
-The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.
-Health care still hasn't been passed.
-Economy continues to reel.

I should be pissed or at least disappointed. I probably would be if I thought of Obama as some sort of messiah or for that matter did not understand how government works (more on that later). Efforts to portray him as a socialist have led me to see many of those so opposed to him as bordering on ridiculous. His first year has been more subtle and filled with shades of gray than to allow a superficial up or down assessment.

He is a political incrementalist. Not necessarily my style but I see the logic behind such an approach. It is also this approach that has frustrated many of his most ardent (and unrealistic) supports.

Yet to assess his first year one must distinguish between what he has accomplished, what he has attempted to accomplish and what he is likely to accomplish. To be fair in this assessment one must be honest and note that the President of the United States is not a dictator and can only enact legislation so far as the Congress goes along. In essence, as Teddy Roosevelt pointed out, the real power in the presidency lies in the bully pulpit, the ability to force opinion that will then force the hands of politicians.

Also, as preface, it is necessary to point out what seems to be a completely contradictory set of values blisters him for not getting things accomplished while working simultaneously to thwart any effort he makes. Let's look at Guantanamo as an example: It is true that he has not closed the place as he stated. However, if the full effort here is examined, it becomes apparent that the real block to closing Gitmo is not Obama but rather the manipulation of political and public opinion by members of Congress to prevent any actions that might lead to closure. The reality is that the number of prisoners has been drastically reduced and continues to shrink. Obama continues to pursue the closing and I give him credit for that. On the other hand, John McCain advocated closing Gitmo long ago but now opposes it because it scores political points.

The war in Iraq. While there are still troops there, this war is for all purposes winding down. The U.S. never completely leaves anywhere as the hundreds of thousands of troops all over the world attests, but this war is done. If you're going by when the last troops leave, then WWII and the Korean War are still ongoing. If you mean done as in stopping the further waste of resources and an end in sight, we're there.

Afghanistan. This is Obama's biggest mistake. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from pouring any more resources down this rat hole. I think that Obama is motivated by political concerns that seek to refute any calls that he is weak on security. Of course, that is exactly what would have happened if he had done the correct thing and pulled out. Nonetheless, he should have started this debate with the public and the fight with Congress to end this war.

Health care has been a debacle. Obama likely erred by not pushing for a one-payer system if only as a bargaining chip. In trying not to appear too radical he ended up making a tactical error and then got called a socialist anyway. Of course, the real blame for how health care reform has played out must lie with the Democratic leadership. Even when they had 60 votes, Reid was too lame to get anything through. The Democrats in general played a game where they appeared to represent the people while they assured failure for anything that might threaten the insurance industry. The Republicans revealed themselves to be obstructionist who negotiate in bad faith. Ultimately though the blame falls on the Democrats who turn an eighteen vote majority into a minority. If the Republicans want to filibuster, then damn it, let them talk until they drop.

The economy. Unemployment is at 10 percent, probably closer to 17 if you take in the underemployed and those who've given up and no economist expect this to end in the foreseeable future. Forfeitures and foreclosures are up and there is not much promise ahead. On the other hand, the home market is rebounding and job losses will probably level at around zero this month. I liken his task here to catching an anvil: when he first grabbed hold it pulled him down further until he finally gained control.

Obama takes a lot of heat for deficit spending yet most economist caution that this is not the time for deficit reduction. Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winner in economics, has argued that the stimulus should have been larger and the only thing that can rescue the economy is government spending. I know many of you hate to hear that, but a paralyzed economy is in no one's interest.

One thing the Obama administration has done that has gotten surprisingly little attention is the recouping of the bailout money. The approximately $700 billion that Henry Paulson tried to steal from the Treasury for the largest banks has been largely returned. Paulson's accomplice Tim Geithner, may have finally served his purpose in pointing out where the bodies were buried and now appears to be on his way out the door.

Of late, Obama has been striking an increasingly populist tone when it comes to the economy. Proposing all kinds of tax cuts for small businesses and individuals, he also took Wall Street and corporations to task in the State of the Union address. His deficit reduction plan is pure gimmickry but served to make an interesting point as Republicans who had advocated a deficit reduction committee suddenly came out in opposition. He has maneuvered the Republicans into a position that they are blatantly supporting big business and the banking industry over the people.

Obama has also reversed years of declining American influence and reputation around the world. Even those who are opposed to his policies must acknowledge that he has done an enormous amount in changing the view of America in the world.

Obama has also pressed for increases in investments in education and infrastructure developments. These are two areas where it is clear that America has fallen behind and is destined for diminished stature on the world stage unless we quickly address our deficits. How hard the opposition fights these ideas will be a measure of how interested they are in the well being of the country versus how interested they are in playing politics.

Viewing a four-year-term of office as a four-quarter game provides an apt analogy. The expected franchise savior was met with an all out swarming full court defense at the opening whistle. Double and triple-teamed, every dirty play possible, tripping, pulling his shorts, standing on his toes, fouling after the whistle, etc. was used. Whenever he gained momentum, an endless string of timeouts were called and occasionally a fight broke out in the stands. His bench was useless.

Despite all this, the first quarter ended even. The other team has managed to turn the refs against them (polls show Republicans are blamed 2-1 over Obama for the countries woes) and he has started the second quarter strong. When Fox News cut away from his meeting with GOP house members it was clearly because he was dunking in their faces.

No, Obama has not been perfect nor has he solved every problem of the country. Anyone who thought he would was either naive or stupid. There have been pratfalls, primarily over health care, but even that can still pass (providing someone tells Harry Reid that 59 is more than 41). As pointed out herein, foreign relations are much improved, the economy is no longer in free fall, $700 billion given away by the previous administration has been returned to the Treasury, civil liberties are no longer ridiculed by the president, and we no longer expect to be embarassed when the leader of our country make a speech.

Science has been restored to its place in the decision making process. Environmental regulations are being enforced once again. Competence is more important for a job in the administration than political loyalty. The United States is important in the world for more than its military might. New trade alliances have been developed with India, undercutting China's influence. Corporations are no longer expecting free reign.

We are at a crossroads in our history with the country quickly becoming ungovernable due to partisan politics. More than anything else Obama has provided a calm voice that recognizes the complexity of the world. While the right wing likes to portray him as a Bolshevik, he clearly is a centrist interested more in pragmatic politics than ideology. However, it is just this effort to portray him as other than he is that is the source of his renewed popularity. When the man accusing you of a credibility gap is orange from a tanning booth, when the opposition party suddenly votes against its own bills when adopted, when what passes for debate is to question whether the president was born in the country, then it becomes increasingly difficult to look at Republicans as anything but political opportunists putting their own interests ahead of the nation.

In sum, Obama is still getting the feel of the office. Suffering from unrealistic expectations he was bound to have difficulty living up to them. However, to say that he has not accomplished anything is to believe the Fox News narrative of the world.

I guess people would prefer the first year of his predecessor.

Bedtime for Democracy

2010-01-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) just released a decision striking down limits on the actions of corporations in political campaigns. Specifically the new ruling will allow for corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to promote their own candidates and agendas. The result largely dismantles the McCain-Feingold Act and also overturns two prior Supreme Court decisions.

Adding insult to injury the decision is based on the "free speech" rights of corporations. Justice John Paul Stevens writing in dissent referred to the ruling as a "radical departure" from settled law. McCain himself took to the Senate floor to warn against the ruling. Never has free been so costly.

It is noteworthy that the justices who voted to overturn precedent have all spoken against judicial activism. This ruling is the epitome of just that behavior. Throw in the fact that the shaky legal precedent that corporations are people (Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad, 1886) lies at the very heart of their ability to even bring the case and this appears to be a sign that the Supreme Court has lost sight of the goals of the Constitution.

