Greetings, fellow Freedom Fighters™ and Defenders of Democracy™!
We of The Scallion are changing our regularly scheduled posting schedule: we will now post on Mondays rather than Tuesdays due to a schedule conflict. Today, we bring you a goodly assortment of recommended links and news from our clearinghouse. Next week, we hope to be back with a bit of satire.
Keep the faith and keep fighting; together; we WILL win our nation back!
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Recommended links
There are links to this below in our information clearinghouse, but we wanted to place it right here, front and center, so that you can watch Keith Olbermann rip Chimpie a new one over his complete inaction regarding 9/11 Ground Zero in NYC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOxzQx5aJx4
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (from the Center for Public Integrity)
http://www.publicintegrity.org/icij/
The 14 warning signs of fascism: this site has some cute pix, but we list the 14 warning signs of fascism below ... just in time for this round of voting fraud come November
http://yellowcakewalk.backpackit.com/pub/412314
14 Warning signs of Fascism
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute.
5. Domestic spying. Secret surveillance of and gathering dossiers on its own citizens.
6. A controlled mass media. Whether directly or indirectly, these regimes exercised power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite.
7. Obsession with national security. National security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.”
9. Power of corporations protected. The corporate structure was a way to not only ensure military production, but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal.
12. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism.
14. Fraudulent elections. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.-----
From our information clearinghouse
These are items we receive from the countless mailing lists to which The Scallion collectively subscribes. They are worth the effort of at least a good skim.
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From AlterNet
Conservative Pickpockets and War-aholics | Lakoff Frames 9/11
AlterNet Video
'The Ground Truth'
New documentary gives a shocking inside look at the problems facing soldiers on the ground in Iraq and the difficulties they face when returning home.
Blogs
Hillary's Challenger Crucified on a Cross of Gold
Post by Scott Ritter
Money is the difference between having a fighting chance and total obscurity for Hillary Clinton's challenger Jonathan Tasini in the New York Senate Dem primary.
Olbermann: 'How dare you, Mr. President' (video)
Post by David DeGraw
Olbermann rips Bush on 9/11: "Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have."
How will ABC & Disney be punished for rewriting history?
Post by Don Hazen
Sooner or later the Dems will be back in power, and there are very likely going to be long memories on this 9/11 history rewriting debacle.
The OTHER 9/11 film (video)
Post by Evan Derkacz
Ooops, it was Bush that let Osama go...
We're Getting Jacked By 'Conservative' Pickpockets
By Jan Frel, AlterNet
Author Nomi Prins says it's time to stop letting so-called conservatives pull the money right out of our wallets.
The Sickly State of Health Insurance
By Nomi Prins, AlterNet
Health insurance companies are turning record profits, but even the wealthiest Americans find themselves gasping at soaring premiums.
Swiftboating: A New Low in Dirty Politics
By Taylor Marsh, AlterNet
John Kerry, John Murtha and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga have all been targeted by Republican-funded smear campaigns. As the fall election cycle revs up, who will be swiftboated next?
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld Diagnosed as 'War-aholics'
By Rick Gell, AlterNet
With the Democrats and the mainstream media enabling them, administration leaders are five years into a major war binge. They won't stop until they've hit bottom.
Time for a Woman at the UN
By Jessica Neuwirth, Women's Media Center
Kofi Annan says the world is ready for a female secretary general. So why are there only men on the short list of candidates to succeed him?
How Bush's Metaphorical War Became Real
By George Lakoff, Evan Frisch, AlterNet
The 9/11 attacks were a crime -- a crime against humanity. But Bush called it a war, then used that frame to justify an invasion he had planned since his first days in office.
Gaping Holes in the 9/11 Narrative
By Robert Scheer, AlterNet
Five years out from the attacks, why do we still know so little about what really happened that day?
Make Prisons, Get Rich
By Silja J.A. Talvi, In These Times
In New Mexico, public-private prison hybrids--paid for by the state and run by corporations--are making a few people rich and a lot of people unhappy.
Transferred to Torture
By Margaret Satterthwaite, Amnesty International
The true stories of two men who experienced "extraordinary rendition," the increasingly common U.S. practice of outsourcing torture to foreign governments and secret prisons.
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Crazies: Send more troops into the meat-grinder!
Post by Joshua Holland
ABC's 9/11 "docudrama" flops
Post by Melissa McEwan
Trounced by football; ties with re-run CBS doc
Colbert: George Macaca Allen 'shall' be defeated
Post by David DeGraw
In honor of George Allen stealing an appropriations amendment by changing the word "will" to "shall," Stephen Colbert made "shall" The Word.
Block the Vote: The 10 Worst Places to Cast a Ballot
By Sasha Abramsky, Mother Jones
American democracy's glaring weak spots include machines that count backward, slice-and-dice districts, felon baiting, phone jamming and plenty of dirty tricks.
It's the (Tanking) Economy, Stupid
By Barbara Ehrenreich, AlterNet
Conservatives say struggling Americans are just too dumb to grasp the wonders of our 'knowledge-based economy.'
A Sweatshop Behind Bars
By Chris Levister, New America Media
The nation's prison industry now employs more people than any Fortune 500 corporation except General Motors. Is prison labor rehab or corporate slavery?
The Right-Wing Roots of ABC's 9/11 Movie
By Max Blumenthal, The Nation
How conservative zealot David Horowitz and a band of little-known operatives produced and promoted ABC's skewed 'The Path to 9/11.'
Bush's Dark 9/11 Speech Calls for More Wars
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
If you paid close attention to the president's rambling discourse on the "War on Terror" on Monday evening, it was clear that he was promising even more "constructive" destruction to come.
Memo to Democrats
By Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
Please stop buying into the GOP framing on Iraq.
Torture by a Different Name
By Joanne Mariner, FindLaw.com
Bush's latest plo: call torture "alternative set of interrogation procedures" and get Congress to legalize it.
Death by Satire
By Annalee Newitz, AlterNet
Thanks to the Internet, political satire can be instant and lethal.
Listen Up, War-shington
By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet
Every time war cheerleaders put on their skirts and start shaking their pom-poms, I see masked fear.
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George Clooney demands that UN take action in Darfur
The actor gave a passionate speech today, demanding the UN put a stop to 'the first genocide of the 21st century.'