In total, this ruling will serve to diminish the free speech rights of individuals as they are drowned in the din of advertising by corporations. This ruling will enshrine tyranny of the corporate world over the individual. The protection of the people has been trampled by providing an inherent advantage to wealthy corporations and organizations.

With this ruling, democracy is done. Corporations will now control the political process. Elections will become advertising campaigns and the only constituents that matter will be those with a Board of Directors. How long before candidates no longer identify with political parties but instead use corporate affiliations?

Today it is bedtime for democracy. Tomorrow we awake to the dawn of corporatism.

The Continuing Saga of the Dumb-o-crats

2010-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Will Rogers once said that he "belonged to no organized political party," and then went on to say that he was a Democrat. Yesterday, the continued disorganization of the Democratic Party was on full display.

In what should have been a slam dunk, in what is often referred to as the most blue of the blue states, the Dumb-o-crats managed to blow a near sure thing to the Repugnican'ts. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley gave a textbook lesson in how not to run a campaign. Her opponent, Scott Brown, apparently won because he drove a pick-up and actually campaigned.

Coakley, it will be forever noted, took off about three weeks from the campaign during the holidays. Blowing a more than 20 point lead she exemplified the Dumb-o-crats approach to politics - let's try to lose any advantage by stupidity. At a time when the Repugnican'ts have been fully reputed and are on the ropes, only a Dumb-o-crat could lose to one.

But the ultimate stupidity here is that until 2004 there would have been no special election to fill the seat. Up until then the governor would have appointed the replacement. In 2004, however, in a bit of certainty that John Kerry would be elected president the Massachusetts legislature, full of Dumb-o-crats changed the law so that the then Repugnican't governor, Mitt Romney, would not appoint a member of his party. Flash forward six years and now we get the most unlikely of all results - Ted Kennedy's Senate seat goes to a person with almost completely opposite views.

Making matters worse is that the election of Brown imperils health care reform. So after the Dumb-o-cratic leadership spent a whole year trying to screw up health care reform and waste all the time they could on what should have been completed in a month, now they find themselves behind the eight ball again.

In an all too frequent example of the fake news being more on target than the real news, comedian Jon Stewart of the Daily Show points out that the Repugnican'ts got anything they wanted, like tax breaks for the rich with only 51 votes. In fact, as Stewart noted, George Bush seemed able to get anything he wanted with 51 votes.

The fact that the Dumb-o-crats can't get anything done even when they have 60 votes just demonstrates how pathetic they are at politics. Say what you want about the Repugnican'ts, they know how to put their principles in place (and reward their wealthy donors and screw the rest of us) when they are in power. Dumb-o-crats on the other hand always manage to blow it at the worst possible time. Scott Brown is just the latest in a line that includes Bush and Reagan.

In one year the Dumb-o-cratic leadership has managed to waste countless opportunities such as giving us real national health care, bringing the banks under control and providing for infrastructure development among other things. Had they done any of these things they would have destroyed the Repugnican'ts.

Unfortunately, Will Rogers was right. Were it not for the inability of the Dumb-o-crats to get anything done except bicker internally, the Repugnican'ts would be a faint memory.

If the Dumb-o-crats ever hope to get anything right they need to take a page from their opponents play book - act like you know what you're doing and push your legislation. You only need 51 votes as the Bush era taught us. If the Repugnican'ts want to filibuster, let them. For once, play hardball. Let them talk until they collapse, and then have the vote.

It seems like the leadership of the Dumb-o-crats are more interested in playing nice with the Repugnican'ts than in listening to the people who elected them. That's how to lose power, that's how they lost the safest seat in the Senate, that's how they became Dumb-o-crats.

"We Want Our Money Back"

2010-01-14T09:20:00.001-08:00

Proclaiming that "We want our money back," Barack Obama finally echoed the words that millions of Americans have felt concerning the bank bailout. He continued by announcing that fees would be imposed on the largest banks, those with assets greater than $150 billion. These fees will continue for ten years or until the full amount of the taxpayer money spent on the TARP fund are recovered.

These fees do not apply to smaller banks, community banks and the like. In fact, only the largest banks, those that caused the meltdown and then profited from it through the bailout, will be affected.

This measure may at some level be largely symbolic, but it is high time that we begin to end the corporatist policies of the past. Now is that time.

Also, let us give Obama credit for finding a way to undo the give away of the public wealth that Henry Paulson and the Bush (mis)Administration tried to engineer before leaving office. Now if only he'd fire Geithner.

By the way, before the right wing trots out to defend their corporate masters by crying "Socialism," - paying back money you took is hardly socialism. This is how far the debate has been skewed, when banks have to live up to their obligations or operate on a level playing field, they cry foul and play the victim. Watch their despicable behavior over the next few months as they try to figure out ways around the fees, using lawyers and accountants to evade their responsibility for the mess they put everyone in.

Don't Be Evil

2010-01-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

Google took a major step today towards living up to its corporate motto: "Don't be evil." In announcing it will no longer continue to censor Internet content in China, Google has taken an important step for free speech and Internet privacy. Stating that it will adhere to this decision even if it means the company is not allowed to do business in China, the company has surprised the corporate world.

This comes after the company and its g-mail accounts, largely those of Chinese human rights activists, were targeted. The attack apparently has a similarity to the attacks uncovered by Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto. In the Canadian case a surveillance system known as "Ghostnet" was used to hack into government computers and scan documents.

In both the Canadian and Google cases it appears that the attacks originate from within China. The logical conclusion as to responsibility for the cyber-espionage is the Chinese government. Working to suppress dissent, the Chinese continue to make a mockery of human rights. Using cyber-crime as a means to do so should not be tolerated.

As I argued in my previous column, the time has come to boycott China. The Chinese government has demonstrated to the world that it does not respect international law through its continued cyber-crimes. They have also repeatedly demonstrated they do not care for human life through their continued production of toxic toys.

Have we become so economically dependent on China that we will continue to look the other way while they trample human rights and crush dissent? Google is trying to live up to its motto. How about us living up to our beliefs in free speech? Spend and extra dollar and buy a product not made in China - if you can find one.

Boycott China

2010-01-12T09:02:00.001-08:00

Damn the effects on the economy. It is clear that we have reached a point that we can no longer risk doing business with China. Their low cost goods are no longer worth it even if they are free.

The Associated Press arranged to have 100 different items tested and found twelve of the items contaminated with cadmium levels above ten percent. According to the Center for Disease Control cadmium is number seven on a list of 275 toxic substances. More shocking is that while cadmium levels are regulated in children's toys they are not in jewelry.

That China would use such a loop hole to pass products into the U.S. is intolerable. Given the number of scandals they have already had with contaminated products form milk to toys to drywall one would think it would be routine to test such products, but that is another matter. What is clear is that the Chinese are more concerned with selling us products than in our health. In fact, maybe we should start to wonder if it is not their goal to sell us contaminated products. Ruining our health and stunting the development of our children would serve their goals well.

Whatever is going on in China that is leading to this repeated poisoning must be acknowledged. The burden must be placed upon them to prove that their products are safe before we accept them into the country. It is easy to dominate the world in sales if you use your toxic waste material as production material while subsidizing your industry and floating your currency.

And we're fighting in Afghanistan?

"No Siege Mentality"

2010-01-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Barack Obama spoke about the Christmas Day bombing attempt by Umar Abdulmuttallab. He did something rarely seen in these days by a politician - he took responsibility. Using a phrase borrowed from Harry Truman, Obama stated that "The buck stops with me." He then went on to point out that this was a series of screw ups that culminated in a person already on watch lists being allowed to board a plane with explosives. Pettiness, infighting and human error all seemed to play a part in the act. Since Christmas Day there have been a series of events at various airports that show the generally shoddy nature of security.

But it was not just the taking of responsibility that made this speech noteworthy While stating that "We are at war," Obama also stated that we would be "no siege mentality." In a stark contrast to the previous administration Obama advocated that we not panic and be ruled by fear. In refusing to make our remaining liberties sacrificial lambs in the name of the illusion of safety, Obama has taken a step towards restoring the belief in the values on which the country was founded. It is these actions, taking steps towards restoring our democracy that the last administration so trampled that have been his most important actions since taking office.

By refusing to accept the notion that we must live as we are under siege at all times, Obama also took a step towards the ultimate defeat of al-Qaeda. Turning the country into a military police state and shredding the Constitution in the name of security is not what a strong leader would do. That is what Bush tried to do - he tried to act strong because he felt he was weak. Obama did the converse. By stating that we are going to be true to our values, Obama showed real strength and a confidence in the underpinnings of our nation. A confidence that all of those who supported the Patriot Act and advocated surrendering our liberties in the name of security did not and do not have.

In taking the occasion to further announce that Guantanamo would be closed, he demonstrated a further commitment to the rule of law. This event could have provided a perfect excuse to delay or stop the closing of Gitmo, but instead, he used it as an opportunity to reaffirm a commitment to the legal process. It should be noted that Abdulmuttallab has reportedly been providing a great deal of intelligence completely within legal confines.

This speech is being examined for what it says about security. The truth is, no matter how secure, no matter what we do, something will eventually happen. The important part of what Obama said is that it signaled a change to a view that is consistent with the purported values of our country. In refusing to undermine them, not only refusing to go further, but pulling back on the mentality that sacrifices liberty for security he has already surpassed his predecessor in understanding what it takes for a country to be great.

Let's hope Dick Cheney shuts up and goes back to an undisclosed location.

Why We're Doomed

2010-01-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

I just saw a news report from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The reporter was hyping a new battery operated bicycle. He referred to this as "cutting edge" technology and trumpeted all that is technology. This upbeat report left me with the distinct feeling that we are doomed.

No, I do not mean that a bicycle is going to destroy the world. Nor do I think that the story was necessarily representative of the products on display. What made me feel we are doomed was the obvious and oblivious excitement the reporter expressed concerning a bicycle he did not need to peddle. It is our endless fascination with gadgets that make me feel that all is lost. No matter how inane, no matter how useless, or no matter, as in this case, how redundant the invention as long as it is dressed up as new technology we line up like lemmings.

Technology comes at a price. That cost, unfortunately, is borne by the natural world. In the present example, even if the battery is solar charged, it still has to be produced and eventually it will require disposal. This adds two environmental costs to the manufacture of the bicycle. It also removes the secondary effect of exercise that this mode of transportation will incur.

Granted, one could argue that riding one of these bikes is better than driving a car, but you can ride a bike with or without a battery. The point is that fascination with technology has led to a denial of the effects of the costs of production of most of the tools of the technological and information age. For example, by all calculations electronic readers have a greater environmental impact than traditional books. Paper, produced in the proper manner with the rights sources (i.e. hemp, not trees), can be a sustainable, renewable crop. The mined material in an e-reader will never be replaced.

The fascination with new technology is akin to a child's desire for a new toy. The fact that it is shiny and new are more important than whether it is necessary or even wanted. A battery operated bicycle and the electric book are not the only examples of this mindset. One of the worst examples of this effort to bring technology where it is not needed has to be the electric trashcans in the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. Ironically, the writing on the cans boast of the airports efforts at recycling.

This fascination assists in the continual introduction of products to replace and upgrade what is basically the same product. HDTV, flat screen technology, even the advent of color broadcasts have essentially served the primary purpose of getting the consumer to continually buy the same product. The transition from LP's to 8-tracks to cassettes to CD's did little for music but caused the consumer, no matter their preferences, to have to purchase different devices. Now, turntables are making a comeback and LP's have been the rage for years. The iPod is just a Walkman with more bells and whistles. The Walkman in turn was just a glorified transistor radio.

Somehow, all of these things are seen as advances. The slow introduction of one generation of technology after another is causing an acceleration in consumption that is unwarranted by need. Technology may have benefits but it also has costs. These costs are at times significant, as when there are industrial accidents, or the more likely everyday environmental impacts. The more we produce useless products, ignore the costs of technology, accept planned obsolescence and the commodification of information, the closer we come to jumping over the cliffs.

The planet has great problems. One of the major problems that we rarely discuss is the fact that we have a world population approaching 7 billion and growing exponentially but that we have finite resources. Either something has to give or something has to change. Otherwise, there will be conflict. We must change the mindset that views technology as the solution to our problems. Technology is only a tool. If technology was the solution your pencil could do math.

The choice is not between technology or a pre-industrial existence. The choice is between our present system of consumerism and that of sustainability. We can either use it all up or we can make it last. We will not make it last by putting batteries on a bicycle.

A note about lemmings. Contrary to popular belief they do not line up and jump off the cliffs into the sea. This misconception was created by film footage in which they were herded over the cliffs for cinematic effect. Consumerism is based on the herd instinct while advertising is kind of like a sheep dog.

The Tale of Two Green Revolutions

2010-01-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

There are two green revolutions underway in the world at present - the one named for the color of the opposition in Iran and the environmental one. Their trajectories represent a study in contrasts.

The Green Revolution in Iran, starting shortly after the rigged election in June has continued nearly unabated since that time. This has occurred despite brutal repression including imprisonment and execution. Leaders have gone into hiding and the spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri has died, and yet, the fight goes on. The media has been completed suppressed yet the people continue to get images to the world. The government can only hold power through brute force, yet the people continue to take to the rooftops at night and the streets by day, sensing that now is the time.

The other Green Revolution, that of the environmental one, could not be more different. The world summit in Copenhagen ended with a whimper. The general public seems less concerned with the issue than even a few years ago. Lip service is paid in all quarters to the need to respond to the challenges of climate change. Little is being done with the exception of propaganda efforts by big polluters to convince the world there is nothing to worry about. At night, we light up the sky flashing advertising to interstates while by day we burn fossil fuels for convenience sake. This green revolution is dying for lack of warriors.

The people of Iran will be able to look back to this time with pride in a period when they did all they could to change their world. The people of the world will look back to this as a time when we did nothing to save or even help our environment.

Two very different revolutions indeed.

Ignorance Based Fear and the Denial of Reality

2010-01-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

We've had another attempt to blow up an airplane, this time by a 23-year-old Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmuttallab. He used the same type of explosives as that carried by the attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid. Common features: both men were fanatics and neither of the attacks worked.

Herein lies essential base of al-Qaeda (which translates to "the base"). It has thousands of loyal recruits who are willing to lay down their lives for their cause. In fact, their life circumstances make them ill suited for anything but cannon fodder. Those with any education, military training or political power quickly become leaders within the movement. These leaders, conveniently for them, are too "important" to sacrifice themselves. This by default leaves, by and large, an uneducated and unsophisticated group to actually carry out attacks.

It is this reason, the very poor quality of the attackers, that has prevented the majority of attacks. It is not anything done by any security measures, airline procedures, domestic and international spying, or anything else, it is the sheer incompetency of fanatics. It is also a natural function that as continued suicide attacks occur, the pool of attackers gets closer to the bottom of the barrel with each attack. In fact, suicide attacks in general seem to be just from the point of view of strategy, a product of illogical thinking. It wastes the most fanatical soldiers.

Look at the immediate evidence. The best that al-Qaeda can do at present is Richard Reid and Umar Abdulmuttallab. These guys couldn't even detonate explosives with fire. If this really is the best they can do, then their major operational problem is incompetence.

This is not to say that there will not continue to be attacks by misguided fanatics. There are plenty of Mohammed Atta's, and Timothy McVeigh's out there, and some of them will pull it off. By and large though, it is their own fanaticism that is the best ally of everyone in the world.