Blogs
Apparent Corruption Keeps Donna Edwards from Being Congresswoman Elect in Maryland
Post by Don Hazen
Maryland joins Ohio and Florida as prototypes of circumstantial "faux election" incompetence that -- gasp -- always seems to protect the incumbent.
Padded bras for six-year-olds?
Post by Lindsay Beyerstein
Discretely conceal your daughter's non-existent breasts!
Dem Senator eviscerates GOP on Security (VIDEO)
Post by Evan Derkacz
"Americans are tired of boneheaded Republican leadership"
Why Do We Love Being Shocked and Disgusted?
By Anneli Rufus, AlterNet
The appetite for blood porn, zombie flicks and sicko sideshows in America is endless. Is capitalism to blame, or is it a natural extension of a free society?
Rumsfeld's Fake News Flop in Iraq
By Sheldon Rampton, John Stauber, AlterNet
The Pentagon hired some amateurs to create the fake news operation in Iraq that they've dreamed of having in the United States.
Americans in Denial about 9/11
By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
Five years after 9/11, the country still hasn't asked what motives the terrorists may have had in their attacks.
Conservative Diversity at the Washington Post
By Jeff Cohen, AlterNet
The Washington Post hires a Bush speechwriter whose words helped sell the War on Iraq.
Therapy for Revolutionaries
By Jennifer Liss, WireTap
A new documentary explores a Brazilian therapy that combines anarchist politics with the search for mental and physical liberation.
Suicide Bomber Cult Is Alive and Well in Pakistan
By Ashfaq Yusufzai, IPS News
The numbers of would-be suicide bombers waiting in the wings in a region of Pakistan and the adjoining parts of southern Afghanistan are rising into the hundreds.
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Interview: 'Ground Truth' director Patricia Foulkrod
Patricia Foulkrod discusses her powerful new documentary about the difficulities US soldiers face when returning home from war.
Bush unravels at press conference
Post by Evan Derkacz
They're coming again!
Robert Novak vs. Jon Stewart
Post by David DeGraw
Novak: Jon Stewart is a "self-righteous comedian taking on airs of grandeur." Stewart: "Novak is a douchebag."
I Was A PR Intern in Iraq
By Willem Marx, Harper's
In this astonishing confessional by an Oxford graduate who worked in the green zone of Baghdad, we see the perversity of the American version of a 'free press' in Iraq.
Facing Up to the Ground Truth in Iraq
By Don Hazen, AlterNet
A new must-see film offers an unvarinished look at the dark truths about life for American soldier in Iraq.
Business is Boomin' for Dead People
By Mikita Brottman, PopMatters
In the macabre but oddly mundane business of funeral services, Americans are reinventing the rites of dying.
A Sort of Homecoming
By Hazel Rowley, The Nation
At least 12 million people from Africa were loaded into slave ships and transported to the Americas. How do people of African descent see their relationship to their ancestral home?
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From the Center for American Progress
STATE WATCH
ILLINOIS: Mayor Daley vetoes a Chicago ordinance that would raise the minimum wage for "big box" retail workers.
TENNESSEE: New Metro city bill filed Monday would require all city communications and publications to be in English only.
NEVADA: State Supreme Court strikes TABOR ballot initiative.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: 9/11 Commission Vice-Chair finally speaks: ABC's Path to 9/11 is "not good for the country."
TPM MUCKRAKER: White House pulls plug on "Whistle-Blower of the Year" ceremony.
ALTERCATION: MSNBC fires Eric Alterman.
E&P: Michael Gerson, a key aide and speechwriter for President Bush until this summer, will join the Washington Post as op-ed columnist.
DAILY GRILL
"I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English, and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."
-- President Bush, 4/28/06
VERSUS
"Oh say, can you see? By the star's sp- early light..."
-- House Speaker Denis Hastert (R-IL), 9/11/06, unable to remember the words to the U.S. national anthem
ARCHIVES
Progress Report
STUDENTS
Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 12, 2006
Justice Detained
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
For news and updates throughout the day, check out our blog at ThinkProgress.org.
Sign up | Contact us | Permalinks/Archive | Mobile | RSS | Print
NATIONAL SECURITY
Justice Detained
For five years after 9/11, the administration failed to work with Congress to develop a system to try detainees. Last week, President Bush finally unveiled legislation for military commissions. "The rationale is clear," Time magazine's Andrew Sullivan writes. "In the week of the fifth anniversary of 9/11 the president wants to change the debate from Iraq, from Iran, from the past and position himself once again as the indispensable protector." With the bill, the administation is "proposing to write into law a two-track system that has existed as a practical matter for some time"; one system that observes the Geneva Convention's ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," and one that does not. (Georgetown Law professor Martin Lederman described the move as a "Jeckyll and Hyde routine.") On Sunday's edition of Meet the Press, Vice President Cheney explained why the legislation essentially ignores the Supreme Court's Hamdan decision, which forced the administration to develop a system consistent with Geneva: "I happen to disagree with the Supreme Court. I think the Thomas/Scalia/Alito minority views were the correct ones." It looks as if Congress will toe the administration line. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) plans to push for a vote "by the end of the month and hopes the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks would help rally lawmakers behind the White House proposal."
CODIFYING TORTURE: Last week, the Pentagon released a revised Army Field Manual that "provides Geneva Convention protections for all detainees and eliminates a secret list of interrogation tactics." The manual bans several controversial techniques, including "forcing prisoners to endure long periods of solitary confinement, using military dogs to threaten prisoners, putting hoods over inmates' heads" and waterboarding. Bush's legislation, however, "would liberalize the definition of what is torture" by amending the War Crimes Act to "permit use of hypothermia, threats of violence to the detainee and his family, stress positions, long-time standing, prolonged sleep deprivation, and possibly waterboarding." Under the Bush plan, the CIA "will reserve the right to use the tougher tactics," while opening up the possibility the Pentagon later could "revise its own standards to allow the harsher techniques." Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence John Kimmons warned against legalizing a separate interrogation track. He said, "I am absolutely convinced [that] no good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years, hard years, tell us that. ... And we can't afford to go there."
COVERING FOR THE CIA: "A growing number of CIA counterterrorism officers are insuring themselves against possible civil lawsuits," the Washington Post reported yesterday. The reason: "heightened anxiety at the CIA that officers may be vulnerable to accusations they were involved in abuse, torture, human rights violations and other misconduct." Bush's legislation would provide these worried officials with "retroactive immunity from prosecution" if they are accused of using some of the techniques forbidden under the Army Field Manual. The "interrogators who engaged in those practices both in the past and in the future would not face prosecution." In addition, an administration official has said the CIA secret prision program "could continue," but not "in the same manner that it operated before."
ADMINISTRATION PRESSURING CONGRESS: Last week, Sens John Warner (R-VA), John McCain (R-AZ), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced an alternative to the Bush bill that would bar "secret evidence or information obtained from 'cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.'" The White House has been working overtime to "win concessions" from the Senators that would prohibit torture victims from seeking damages under the Geneva Conventions, eliminate habeas relief for aliens held outside the United States, and narrow the scope of the War Crimes Act, substituting language about "grave breaches" for the general prohibition on violating Common Article 3. A recent draft of the Senators' legislation suggests these efforts may be succeeding. The White House, however, is pushing for its own concessions: "Yesterday, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden went to Capitol Hill to lobby senators for the administration's version of the bill." Meanwhile, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) are pushing legislation that closely mirrors the administration's bill.
ROVIAN POLITICS: "As soon as Congress acts to authorize these military commissions," Bush said last week, "we will prosecute these men and send a clear message to those who kill Americans: No matter how long it takes, we will find you and bring you to justice." The speech signaled an effort by Bush to reframe the debate over military commissions as a false choice "between breaching the Geneva conventions or backing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed." "It s territory he knows and feels secure on," Andrew Sullivan writes, "goading the opposition as appeasers and terror lovers." Last week, it looked as if conservatives would be split on the issue, making it less effective as a political cudgel. But Bush's "round of speeches on national security" has made the right wing "more wary of bucking the White House."
Under the Radar
ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH POLITICIZES 9/11 SPEECH: Yesterday President Bush gave a primetime address to the nation on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The day before, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow assured reporters that the speech is "not going to be a political speech." Unfortunately, it was just that. Instead of focusing on the 9/11 attacks and our common national ties, Bush used the speech to justify his decision to go to war in Iraq and called on the country to support his "stay the course" policy: "I'm often asked why we're in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat. My administration, the Congress, and the United Nations saw the threat." Last night on NBC, Tim Russert noted that after the speech, the President could be viewed as the "partisan-in-chief." "The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen, but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had 'nothing' to do with 9/11," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Yesterday's address capped a series of terrorism speeches over the last 11 days, of which Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin wrote that the President's comments were "superficially apolitical and personal, [but] his words were in fact carefully chosen to advance his agenda."
IRAQ -- FORMER CENTCOM WAR PLANNER SAID RUMSFELD WOULD 'FIRE THE NEXT PERSON' WHO TALKED ABOUT NEED FOR POST-WAR PLAN: In an interview with the Hampton Roads Daily Press last last week, retiring Army Transportation Corps commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, revealed that in the months heading up to the Iraq war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan. Scheid was a colonel with the U.S. Central Command, the unit that oversees military operations in the Middle East, in late 2001 when Rumsfeld "told us to get ready for Iraq." Scheid said the emphasis in the war-planning stages was on taking out the Saddam regime and then leaving. "The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," he said. "We won't stay." Rumsfeld rejected recommendations to plan for a post-invasion occupation. Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we [would] have to plan for it," Scheid said. "I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today. "He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."
CONGRESS -- CONTROVERSY ARISES OVER HASTERT'S 9/11 COMMEMORATION RESOLUTION: Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, but House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert had other priorities. According to a report in CongressDaily, he wasn't able to schedule a vote "on a resolution to commemorate the day" until September 13. (Today, the House will consider a bill "to revise the boundaries of John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System Jekyll Island Unit," the Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge Preservation Act, and a bill "to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 40 South Walnut Street in Chillicothe, Ohio, as the 'Larry Cox Post Office.'") Moreover, Hastert has packed the resolution with controversial, politically-tinged rhetoric: "[The resolution includes] language stating that "the nation is safer than it was back in Sept. 11, 2001," along with five paragraphs of language referencing a host of measures approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush since the attacks, including the controversial USA PATRIOT Act." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has twice written Hastert requesting the resolution not be politicized; she recommended using a resolution modeled after last year's version, which did not include references to specific bills. But a Hastert spokesman said yesterday "the GOP leadership was not negotiating and that the measure would remain as written."
Think Fast
"Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Tuesday," but were unable to breach the embassy's high walls. Four guards, all Syrian, were killed.
New study "closes the loop" showing that human-induced global warming is "making hurricanes globally more violent and violent hurricanes more common."
"A black man living in a high-crime American city can expect to live 21 fewer years than a woman of Asian descent in the United States," according to a comprehensive new study of life expectancy in the U.S. "The man's life expectancy, in fact, is closer to that of people living in West Africa than it is to the average white American."
The FBI is investigating allegations that Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) awarded a woman a job in return for a personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich's children. Blagojevich claims the $1,500 check was a "gift for his daughter's 7th birthday."
For decades in Iraq, marriages between Sunnis and Shiites were considered "as ordinary as the daily call to prayer" and "the glue that held a fragile multi-ethnic society together." But post-war sectarian violence is now leaving "no hope in this country anymore for Sunnis and Shiites to fall in love."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, responding to an Iranian offer to suspend its uranium enrichment efforts for two months, suggested the U.S. might suspend its pursuit of U.N. sanctions against Iran if there is verified suspension. The New York Times reports Rice's statements as an "ever-so-softening of America's stance."
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that dropping out of high school has its costs around the globe, but nowhere is it steeper than in the U.S. "Adults who don't finish high school in the U.S. earn 65 percent of what people who have high school degrees make."
School students who sat with President Bush on the morning of 9/11 recounted their impressions after watching Andrew Card whisper to him that "America is under attack." "His face just started to turn red," said Tyler Radkey, now 13 and in seventh grade. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom." "He looked like he was going to cry," said Natalia Jones-Pinkney, now 12.
And finally: House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) led a congressional rendition of the national anthem at a 9/11 commemoration yesterday. We won't comment on his performance, other than to say that it would have been better if he knew the words to the song.