Balancing out their incompetence is the false sense of security produced by creating an illusion of safety that involves taking away nail clippers and screening your shoes. However, any one who has flown knows the sham that this process has become. Disinterested TSA agents chatting with each other, an over reliance on technology, and a realistic assessment that the likelihood of an attack is low all make for a typical casualness towards the process that makes it resemble a Kabuki theatre.

Now you can expect tighter security for a few weeks, maybe even months, then everything will settle down. That is what the leaders of al-Qaeda will do. Wait for another lull. The reality is that another attack is already being plotted, another apple is being pulled from the bottom, and after that one there will be another and another. Eventually one will get through. No matter how poor the quality of their members and no matter what is done.

It is not uplifting to think or predict that it will happen again, it is just realistic. It is comforting though to note that even the successful plots carried out have been dwarfed in number by those thwarted. It is also something to keep in mind that a more realistic view of those carrying out fanatical attacks is as a mostly incompetent and illogical lot without the ability to do much more than blow themselves up.

All For Naught: Don't Believe the Hype

2010-01-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

Y2K. Ah, back when the world was simple and all we had to worry about was catastrophic shutdown of everything on the planet. Or so we were hyped. Then nothing happened. The good old days.

Then came the election of 2000, featuring the contrast of wooden Al Gore versus good ole boy George W. At least that was the hype, that was the coverage. Overlooked was that one candidate had rigorously prepared himself for the office, and as it turns out, was the man most suited to tackle the continuing task of confronting global warming. The other man was George Bush, the most unprepared candidate for office in memory, possibly history.

The election, mired by more problems than any democracy should tolerate, ended in a vote of 5-4 by the Supreme court. Democracy prevailed, or so was the hype. Problems concerning voting machines, voter disenfranchisement and overt political meddling in the process continues even as we assure that we can produce fair elections in other countries.

On his first day in office, George W. Bush was briefed by Richard Clarke that a Islamic jihad group led by Osama bin Laden was a threat to the U.S. The USS Cole suffered an attack with explosives in Yemen.

September 11, 2001 was a day that changed the world. Everyone bought the hype. Nothing had changed, terrorists had already hit in the U.S. and al-Qaeda was already fully operational. It's leader, bin Laden, we were told would be caught, "Dead or Alive". He was on the run, his operation was in shambles. Or so was the hype.

Fear of continuing attacks was fanned. Two wars began in quick succession. Domestic spying, suspension of the very rights of which underpin our country, phone taps, email interceptions, all followed in rapid succession. We began to abandon our own principles, jailing without trial, creating Guantanamo, justifying torture, all in the name of security. Alert levels became the measure of our fear.

Richard Reid made us all take off our shoes every time we fly. The TSA began confiscating nail clippers and key chains. This was supposed to make us safe. The whole security apparatus of the United States was reorganized.

Christmas Day, 2009 a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttallab, attempted to blow up a flight from Amsterdam as it descended into Detroit. Abdulmuttallab, schooled and radicalized in Britain, had recently traveled to Yemen. His own father, a prominent Nigerian banker, had personally gone to the U.S. embassy and reported that his son had become a radical jihadist.

Muttallab's attack involved the use of an explosive known as PETN, the same as Richard Reid. The new solution has already been proposed - full electronic body scans. Profiling is also being trumpeted as a necessary element in preventing any new attacks. These things will make us safe, we are told.

The last decade has taught us exactly what we should have expected from a decade that began with a zero and an irrational fear of computers crashing: Naught.

More Important than Polls and Constituents

2009-12-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

2009 will be remembered as the year when politicians quit pretending to listen to their constituents and actually stopped paying attention to polls. Instead, they paid attention to who pays for their attention - their contributors.

Sen. Joe Lieberman leads the list as we now know that the (I) that usually follows his name stands for "Insurance Industry," rather than "Independent." Republican'ts as a group stood up for their industry backers and did all they could to kill reform that their constituents overwhelmingly supported.

Of course, there was a different response when the favorite envelope stuffers on Wall Street came begging. Quickly, funds were dispersed, the bail out floundered and the bankers who caused the near catastrophe got even richer, laughing all the way to, well, their place of employment. Bipartisanship flourished in a spirit of politicians having their backers yank their chains like lap dogs.

A special tone deaf award goes to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) (or is it Baccus (X-Sextopia)?) for his shameless attempt to nominate his girlfriend to be a judge. It is true that his girlfriend, Melodee Hanes, who now works at the Justice Department is probably qualified for the post. But to nominate your girlfriend, I guess that Baucus has never heard of avoiding the appearance of impropriety. Who does he think he is - a "C" streeter? But why would he worry about such minor things after selling us all out with his health care negotiations.

The Ironic Honesty award for all of 2009 must go to Sarah Palin. Quitting halfway through her first term so she could "better serve" her constituents, she did so in spite of herself.

Most Lawless Nation or Twisted Priorities

2009-12-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing is as easy as denouncing an evil doer. Nothing so difficult as understanding him. -Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The United Nations recently released figures that note that the United States has 100,000 more people incarcerated just for drug offenses than the entire European Union has locked up for ALL crimes. Making this statistic even more striking is the fact that the EU has 100 million more citizens than the U.S.

It should further be noted that the United States has more people incarcerated per capita than any nation that has ever existed including the Soviet Union in the days of Stalin and apartheid South Africa. Add in that we are one of the top ten nations as regards executions and we appear to be particularly lawless.

Is that really the case. No, in fact, it is not that the U.S. is any more lawless we have just chosen to incarcerate as the primary means to deal with our social woes. No money for social services, no money for juvenile delinquency prevention programs, no literacy, no after school care, no education. Certainly, no health care. Just prisons and war.

It's a matter of priorities.

In Case You Missed It

2009-12-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it among the many news stories tallying Tiger Woods dalliances or climate deniers screaming about stolen emails, a truck load of radioactive waste wrecked somewhere in Nevada last week.

The relative amount of news coverage given to each story shows how out of whack our priorities have become.

If we focused on real news we might see how a few Senators are selling out the nation on health care reform.

Ronald Dumbsfeld

2009-12-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

The Senate Foreign Relations committee has just released a report in which it is revealed that the military had Osama bin-Laden cornered in Tora Bora in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in 2001. It is also noted that then Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, apparently feared that to capture or kill bin-Laden would produce a backlash. An absurd fear given the backlash that happened anyway.

Of course, the report from the Senate committee provided little information about the facts on the ground, i.e. that bin-laden was cornered. It seemed inevitable at the time that he would be captured. There were even questions about whether he had been killed or not. It only added to his mystique and elevated him to some quasi-hero status to those we most wanted not to follow him. Then suddenly, we didn't "think that much about him," to quote W.

But was it really that Rumsfeld and the rest of the Bush (mis)Administration feared a backlash if they caught bin-Laden. If they had perchance caught him or killed him, again, as seemed inevitable at the time, that might have really disrupted the momentum to invade Iraq. If bin-Laden were gone, the public would have likely been satisfied that 9/11 had been avenged.

Could they really have been this incompetent?

In retrospect it can be seen that Iraq was far more important to the Bush-ites than Afghanistan. Saddam is gone, executed. Most of his inner circle is dead. Osama bin-Laden, Mullah Omar, and others, still in charge.

When satellites can read license plates from space, how do you miss a 6'5' guy on dialysis traveling around in the rural mountains? Answer: You try very hard.

Less Equals More

2009-11-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

In a recent email exchange the person I was conversing with began to express a fear of government takeover of health care. Spouting the same disinformation be promulgated by the insurance industry he continually made the point that he didn't want the government making health care decisions. He seemed befuddled at my suggestion that he must not mind corporations running his life.

In health care, and for that matter, all matters where people state that they want the government to stay out of things, they are advocating that corporations be given free rein instead. The government is really the only check on large US and even larger transnational corporations. Corporations, guided only by an allegiance to profits and the bottom line, are at best neutral while at their worst malevolent entities intent on increasing revenues at any cost. Government can run as a non-profit and have employment as a purpose. Corporations view workers only as resources to be used and used up.