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GOOD NEWS
Open Society Institute founder George Soros "pledged $50-million on Wednesday to help the United Nations tackle extreme poverty and Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa."
STATE WATCH
ILLINOIS: Chicago city council unable to muster enough votes to override mayor's veto on living wage ordinance.
KATRINA: More than 400 people, including government and charity workers, charged with illegally benefiting from hurricane payments.
HEALTH CARE: New study shows 89 percent of working adults cannot afford individual health insurance or were rejected for health reasons.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: President Bush lets bin Laden define America's foreign policy priorities.
BREATHING EARTH: An interactive map that shows ongoing population changes and CO2 emissions per country.
UNCLAIMED TERRITORY: Senate must stop Specter's dangerous NSA wiretapping bill.
POLITICAL WIRE: Princeton study finds serious problems with voting machines.
TALKING POINTS
An Army of None
DAILY GRILL
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) statement "can only have a demoralizing effect on American troops and intelligence personnel who are currently risking their lives in the rugged mountain ranges and deserts of the Middle East in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants."
-- Rep. Duncan Hunter, 9/13/06, on Pelosi's statement that if bin Laden is captured now "it is five years too late" and "even to capture him now, I don't think makes us any safer"
VERSUS
"Bin Ladin may be limited in his ability to organize major attacks from his hideouts. Yet killing or capturing him, while extremely important, would not end terror."
-- 9/11 Commission Report
ARCHIVES
Progress Report
STUDENTS
Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 14, 2006
An Army of None
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
For news and updates throughout the day, check out our blog at ThinkProgress.org.
Sign up | Contact us | Permalinks/Archive | Mobile | RSS | Print
NATIONAL SECURITY
An Army of None
Over the last several weeks, President Bush and his allies have launched a new offensive against political dissent. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wondered aloud if critics of the President's national security policy are "more interested in the rights of terrorists than protecting the American people." (White House Press Secretary Tony Snow defended Boehner, telling CNN he was "asking tough questions.") Earlier, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld compared critics of his policies to people in the decades before World War II who believed Hitler could be appeased and argued that the fascist threat was exaggerated -- or that it was someone else s problem. (A poll yesterday found that more than 60 percent of Americans think this kind of comparison is inappropriate.) The rhetorical fireworks are intended to obscure severe problems in our national security posture, in particular military readiness. But attacking political opponents is far easier than addressing the fact that "strategic miscalculations and gross mismanagement of resources have pushed the all-volunteer force perilously close to its breaking point."
ARMY IS RUNNING ON EMPTY: In today's Washington Post, American Progress's Lawrence Korb and Peter Ogden note, "In July an official report revealed that two-thirds of the active U.S. Army was classified as 'not ready for combat.' When one combines this news with the fact that roughly one-third of the active Army is deployed (and thus presumably ready for combat), the math is simple but the answer alarming: The active Army has close to zero combat-ready brigades in reserve." Worse, "one-half of all Army units (deployed and non-deployed, active and reserves) received the lowest readiness rating any fully formed unit can receive." The readiness problem reflects the fact that every "available active-duty combat brigade has served at least one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, and many have served two or three." According to a report released yesterday by Reps. Dave Obey (D-WI) and John Murtha (D-PA), "The U.S. Army s preparedness for war has eroded to levels not witnessed by our country in decades."
THE EQUIPMENT SHORTFALL: The Army is facing a "$50 billion equipment shortfall." Obey and Murtha report, "Thousands of key Army weapons platforms -- such as tanks, Humvees, Bradley Fighting Vehicles -- sitting in disuse at Army maintenance depots for lack of funding. "This is having a snowball effect on its readiness issues because the Army is "compensating" for its shortfall by "shipping to Iraq some of the equipment that it needs to train nondeployed and reserve units."
THE RECRUITING QUANDARY: The Army is also struggling to meet its recruiting goals. For example, "After failing to meet its recruitment target for 2005, the Army raised the maximum age for enlistment from 35 to 40 in January -- only to find it necessary to raise it to 42 in June." Also, the Army has been forced to lower its standards for basic training. "Through the first six months of 2006, only 7.6 percent of new recruits failed basic training, down from 18.1 percent in May 2005." Even more alarmingly, "a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that thousands of white supremacists may have been able to infiltrate the military due to pressure from recruitment shortfalls."
THE FUNDING SHORTFALL: According to a letter signed by military experts last month, "Restoring the Army s readiness requires additional funding, but, inexplicably, the administration is underfunding the Army." Specifically, "the Office of Management and Budget recently cut the Army s request for FY06 supplemental appropriations by $4.9 Billion." In July, "General Schoomaker, the Army's Chief of Staff, testified before Congress that the Army needs an additional $17 billion in fiscal year 2007 to repair and replace equipment used for war." Obey and Murtha have requested President Bush "prepare for submission to Congress an emergency funding request to cover the Army readiness and equipment maintenance shortfalls." He has yet to do so.
Under the Radar
ETHICS -- INTERIOR WATCHDOG REPORTS 'ANYTHING GOES' AT HIGHEST LEVELS OF DEPARTMENT: Testifying at a hearing of the House Government Reform subcommittee on energy yesterday, Interior Department inspector general Earl E. Devaney said, Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior. He continued, I have observed one instance after another when the good work of my office has been disregarded by the department. Among the series of complaints listed by Devaney, his office's documentation of the ethical lapses of former deputy secretary Steven Griles serves as one prominent example of the "anything goes" attitude. The New York Times writes, "In a 145-page report in 2004, the inspector general described Mr. Griles as a 'train wreck waiting to happen.' But on Wednesday, Mr. Devaney said he was appalled that the Interior Department s office of ethics dismissed 23 out of 25 potential ethical breaches against Mr. Griles and that Gale A. Norton, then secretary of the interior, decided not to act on the two remaining allegations." Griles advised criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff how to get members of Congress to pressure the department. In return, Abramoff offered Griles at his law firm, which Griles refused.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- BOLTON SKIPS OUT ON DARFUR MEETING FOR 'UN-TRASHING FETE' AT RIGHT-WING THINK TANK: On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with the U.N. Security Council to warn of the intense new wave of genocidal violence that may unfold in two weeks when African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces are scheduled to pull out of Darfur. "In an attempt to raise individual council members to action, Annan delivered a stirring speech," The American Prospect's Marc Leon Goldberg writes. "Using unusually blunt language, Annan called on 'additional voices' (read: key member states like China, Russia, and the United States) to do their utmost to press Sudan to consent to a UN peacekeeping operation for Darfur." Unfortunately, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton wasn't around to respond to Annan's remarks. Goldberg reports that Bolton "skipped out of the briefing immediately following Annan s speech" and left only a mid-level "minister counselor" to represent the United States for the duration of the Security Council meeting, despite the fact that permanent representatives from other countries (including from our closest ally, the UK) stayed. "So why was Bolton in such a hurry? He had an important UN-trashing fete to attend to across town at the Hudson Institute," where conservative pollster Frank Luntz unveiled a new survey showing that politicians "could profit from making the United Nations a 'wedge issue' in upcoming elections. And to make sure that the UN press corps got this message, the United States mission invited Luntz to the UN building and organized a press briefing for him there."
ENVIRONMENT -- CONSERVATIVES COMPLAIN BP SPILL HURT CHANCES OF ARCTIC DRILLING: Both the House and Senate opened hearings this week on "pipeline safety legislation to address BP's handling of its Alaskan oil pipelines." Lawmakers berated BP officials for failing to adequately address corrosion in its North Slope pipelines, but the hearings quickly turned to the future of drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The Wall Street Journal editorial board argued in August that members of Congress should "use the BP mess as an excellent reason" to drill in the Arctic refuge. But this week, conservatives argued that "BP's failure to maintain and test key North Slope pipelines has shattered its claim to a 'gold standard' of environmental stewardship and has jeopardized efforts to open sensitive areas to drilling in Alaska and elsewhere." "We won't get the votes we had already on ANWR, not to mention moving ahead," complained Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM). Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) lectured BP officials, "You have completely set back any hope we had to get that bill passed in the Congress of the United States, I hope you know that."
Think Fast
Officials of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency "angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document 'outrageous and dishonest' and offering evidence to refute its central claims."
A new paper by a NASA climate scientist finds "the amount of ice being formed in the Arctic winter has declined sharply in the past two years." The scientist called the new data from satellite imaging of ice formation and temperatures "the strongest evidence of global warming in the Arctic so far."
74.5 degrees: The average temperature in the continental U.S. this summer, according to the National Climatic Data Center. "It was the second-hottest summer temperature the government has recorded since it started keeping track in 1895."
Yesterday, a "nearly toothless" House resolution to require lawmakers to sign their names to earmarks became "bogged down" in a "three-way squabble." "Nine months after Congressional leaders vowed to respond to several bribery scandals with comprehensive reforms, their pledges have come to next to nothing."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said Tuesday "his recent trip to the Guantanamo Bay detainee camp showed excellent prison conditions , including '24/7 medical care - better than many Americans' get."
Bush's approval rating rose to 42 percent from 38 percent after his latest round of speeches on Iraq, a new WSJ/NBC News poll shows.
In the latest wave of violence in Iraq, "nearly 100 people were killed or found dead in the Iraqi capital over the past 24 hours." During a tour of a 911 call facility in Baghdad, ABC News reported hearing 4,000 calls about the "chaos outside in the streets."
Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kicked off "a lobbying campaign" to pressure the Senate to approve U.N. ambassador John Bolton. Bolton's nomination remains in jeopardy after Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI) pushed to delay the vote.
A rush by state and local governments to prepare new voting machines and train poll workers is raising the possibility of trouble reminiscent of the 2000 presidential election standoff. "There are so many potential failure points this year that some of it could get ugly," says R. Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center.
And finally: Last night's results from "Dancing with the Stars" sent Tucker Carlson "back to punditry" after only one "dance." Tucker "became the first bootee, and after a brief last dance, he was finished, sent home with his bow tie, though he vowed to dance again. The world may have shuddered at the thought, but at least it is safe from his performances for the rest of the season."
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GOOD NEWS
"For the first time in at least a decade, the vaccination rate for black children in the United States has caught up to that of youngsters in other racial groups, the government reported Thursday."
STATE WATCH
MICHIGAN: Ford lays off 14,000 employees as part of a restructuring plan.
CALIFORNIA: Santa Monica Bay cities may face fines up to $10,000 a day for dirty beaches.
MISSISSIPPI: "Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources expects up to 3,000 people to participate in the state's 18th annual Coastal Cleanup event Saturday, the first since 2003."
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Bush tells Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes capturing bin Laden is "not a top priority use of American resources."
TPM MUCKRAKER: A "tribute" to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH).
MATTHEW YGLESIAS: Time for politicians to relearn the word "inequality."
COALITION FOR DARFUR: Ten "deadly mistakes" the Bush administration has made on Darfur
DAILY GRILL
QUESTION: There was a lot of rhetoric coming out of the White House in the build-up to the war and since that there was this relationship between Saddam Hussein and Zarqawi and thus linking them together.
SNOW: No. ... No relationship with Al Qaida. No relationship with Zarqawi.
-- Tony Snow, denying the White House had falsely suggested there was a relationship between Saddam Hussein and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, 9/13/06
VERSUS
"I always said that Saddam Hussein was a threat...He was a threat because he provided safe-haven for a terrorist like Zarqawi."
-- President Bush, 6/17/04
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Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 15, 2006
Political Deficit
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
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TERRORISM
Political Deficit
"I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," a newly-reelected President Bush declared in Nov. 2004. Less than halfway through his second term, Bush is finding his account is overdrawn. Clinging to failing war on terror policies (ranging from his illegal domestic wiretapping program to his illegally-constituted military tribunals and his push for torture), Bush trekked to Capitol Hill yesterday to engage face-to-face with key members of his political party who are leading the opposition to a White House plan for interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects. The visit did little to change any minds; the Senate Armed Services Committee rejected Bush's plan for the treatment of detainees just hours after he left. Some of the president's traditional allies have so far been unwilling to stomach Bush's bad terror policies, frustrating Karl Rove's efforts to play politics with the issue. Three conservative military veterans -- Sens. John Warner (R-VA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and John McCain (R-AZ) -- have led the rebellion, gaining the support of other colleagues, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R). Bush also met recently with a host of conservative journalists, seeking their support in the battle he now faces. "[T]here might be some Independents I can convince, but the key will be whether Republicans understand the stakes," he told them. Bush can expect a majority of Americans and members of Congress to continue to oppose him as long as he inflexibly holds to his rejected policies with the mindset that only his understanding is the correct one.