There is a dynamic tension that must necessarily exist between government and corporations. Unless governments can control the necessarily amoral actions of corporations the masses of people will be exploited as a matter of course. Corporations gaining control and directing the government is nothing but fascist corporatism. This is the direction the health insurance cartel of United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, Wellpoint and Blue Cross are attempting to take us.

Do not think this stops at health care. Corporatism is a growing threat to our society and planet as large transnationals manipulate the governments of the world in the interests of profits. Just as surely as the United Fruit Company overthrew governments in Latin America, those in the corporate world continue to exert their influence.

After being bailed out by the government of "We the People," Wall Street awarded itself bonuses with our dollars. Somehow it seems, Hank Paulson and Tim Geitner looked out for their cronies rather than the people. Blackwater, now re-branded Xe, and Halliburton continue to work as contractors for the government despite being waist deep in corruption and malfeasance.

The rallying cry for the gangster bankers - the banksters- and the health insurance industry is that regulation is bad. The free market will take care of everything they assure us. Less regulation equals more money - for them.

Less does equal more. Less government means more corporate control. In a government of "We the People," we probably get what we deserve. In a corporate world, we are all just fodder for the cannons aimed by the invisible hand of the market.

Inane & Insane

2009-11-28T17:18:00.001-08:00

I just heard a rumor that Sarah Palin had said that she thought Glenn Beck would make a great Vice-Presidential running mate. The Palin-Beck ticket: Bringing back the Know Nothing Party for the 21st century.

Fight Consumerism: Buy Nothing Today

2009-11-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

Since 1992, there has been a movement to fight the consumerist nature of our culture by selecting one day a year to buy absolutely nothing. That day has become the day after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday" by retailers as it is supposedly the day that they begin to make all their holiday money. Picking Black Friday, the day when the balance sheets goes from red to black highlights the event.

Conceived by Ted Dave of Vancouver, this informal boycott of consumerism, capitalism and corporatism likely has little effect on the overall economy. However, it does draw attention to the nonsensical rabidness by which individuals are manipulated by advertising to buy heavily on this one day.

One would think by all the crowds the thought of being sheep would occur to at least someone.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library

2009-11-19T07:47:00.001-08:00

I recently heard a news story about the George W. Bush Presidential Library. It made me wonder if this was the first time a library has been named after someone who has never been in one.

I wonder what books will adorn the shelves? I hope we don't limit it to books that George himself has read. We'd need only one shelf. There's that book he read in college ("Pulled an all-nighter, had some of the nose candy," he was later quoted as saying), there's My Pet Goat, the only book we know he read for sure (because who can believe a coked-up frat boy), which we painfully watched him stare at it as he froze on 9/11 and maybe the book his dog allegedly wrote (Laura probably read him to sleep with that one).

Ah, the George W. Bush Presidential Library. Texas size - except for the books.

Afghanistan: Time to Go

2009-11-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

After eight years of muddling about, it has become apparent that it is time to leave Afghanistan. History (previously reviewed in "Graveyard of Empires" post) of the country suggests we should have never gone to begin with, but that point aside, it is now time to go.

Matthew Hoh, a state department official, recently resigned from his post in Afghanistan and made a point of noting in his resignation letter that it was due to the utter disaster that the occupation has become. Later, in an interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS, he discussed the corruption of the Karzai government and noted that our actions in the country are actually fueling the fighting rather than preventing it.

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has expressed similar sentiment in objecting to plans to send more troops to the country. Eikenbery, it should be noted, is a retired general and former commander of the forces in Afghanistan. He also has called the Karzai government corrupt and ineffective.

Afghanistan has become a pointless morass with no semblance of a goal. At this point it seems unclear if we can even tell if we are winning or losing. Time to go.

Goldman Sachs: Greedy Men Suck

2009-11-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, stated a couple of days ago that he was doing "God's work." Yeah, the god of money, Mammon.

Accepting bailout money just last year, the costs of which will ultimately fall on the backs of the poor and their children, Goldman Sachs recently gave out billions of dollars in bonuses to it's top people. After driving the world to the brink of financial collapse, these self-entitled money manipulators now think they needed to be rewarded for their efforts in stealing from the masses.

Is it "God's work," to engage in activities that directly and indirectly lead to the deaths of countless people? Like it or not that's what capitalism does, and I'm not just talking about the 45,00 or so Americans that will die because they don't have health insurance. I'm talking about the whole rigged system that pays people like Blankfein billions of dollars while preventing most people from making a living wage. It is worth noting that every increase in the minimum wage is fought as somehow anti-competitive, but giving wealthy people even more to overfill their already overfull glasses is somehow the only course of action.

The arrogance displayed by Blankfein should serve as a warning to us all. The banker-thieves of the world have no shame. They are so ensconced in their own delusions that they actually believe they are doing "God's work." As I've said time and time again, show me a man with God on his side and I'll show you a man who is dangerous as hell.

Exhibit A: Lloyd Blankfein

Voter's Referendums for Rights: That's Just Wrong

2009-11-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, November 4th, 2009, Maine became the 31st state to defeat or repeal a measure that supported same-sex unions. In several of the states, legislatures or courts had implemented the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples. Voters rejected these laws due to popular sentiment.

Human rights, however, are not a matter of public sentiment. Rights are just that - rights. The idea that a human right can be taken away because it is unpopular flies completely against the grain of the whole notion of rights. It is exactly this attitude that we profess to abhor in other countries. When women are denied basic human rights in the Islamic world, Americans are quick to condemn the intrusion of popular sentiment.

The Civil Rights Act in the United States also addressed this popular condemnation of rights. When the act passed it was extremely unpopular in the South. In fact, it is abundantly clear that if it were a matter of popular sentiment that segregation would still be legal in parts of the country. Laws against slavery might even be repealed if it were a matter of popular opinion.

The reasons listed above are exactly why we can NOT allow rights to be a matter of popular vote. A human right is a right even if no one is in favor of it. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, ..."

How can a right be taken away by votes? That is just wrong.

See Dick Lie

2009-11-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney never ceases to amaze me. While vice-president he often appeared to have more power and influence than the actual president. His former firm, Halliburton, received no-bid government contracts without raising even the slightest concern of influence peddling. He accuses the current administration of "dithering" even after his administration spent eight years doing nothing.

He has managed to top all of the above. During questioning about the leak in the Valerie Plame debacle in which an active CIA operative was outed in the press, Cheney responded 72 times that he "Did not recall," or "Could not remember," in response to Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Cheney's right hand man, Scooter Libby, was convicted of perjury for his failure to disclose information. Cheney, on the other hand, got away without even a slap on the wrist.

Some of the information Cheney couldn't recall was whether anyone had ever mentioned to him that the wife of administration critic Joe Wilson was a CIA operative. He also could not recall how he found out that information. Interestingly though, he was able to describe in great detail his lunch with Nancy Reagan. This does not pass the stink test. He couldn't remember details of a major embarrassment to himself but he could remember what was for lunch.

Cheney has long been known for his great memory for details. When it is to his advantage he seems able to recall every detail of a decision making process. He revels in pointing out when others seem unclear on information.

In response to another politician claiming that he did "not recall," details of a scandal, Cheney famously blasted him for his poor memory. He pointed out that it was hard to believe anyone who conveniently forgot information that would convict them in a court of law. On that occasion he told the truth.

When it comes to his own lapses of memory, suddenly Cheney doesn't buy his own rhetoric. See Dick forget. See Dick lie. See Dick subvert the Constitution. See Dick commit treason.

Hey Joe

2009-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Joe, where you going with that envelope full of contributions in your hand? Found a new boss, going out to shoot health care down.