GENERAL DISCONTENT: McCain's efforts to pass legislation on the treatment of detainees that does not contravene the Geneva Convention (specifically Common Article 3 which stipulates prisoners of war should be "treated humanely") was lent some major support from two retired four-star generals. Former Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell re-emerged yesterday, writing in a letter, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of out fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore it would put our own troops at risk." Another former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. John Vessey, rebutted the administration's argument that the war on terror is a new type of conflict to which Geneva may not apply. "In my short 46 years in the Armed Forces, Americans confronted the horrors of the prison camps of the Japanese in World War II, the North Koreans in 1950-53, and the North Vietnamese in the long years of the Vietnam War, as well as knowledge of the Nazis' holocaust depredations in World War II. Through those years, we held to our own values. We should continue to do so," Vessey wrote. Twenty-eight other generals and admirals expressed similar sentiments in a letter yesterday.
ADMINISTRATION RESORTS TO ARM-TWISTING: The letters from former military brass put the administration on the defensive yesterday. Bush shot back to reporters, "There's all kinds of letters coming out -- and today, by the way, active duty personnel in the Pentagon, the JAG, supported the concept that I have just outlined to you." The news that military lawyers, who had objected to the administration's definition of torture when the policy was being developed in early 2003, now supported the Bush policy appeared to be good news for the administration. But yesterday, Sen. Graham, a former JAG himself, informed reporters on Capitol Hill that the administration had twisted arms in securing the JAG's support. According to Graham, the JAGs were held in a meeting "for five hours" by administration personnel, who "tried to force them to sign a prepared statement." The AP reported, "Two congressional aides who favor McCain's plan said the military lawyers signed that letter after refusing to endorse an earlier one offered by the Pentagon's general counsel, William Haynes, that expressed more forceful support for Bush's plan." (Haynes, a Bush judicial nominee, has been a forceful legal advocate for harsh detention policies.) Ultimately, the letter signed onto by the JAG "leaves total ambiguity on interpretation," according to Graham.
FIGHTING FOR OUR VALUES: "This whole issue is going to send a signal about who America is in 2006," Graham said about the debate with the White House. While the White House is pushing to narrowly define interrogation practices that might subject CIA interrogators or others to charges of committing war crimes, McCain and company are insisting that the U.S. live up to its treaty obligations and follow the Geneva dictates. Moving away from Geneva "would open the door for many repressive nations around the world to redefine their acceptance of the conventions, which could leave U.S. troops at risk in future conflicts." Reflecting on his experience as a prisoner of war in a Vietnamese detention camp, McCain told CNN yesterday that the Geneva Convention compelled the Vietnamese to eventually better their treatment of him. He added, "There was also an American that was captured in Somalia, not that long ago, where he was being mistreated and we insisted that he be treated according to the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 and he was. And he was later released. We have the moral high ground because we adhere to the Geneva Conventions and we're not like these other countries and we understand that al Qaeda would never observe it, but many of us are afraid there will be additional wars in the history of the United States." Graham, McCain, and Warner are also insisting that "defendants cannot be excluded from seeing secret evidence that can be used against him" and that "any evidence that has been extracted under coercion must be approved by the judge before it is admissible." The Senate Armed Services bill does contain some problems, as well though, including the curtailment of habeas corpus and judicial review.
BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR NSA BILL OPPOSED BY BUSH: Outside of the interrogation issue, Bush is also finding resistance to dealing with the NSA domestic wiretapping program. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed three separate bills. The bills sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Mike DeWine (R-OH), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) offer "mutually contradictory" approaches. Specter's approach, which has been dubbed a "compromise" bill by the media, "is not a compromise but a full-fledged capitulation on the part of the legislative branch to executive claims of power." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicated yesterday that the Specter bill would be met with fierce resistance on the Senate floor. While Specter's bill "would sharply diminish judicial oversight of intelligence surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and expand unilateral presidential authority," Feinstein's bill would "would reaffirm that FISA is the exclusive mechanism for conducting domestic intelligence surveillance," and would protect "Americans' civil liberties while making reasonable changes to ensure that the U.S. intelligence community can continue to operate and protect the nation with the necessary FISA court oversight." Despite being opposed by the Bush administration, Feinstein's bill was the only version to pass the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support and should form the basis of legislation that can be passed to preserve the NSA program.
Under the Radar
CONGRESS -- FRIST SLIPS INTERNET GAMBLING PROVISION INTO DEFENSE SPENDING BILL: "Looking to burnish his credentials with conservative Christians," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) "is making a last-minute attempt to attach a rider to the defense authorization bill that would crack down on the $12 billion online gambling industry." The bill he is looking to attach to spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "would bar banks and credit card companies from processing payments for online bets and make it a crime for a gambling business to accept credit cards, wire transfers or any other bank instrument to process payments for illegal gaming transactions." Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) has sponsored similar legislation in the House. Frist has used defense bills to push unrelated legislation before. Last December, Frist inserted a provision into the 2006 Defense Appropriations bill - after conferees had signed off on the final report - to protect avian flu vaccine manufacturers from liability claims. The move promised "enormous financial relief for a small group of largely foreign-owned pharmaceutical companies."
WOMEN'S RIGHTS -- NEW BILL REFRAMES ABORTION DEBATE: Abortion opponent Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and pro-choice Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) yesterday introduced a bill "aimed at reducing abortions by preventing unintended pregnancies, supporting pregnant women and assisting new parents." Provisions include adoption tax credits, funding for nurses to make home visits for teenage and new mothers, expanded access to contraceptive services for low-income women, funding for family planning services, and a mandate "that states provide contraceptive coverage to women with incomes up to twice the federal poverty level." Supporters say the bill moves beyond the "narrow and entrenched" abortion debate and demonstrates that pro-choice advocates care as much about supporting women who choose to have and raise their children, as they do about women who seek to prevent or end an unintended pregnancy. (American Progress offers a comprehensive reproductive rights agenda.)
ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION STOCKPILING BANNED PESTICIDE: Methyl bromide has been banned for almost two years under the U.N. Montreal Protocol, a pact designed to stop the thinning of the ozone layer. But according to newly available public documents, the United States has been stockpiling millions of pounds of the pesticide. Methyl bromide is "a highly toxic gas used to sterilize soil and kill pests, [and] is considered the most powerful ozone destroyer currently in large-scale use." Loss of ozone increases the risk of skin cancer, cataracts, slow blindness, and reduces ecosystem diversity. While the United States receives an annual exemption to use the chemical at farms whose crops are deemed "critical," under the treaty, nations are allowed to produce more only if "methyl bromide is not available in sufficient quantity and quality from existing stocks." The Los Angeles Times notes, "In 2004, nearly 29 million pounds were stockpiled by U.S. chemical companies, but the Bush administration received permission from the United Nations to produce an additional 17 million pounds that year, according to newly released EPA data. That amounts to twice as much as U.S. farmers needed last year." David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council said "there's absolutely no justification for having a huge inventory" of methyl bromide when the Montreal Protocol says all nations "should have as little on hand as possible" -- a couple of months' worth.
Think Fast
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney is the first member of Congress to admit to criminal charges in the Abramoff case.
Krauthammer's Iran "calculus": "An aerial attack on Iran's nuclear facilities lies just beyond the horizon of diplomacy. With the crisis advancing and the moment of truth approaching, it is important to begin looking now with unflinching honesty at the military option. ... The decision is no more than a year away."
The Bush administration has proposed eliminating funding for two renewable energy sources: hydropower and geothermal power research. Federal studies suggest that the "costs of lost opportunities from dropping such research could be enormous in the long run."
Yesterday the House approved a "sham" earmark reform bill that critics say is "filled with loopholes that would still permit anonymous projects to be inserted into law without public scrutiny." Rep. David Obey (D-WI), former chairman of the appropriations committee, called the bill "the death of lobby reform."
Border-crossing deaths have "more than doubled in the past decade," according to a GAO report. "More and more, the dead are women," and "more migrants are dying from exposure in the desert than from other causes."
In 2004, the FCC "ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage," the AP reports. StopBigMedia.com has a copy of the study.
Sectarian "killings and violence are surging around Iraq," "despite a month-old security crackdown in the capital." "It's barbaric but sadly we've become used to it," an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. "Forty bodies, 60 bodies - it's become a daily routine."
"Newly formed cities are giving the keys to city hall to private companies that say they can run a government better than bureaucrats." Critics worry about a "shadow government" that isn't "subject to the same kind of open-records and open-meetings laws as public employees are."
And finally: Madonna joins Lance Bass as the celebrities whom the Russian government will not send into space. The Duma rejected a proposal to "send a formal inquiry to the Russian space agency about organizing a space trip for her in 2008." "Taking into account her good physical preparedness and financial capabilities, the dream of [Madonna] of a space flight could be realized in 2009," one lawmaker said in support of the trip.
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GOOD NEWS
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) has endorsed a proposal to have the Public Interest Declassification Board determine whether the Bush administration has unnecessarily classified large sections of recent committee reports on pre-war intelligence.
STATE WATCH
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) holds up legislation to award the District a congressional representative with full voting rights. (Show your support for the bill HERE.)
NEVADA: Ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage is backed by 77 percent of state voters.
MONTANA: State judge invalidates three right-wing ballot measures "aiming to rein in government powers," citing a "pervasive and general pattern of fraud" by out-of-state signature-gatherers.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Sidney Blumenthal, author of "How Bush Rules," blogs on Bush and torture.
MEDIA MATTERS: CBS Evening News features Limbaugh, Giuliani, Gerson in "FreeSpeech" segment, but no progressives.
CLIMATE PROGRESS: Wildfire season smashes records.
OUR BODIES OUR BLOG: "Your daily dose of women's health news and analysis.
DAILY GRILL
"Asked what macaca means, Allen said: 'I don't know what it means.' He said the word sounds similar to 'mohawk,' a term that his campaign staff had nicknamed Sidarth because of his haircut."
-- Washington Post, on Sen. George Allen (R-VA) hearing the word "macaca" from his campaign staff, 9/14/06
VERSUS
MR. RUSSERT: Well, where'd the word come from? It must've been in your consciousness.
SEN. ALLEN: Oh, it's just made up.
MR. RUSSERT: Made up?
SEN. ALLEN: Just made up. Made-up word.
MR. RUSSERT: You'd never heard it before?
SEN. ALLEN: Never heard it before.
-- Allen, on never hearing the word "macaca" in his life, 9/17/06
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Politics with an Attitude: Everyone from Barack Obama to Stephen Colbert talks to Campus Progress. Right-wingers seem scared of us. Find out why here.
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
September 18, 2006
Bush's Glacial Shift?
Go Beyond The Headlines
Coffee and Donuts Not Included
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ENVIRONMENT
Bush's Glacial Shift?
In May, Al Gore predicted that "there is a chance that within the next two years, even (President) Bush and (Vice President) Dick Cheney will be forced to change their position on this [global warming] crisis. ... One can only attempt to create one's own reality for so long." Just four months later, Gore may be right. This weekend, the UK Independent reported, "President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming. ... After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change he is drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources." But it isn't yet time for celebration. Throughout his presidency, Bush has repeatedly promised to take action on global warming and has repeatedly broken those promises. "I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change...no longer than a decade, at the most," noted NASA scientist James Hansen, one the country's leading climate researchers. Fortunately, states and cities have taken action in the absence of federal regulations. Even former skeptics -- such as Pat Robertson and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) -- are joining the overwhelming scientific consensus on the urgency of the issue. As Gore notes, "The skeptics are disappearing even faster than the glaciers." It's about time the Bush administration acknowledged the facts. (American Progress and the Worldwatch Institute have put together a plan to lay a renewable path to energy security.)