What good is the Democrats having sixty votes if they can only count on fifty-nine. Joe Lieberman, henceforth Loserman on this site, has decided to prepare for his life after he is thrown out of office in the next election. Caucusing with the Democrats, his vote can only be counted on when it is not needed.

After selling out his former party in the last election he leveraged his position as an important member of the Democratic caucus into chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Since that time, whenever it matters, droopy dog Loserman sides with the Republicans. With him, they really don't have sixty votes, just fifty-nine and a political manipulator out for all he can get. It is time for the Democrats to expel him from the caucus, strip away his chairmanship and all committee assignments. He needs to be treated like the sell out he is.

If I believed Joe Loserman's position was based on principle I might have a different opinion. However, it seems abundantly clear that the Senator from the insurance industry is more interested in sabotaging Obama and settling old scores than doing what is right for the country.

Pretending to represent a state where the majority heavily supports the public option, Loserman is opting to support the insurance industry. He has become their lap dog.

Hey Joe, have you picked out the curtains for your industry job? Your constituents no longer want you. They caught you messing 'round with another boss.

With apologies to Jimi Hendrix.

Our Friends in Afghanistan

2009-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reported yesterday that Hamid Karzai's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, has been on the payroll of the CIA for some time. This is the same brother who has long been accused of having ties to the drug trade. The CIA and heroin together? This war is really starting to look like Vietnam.

This connection between drug trafficking and the CIA should surprise no one. It part of a long tradition. In addition to the above mentioned involvement in heroin smuggling in Vietnam the CIA has also been implicated in cocaine smuggling (see Gerald Hausenfuss) and other such actions.

Will we ever learn?

Conventional Wisdom and a Bucket of Spit

2009-10-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

In the past week, former Vice-president Dick Cheney has argued with the tactics taken by the Obama Administration towards Afghanistan. Cheney referred to Obama as "dithering" about the issue. This from a man who, in the eight years he largely directed the war, utilized a strategy that can be summarized by the words ignore and under-resource. Cheney's advice should be seen for what it is worth - a warm bucket of spit.

Also in the news this week was the action of the Obama Administration to limit the pay of executives of bailed out banks. As soon as this was announced, pundits began to offer the conventional wisdom that limiting the pay of these executives would lead to a "brain drain." Their stated fear was that the best talent would flee the industry. First let me take issue with the idea that the very people who caused the financial crisis are talented. If these people had known what they were doing to begin with the world's economy would not have teetered on the brink of collapse. A collapse averted only because the U.S. taxpayer bailed them out. The other notion, that they would flee the banking industry for other jobs that paid similarly shows just how out of touch they are with reality. Where else will they find a job that rewards them millions in bonuses for failing? They want what they are worth - then let's give them their bucket of spit.

Repeal Anti-Trust Exemption for Health Insurance

2009-10-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

In 1945, the McCarran-Ferguson Act granted an anti-trust exemption to the insurance industry. Since that time it has been legal for the insurance industry to essentially engage in price fixing. This little known exemption has been as the base of the outlandish rise in health care costs and likely contributes to the excessive costs for insurance more than any other single factor.

The exemption allows the Insurance Cartel, the actual name of a group comprised of Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross, United Health Care and Well Point, to collude with each other to carve up the market and run it like a monopoly. This explains the reason that one or the other of these companies tends to control and dominate the markets of the various states. They have simply colluded with each other to split up the spoils of their monopoly.

This fact of anti-trust exemption seems to run counter to the cries of competition and free market values being espoused by those opposing health care reform. Anti-trust exemptions are at their very heart contrary to competition.

It is no wonder that health care costs and insurance costs have skyrocketed over the past 60 years. Price fixing and monopolistic practices have never done anything but guarantee profit at the expense of service. The fact that this practice is not being immediately repealed shows that the game is still rigged.

About the only other industry that I can think of that has an anti-trust exemption is baseball. It's exemption is based on the tenuous logic that it is the national pasttime and should be treated differently. The logic behind an anti-trust exemption for health insurance seems even more tenuous. If we are going to have monopolies in health care, let's do it the right way - national health care, run by the government. Oh, I forget, the debate is not about health care, it's about the right of these companies to make a profit.

One Less Holiday

2009-10-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today marks the invasion of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Yesterday, most of the nations banks and all of its federal buildings were closed to honor this date. While I like a day off as much as anyone, if there is ever one holiday that needs to go, it is this one.

Columbus should not be celebrated, he should be reviled. He was a genocidal slave trader who allowed his men to hunt native peoples like animals. He sold children as sex slaves and bragged in letters to his brother Bartholomew about the price he could get for these children.

He also must have been the worst sailor in the world. Columbus thought he was in India and seemed unaware of maritime knowledge common in his own time. To honor this man is an insult to everyone who cares about humanity. He was a murderer driven by greed. It would make more sense for Vietnam to have "LBJ Day" than for anyone to honor Columbus.

For more on Columbus and his cruelty please read Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen.

What Would Victory Look Like?

2009-10-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

As we contemplate pouring more troops and more resources into Afghanistan, certainly assuring that this will become the longest war in which the U.S. has ever been involved, we seem to have lost sight of what we are trying to do.

Can someone please tell me what victory looks like in Afghanistan? We certainly have no role models. Not the British, not the Russians, not the Moghuls, not even Alexander the Great managed to conquer this land. It's not called the "Graveyard of Empires" for nothing.

It is not even clear who could surrender to provide a military victory. Our puppet, Karzai, has no moral authority with the Afghan people and even our government doesn't think he's in charge. In fact, this very question of who is in charge is the rub.

If the U.S. managed to kill every identified opposition leader and we occupied the country for ten years, what would happen when we left? Everything would return to the same -perpetually the year 1300.

Where does that leave us? Occupying Afghanistan forever in what at best might be a stalemate. Have any doubts? Ask the Russians - they're better at chess. They at least knew the game was not winnable and finally resigned.

Remembering Che

2009-10-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

Today, October 9th, marks the anniversary of the assassination of Che Guevara in 1967. Che Guevara was an Argentinian physician who was instrumental in the Cuban revolution and dedicated his life to the struggle for the people against the tyranny of capitalism. He was gunned down in Bolivia by elements of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

His life was one marked by a commitment to ideals and concern for others. He could have easily led the life of privilege but instead chose to give himself to something greater. To those familiar with his struggle he is an icon.

Viva Che!

Don't Get Sick

2009-09-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

House of Representatives member Alan Grayson, (D-FL) unveiled the Republican Health Care Plan today: "Don't Get Sick." Grayson went on to add that the second part of the plan was to "die quickly" if you got sick. Howls erupted from the GOP. The truth hurts.

It is estimated that 144,000 Americans will die this year as the result of having no insurance. Strange how pointing out that people will die as a result of having no insurance is viewed as insulting while lying about "death panels" is disguised as encouraging debate.

To Grayson's credit he didn't back down. When asked to apologize, he apologized to the people who have died because we don't have a health care plan.

Grayson, a freshman congressman, also once likened the bank bailout to armed robbery and has fought against military contractor fraud. Grayson, it needs to be pointed out, ran as an unapologetic liberal against a Republican incumbent, Ric Keller, and soundly beat him. Blue Dogs and the other conserva-Dems need to take heed. The way to beat the right wing is not to act like and cower before them trying to gain acceptance.

Maybe Max Baucus should pay attention.

G-20 Crushes Freedom (Again)

2009-09-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

The G-20, the countries with the twenty leading economies of the world, recently concluded their annual meeting in Pittsburgh. As with past meetings, the focus was on the stability of the world's economy. No surprise there.

Also of no surprise to anyone was the ceremonial trampling of human rights. Rationalized as necessary in order to protect the world leaders, what really transpired was the usual practice of making sure that the participants never lay eyes on the wildly dissatisfied and disillusioned people that they purport to represent. A "secure zone" was created, beyond which protesters were not allowed to cross.

While these efforts to keep protesters far away is the usual practice of the G-20, one hoped that in the United States, at least, protesters might at least get within sight of the meeting. That was not to be, with at least 84 people arrested (according to the New York Times) attempting to get their voices heard. Once again world leaders proved that they care little for the rights of their citizens and more for the smooth running of their economies. That should come as no surprise as capitalist care about money, not freedom.

I can buy the argument that there is a necessity to keep world leaders safe. However, when we go beyond safety, to the point of stifling dissent, the line has been crossed. Being able to see protesters would not have endangered them, but it might have made them think. That was the real point in keeping them away - to prevent leaders from being held accountable.

No politician wants to be challenged by their constituents. Tough. That is part of being a politician. Years ago I lived in a small town in Colorado where my Senator, Ben Nighthorse Campbell also lived. In a town of 750 people it's hard not to run into everyone on the street. On one occasion I saw Senator Campbell and approached him to discuss a vote. He was unhappy about being approached and told me so. My reaction was that he should not have gone into politics if he didn't want to be approached by constituents. What was he going to do, have me arrested for discussing a vote?

The point is that Campbell may not have wanted to be taken to task, but he had no choice. What was he going to do, have me arrested for discussing a vote? He didn't like it, but knowing that citizens would approach him on the street at least made him somewhat accountable. For the G-20, that was not a possibility. The lack of face to face accountability is not good for the world, only for the security of those who do not want to face the consequences of their actions. I guess "G" should stand for gangster.

One Leap Forward, Two Leaps Back

2009-09-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

In a post a couple of days ago I applauded China for taking a stance to address climate change. As was quickly pointed out to me by my friend Doug, China will likely backtrack on its promises.

The point about China is well made. They have paid lip service to human rights and open government but continue to lead the world in executions and censorship. It is also apparent that China is more concerned with maintaining domestic control than international opinion.

Whether for propaganda or genuine effort, China is taking steps that will propel it ahead of the U.S. in producing clean and sustainable energy. The Chinese do this in spite of the fact that they churn out industrial toxins at a chilling rate. What they are trying to do is leapfrog generations of technology and lead the world. The development of clean and sustainable energy would seem to be an obvious avenue for investment and economic development for any nation concerned about its future. Failure to pursue a course to become the world leader in this technology will doom the U.S. to second rate status as a nation.

The Chinese, it is true, operate only for the good of China. They see the necessity of this course. Will we move forward or backward?

The Great Leap Forward

2009-09-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of days the Chinese government has signalled its intention to become serious in dealing with the threat of climate change. Vowing to plant forests greater than the size of Norway and increase to 15 percent the amount of its energy generated by renewable sources. China also pledged to "reduce by a notable margin," the growth of its carbon emissions.

It remains to be seen if China will actually follow through on its stated plans. However, just the stated intention to address climate change vaults China ahead of the U.S. in terms of its desire to address this concern. At some level, the output of three nations, the U.S., China and India, are the most important to contributing to this problem. China and India, both developing and with enormous populations, have resisted any efforts to curb their emissions because of the economic strain it will produce. The U.S. has resisted primarily due to political efforts by the right wing.

However, with China pressing ahead and pledging to address this issue, there remains the U.S. and India. Who will be the final drag on the world? Which country will continue to believe that it can operate with impunity and suffer no consequences? China saw the writing on the wall. The U.S. has no excuse.

Baucus Sells Us Out

2009-09-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Senator Max Baucus, leader of the gang of six, has finally emerged with a health care bill from the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus, the leading recipient of money from the insurance industry, finally put his cards on the table. After dithering away the summer claiming to be seeking bipartisan support, Baucus presents a bill without any Republican support, despite the fact that it caves on important issues.

In the past, I respected Max Baucus. Today, I see him as a toady of corporate interests. He has sold the people of this country down the river to satisfy his corporate contributors. I, for one, will remember his actions. Come primary time, his opponent will be a recipient of my dollars.

Jimmy Carter Speaks the Truth

2009-09-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

Within the last few days Jimmy Carter has given an interview in which he stated that much of the opposition to Barack Obama is fueled by racism. Racists, of course, have howled. Obama, not being a whiner and wanting to avoid a needless confrontation has downplayed the issue.

Carter, since leaving office, has shown himself to be a man who speaks the truth. His credibility is recognized worldwide as evidenced by numerous invitations to observe international elections. As a southerner, his credibility on this issue is even greater.

Certainly there have been overt examples of racism towards Obama, but Carter seemed to be referring to the more clandestine side of racism whereby people avoid the overt, but work hard to generate fear tied to other factors. Calling Obama a socialist, a Muslim, a non-citizen, etc. are all thinly veiled efforts to portray him as "the other." Most of the people using these terms cannot seriously believe he is any of those things, but they know that if they use the racially loaded terms they really mean, they will be exposed. So instead, they generate hatred by other means.

Need more evidence: The Secret Service has already disrupted more assassination plots against Obama than all the other presidents combined. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, militias and hate groups are on the rise. Gun sales have flourished in the last year.

Both Carter and Clinton generated a great deal of anger and animosity from the right. However, the hatred and fear expressed towards Obama is clearly several quantum levels greater. The lack of civility expressed is exponentially greater. Policy is obviously not the driving force. Carter himself was more liberal in his policies than Obama, and Clinton was the rallying point for the right, but neither generated this level of attack. What then can explain the level of hatred?

Carter is right.

The Great State of South Carolina

2009-09-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Strom Thurmond, Mark Sanford, Jim Dement (or is it Demented) and now Joe Wilson. House of Representative member Joe Wilson (R-SC) from the 2nd district has now risen above the all-star cast of clowns that South Carolina is known for in its politics. Becoming the first member of Congress to heckle a president during a speech to a joint session, Wilson has stepped to the forefront of the circus that is South Carolina politics.

Wilson, who yelled "You lie!" at Obama as he confronted the misinformation and lies being spread against health care, rushed from the chamber after the speech. Later he issued an insincere apology at the behest of the Republican leadership.

To stand out in South Carolina politics, in the first traitorous state to secede during the Civil War, is quite an accomplishment. Somewhere Strom Thurmond must be smiling; the state has finally produced a bigger nitwit than himself. Mark Sanford was so happy he held a press conference.

Two Anniversaries

2009-09-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

September 11 will mark the anniversary of two events of note in the annals of history. September 11, 2001 is, of course , the day the World Trade Center Towers were destroyed in a well coordinated attack. The day that everything changed. The day America cringed in fear.

Another September 11, this one in 1973, also marks another shameful anniversary. On that day, Salvador Allende, the duly elected leader of Chile, was overthrown in a coup d'etat supported by the United States. Allende's death marked the end of an era for Chile as well. The day that everything changed. Augusto Pinochet then ascended to power becoming one of history's most loathsome dictators.

Killing may change the course of history, but not for the better. Everyone who murders for political ideology is a self-deluded fool, thinking that good will come of bad.

Our Private Army

2009-09-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Unknown to many Americans is the fact that the United States maintains both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan largely on the backs of "private contractors." These individuals, civilians working for private firms which have contracted with the government, have increasingly replaced soldiers in many positions vital for a military effort.

Some of these individuals, such as those employed by Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR, work primarily in support positions, feeding troops, building quarters, etc. Others, such as Blackwater, now re-branded as Xe, and Wackenhut, serve functions related to security.

Wackenhut, the largest private correctional corporation in the U.S., was recently awarded a $180 million contract to guard the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. This is the same company whose employees have been recently been seen dancing naked, engaging in simulated (and not so simulated) homoerotic acts, guzzling alcohol and generally behaving in a manner that would have gotten soldiers a court martial. Now they are guarding the embassy. Didn't Marines used to do that?

Blackwater, as previously noted on this blog and elsewhere, is the subject of an investigation that alleges murder, gun smuggling, and witness intimidation among the many charges. Their specialty in Iraq has been security. Again, didn't the Marines used to do that?

It is just this use of private firms to do work that is clearly the domain of the military that is troubling. According to the Washington Post, the number of private contractors in Iraq topped 100,000 in 2006. The L.A. Times reported the number had risen to 140,000 by July 4, 2007 and on August 18, 2008, Peter Grier in the Christian Science Monitor noted that the number of civilians employed in Iraq was 190,000. NBC News reported that at least 68,000 are currently in Afghanistan, compared to 52, 000 actual soldiers.

The civilians who work for these private corporations are often paid many times what soldiers in the U.S. military receive for doing the same work. Financial reasons alone makes one wonder why we would ever use such an approach. Combine these problems with the numerous episodes of armed engagement with the civilian populace of Iraq and there becomes a greater moral morass concerning the use of private contractors. These civilians are not held to the same standards of conduct and in some cases it seems unclear how and if the law applies to them.

In the Geneva Conventions, civilians working for private firms are the very definition of "unlawful combatant," not that imposed by the Bush (mis)Administration on individuals clearly fighting a war.

There has long been another name for individuals privately hired to fight in another country - mercenaries. Let us begin to call the private contractors what they are, the mercenary force that allows these wars to continue.

If Obama Could Fly

2009-08-31T19:06:00.001-07:00

If Obama could fly, the right wing of this country would demand that he be arrested for breaking the laws of gravity.

If he turned water into wine, they would demand that he be arrested for the illegal production of alcohol.

The absolute ridiculous nature of the claims coming from the right these days would almost be humorous were it not for the rabid, gun-packing, hatred spewing, blood lust that seems to be occurring hand in hand with the screaming paranoia. All of a sudden, individuals who sat by and said nothing for the last eight years while the government systematically violated the rights of every citizen of this country, now scream that the government is taking over their lives by trying to provide a little health care to the poor.

Throw in the birther nonsense, the "death panel" lies, and all the other ridiculous claims and the right appears to be a wounded beast, afraid and desperate.

AG Holder Takes the First Step

2009-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

The journey of ten thousand miles begins with the first step. - Lao Tzu.

Attorney General Eric Holder took the first step towards returning the United States to its ideals with the appointment of Federal Prosecutor John Durham to begin an investigation into allegations of torture by CIA employees and their subcontractors.

The appointment of Durham coincides with the release of the Inspector General's report that the Department of Justice has prevented the public from seeing for approximately five years. The largely still redacted report reveals a number of events that are so troubling that one wonders what kind of individual could have conceived of such actions. To argue that several of these actions are anything but torture is to defy common sense.

- Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri was threatened with having his mother raped in front of him.

- one detainee died after being beaten with a flashlight by a person identified as an "independent contractor."

- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was told that his young children, whom he knew to be in custody, would be killed.

- mock executions were staged.

- hand guns and power drills were present at interrogations.

I have worked as a prison psychologist, examined sociopaths and murderers, witnessed violence become so casual that it was second nature, but these revelations shocked me. There are only a few of the worst and most ruthless in prison who could look at these actions as anything but pathological.

Yet such behaviors seemingly occurred with frequency. The actions described are just the tip of the iceberg. It would be impossible for multiple people to behave in such barbaric and inhumane ways without others knowing about it. In my reading of the report, there seems to have been concern that then Attorney General Ashcroft was aware of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed having been waterboarded "119 times." If there was no concern of illegality, why was there seeming concern about him knowing. Alternatively, if I have misread this and Ashcroft was merely being informed, then he was clearly in the loop. As Attorney General it would have been his duty to stop the actions, not sanction them.

Remember though, that Ashcroft was the one who refused to sign off on Gonzalez's efforts at even greater atrocities. I know, with the Bushies it gets hard to remember what crimes you're talking about.

The confusion about who was informed and what was ordered and by whom are questions that are miles down the road at present. Bush may be at the ten thousandth mile, but I'll bet Cheney will be somewhere around mile marker one. Now that Durham has begun an investigation he must take this wherever it leads him. The report already seems to suggest that the CIA people were deeply concerned that their actions would not be covered. It seems irrational to suggest that they would have spent so much time documenting and questioning how to proceed, i.e. requesting orders from headquarters unless they were following orders.

Who gave the orders? Who ordered that legal justifications be concocted to support the orders to torture? Who made up the legal justifications? It is not just about who inflicted the torture. Those who sanctioned, ordered and turned a blind eye are all guilty. The first step that Attorney General Holder has taken must be followed for the entire ten thousand miles.

A Nation of Laws

2009-08-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

Recent reports have revealed that the CIA under the Bush (mis)Administration subcontracted assassination squads from Blackwater and manipulated Homeland Security alert levels for political purposes. This last revelation comes from none other than former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge.

I really hate to keep bringing up the Bush-Cheney reign of error and terror - but will there be no end to the trail of crimes revealed? Follow the link on this site to "Hugh's List" for just a sampling of the treachery of the Bush (mis)Administration.

It is all well and good to wish to put matters behind us. However, when a litany of abuses and crimes have already been revealed and continue to be revealed, accountability must occur. At the very least, prosecutions for torture and war crimes must occur for the United States to be taken seriously again as a nation of laws. When one small group of people can lie us into a war, hire private assassination squads, manipulate the public into a frenzy of fear in order to gain politically, run clandestine prisons to specifically circumvent U.S. and international law, can rationalize torture and then claim that there should not even be investigations, there is no longer justice for all. There is a privileged elite that has become above prosecution.

There biggest crime I likely have left out: mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren when Bush with his henchman Hank Paulson turned the Treasury over to greedy banks. Did this really need to happen in retrospect? See this move for what it was - Bush rewarded his base, the have mores, at the end of his presidency. In so doing, he robbed your children and mine.

To act as if there is nothing to investigate or prosecute in the past administration is absurd. To allow the Bush (mis)Administration to go unchallenged is to turn your back on this country as a nation of laws.

How To Pay For Health Care

2009-08-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

Estimates of the costs of health care reform generally range from about $800 billion to $1 trillion over a ten (10) year period. Even though these estimates can be disputed I will accept them for arguments sake at this point. Given these numbers, the upper costs of providing health care would be around $100 billion.

Looking at the budget of the U.S. government, there is an obvious source of money to pay for health care - the Defense Budget. According to the Department of Defense, the 2009 Federal expenditures for the military is approximately $515.4 billion!

Before the paranoid become apoplectic over the idea of making the nation less safe, let's put the numbers in perspective. According to multiple sources, the United States spends about half of the worlds total defense dollars. The two countries that might reasonably be considered a military threat on any par with the U.S. in the future are Russia and China. While numbers for both countries are a little difficult to nail down, the upper estimates of spending for both are around $70 billion. In other words, the combined military spending of China and Russian would have to be increased three to four times in order to match the U.S.

To look at this another way, if the U.S. cut military spending in half, we would still spend about four times as much as either of the only two countries that are even anywhere close to being a potential threat.

What is the U.S. so afraid of militarily? Did I mention that the nation that spends the second most on military spending is Great Britain, our ally? Again, what or who are we so afraid of? India, with hostile neighbor Pakistan sharing a more than thousand mile border, has the largest army in the world, and spends $17 billion total on its military. Our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, pose no military threat to us and one would have to be insane to contend otherwise.

There really is no justification for the excess in spending by the military except for the fact that the war industry, the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us against at the end of his term, has control of the people who control the purse strings. The United States could easily, without causing any threat to our security, free $100 billion dollars from the defense budget.

All money spent is a matter of priorities. The U.S. could easily fund health care by shifting its priorities from the killing business to health care.