NO REAL SHIFT: In late August, Time magazine's Mike Allen reported that the Bush administration was "formulating a huge energy initiative designed to 'change the whole nature of the discussion.'" Late last week, Bush's top environmental advisor urged reporters to "stay tuned" for new climate change policies. Bush began laying the groundwork for this "shift" in late May, when he said, "And so I guess I should have started differently when I first became President, and said, we will invest in new technologies that will enable us to use fossil fuels in a much wiser way." But even during that speech, Bush still refused to shift his thinking to reflect reality and acknowledge that manmade global warming is real: "The fundamental debate: Is it manmade or natural. Put that aside." There is no debate among scientists. Global warming is largely manmade. According to the National Academy of Scientists, "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."
BROKEN PROMISES: In his 2000 campaign, Bush boldly promised, "We will require all power plants to meet clean-air standards in order to reduce emissions of...carbon dioxide within a reasonable period of time." Unfortunately, that statement turned out to be nothing more than a bold promise. In a March 13, 2001 letter, Bush said, "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act." Cheney said of Bush's campaign pledge, "It was a mistake because we aren't in a position today to...cap emissions." Additionally, Bush's 2002 climate strategy set a voluntary "greenhouse gas intensity" target for the nation that allowed actual emissions to increase 12 percent between 2002 and 2012. Later that same year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report that concluded global warming "is real and has been particularly strong within the past 20 years...due mostly to human activities." Bush quickly dismissed the EPA's work as a "report put out by the bureaucracy." The President's 2005 energy bill contained "no substantive provisions to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions" -- such as a carbon tax or cap -- and conferees even stripped out "a Senate provision acknowledging the threat of climate change and calling for mandatory caps on greenhouse gasses."
CONGRESSIONAL INDOLENCE: Congress's record on global warming is just as abysmal as the President's. More than 100 climate-related bills have been held up in Congress. In early August, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) stated, "I think the information [on climate change] is not adequate yet for us to do anything meaningful." Just last week, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) tried to argue that global warming may be good for humans: "I would say this to Al Gore specifically: This was a jungle at one time, this was a forest at one time, this was a fern-laden area with mammoths at one time, and that's really why we're pumping oil." Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has stated that Gore is "full of crap" and global warming is a "hoax." But global warming is real and poses serious dangers for mankind. A new World Bank report concludes that dangers of climate change include, "decreased water availability and water quality;...increased incidence of vector- and waterborne diseases such as malaria, dengue, and cholera; increased heat stress mortality; increased damages and deaths caused by extreme weather events." Some former skeptics are beginning to take their own U-turns. Chambliss was one of the "no" votes last year in the 38-60 vote to defeat a bill by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman's (D-CT) to cap greenhouse gas emissions. But after a recent trip with McCain to view Greenland's rapidly melting ice caps, Chambliss had a new perspective: "When you see it, all of a sudden you say, 'Hey, that issue that we've been talking about off and on over the years, there really is something to it.'"
STATE AND LOCAL LEADERSHIP: In the absence of federal action, states and cities are moving ahead to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A coalition of 12 states, a number of cities, and several nonprofit organizations have sued the Bush administration for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Yesterday, mayors from 32 U.S. cities met and urged leadership on global warming. In another "clear break with the Bush administration," California -- the world's 12th largest carbon emitter -- passed legislation to reduce "its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an estimated 25 percent by 2020." California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently met to "lay the groundwork for a new transatlantic market in carbon dioxide emissions," in a meeting from which Bush administration officials were conspicuously absent. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has also signed an executive order to cap the state's greenhouse gas emissions, which increased 56 percent between 1990 and 2005. Ten other states are set to follow California's lead and "more than 20 states have required utilities to eventually generate some power from renewable sources." "It no longer makes sense for us to debate whether or not the Earth is warming at an alarming rate, and it doesn't make sense for us to sit back and wait for others to act," President Bill Clinton said. "The fate of the planet that our children and grandchildren will inherit is in our hands, and it is our responsibility to do something about this crisis."
Under the Radar
ETHICS -- HOEKSTRA BLOCKING ONGOING INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE PROBE OF CUNNINGHAM: The Associated Press reports that "the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee are at an impasse over whether to subpoena jailed former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham as part of an investigation into Cunningham's actions on the committee." Cunningham confessed to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts. Ranking member Jane Harman (D-CA) strongly supports subpoenaing Cunningham, but Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) has refused. "Cunningham served on the Intelligence Committee starting in 2001 and for part of last year chaired the panel's subcommittee on terrorism and human intelligence." Harman and Hoekstra also diverge on whether to release the unclassified versions of the report by an outside investigator hired to look into Cunningham's committee actions. Harman supports releasing the unclassified report by investigator Michael Stern, Hoekstra does not.
INTELLIGENCE -- MCCLATCHY REPORTERS WARN OF FAULTY IRAN INTELLIGENCE: McClatchy reporters Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott wrote Saturday about "an echo of the intelligence wars that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq," as administration hard-liners "have tried recently to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is." Editor & Publisher noted that "reports from Strobel, Walcott and others in the former [Knight-Ridder] Washington office, proved more skeptical and accurate than those from other leading news organizations in the pre-Iraq invasion push." The reporters wrote that officials from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the State Department suspect Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld "may be receiving a stream of questionable information" from a discredited Iranian exile. The "dubious information may include claims that Iran directed Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, to kidnap two Israeli soldiers in July; that Iran's nuclear program is moving faster than generally believed; and that the Iranian people are eager to join foreign efforts to overthrow their theocratic rulers. ... The officials said there is no reliable intelligence to support any of those assertions and some that contradicts all three." Several former defense officials have also said "they've they've been told that plans for airstrikes -- if Bush deems them necessary -- are being updated." According to one U.S. counterterrorism official, "It seems like Iran is becoming the new Iraq."
NATIONAL SECURITY -- NEW PASSPORT ID CHIPS NOT SECURE: The State Department is moving forward with a plan to embed new U.S. passports with "radio-frequency identification" chips, despite warnings that the chips "give hackers access to personal information." The chips operate "via proximity," so personal information can be read without the holder's knowledge or consent. Hand-held readers, "available for $500 to several thousand dollars," make it possible for terrorists and thieves to potentially clone chips; after just two weeks of research, a German computer security consultant easily cloned the chips and demonstrated his "cloning technique" in Las Vegas last month. The State Department added a "shielded cover" that should decrease the risk of identity theft, but it "does no good when the passport is open" and "several security researchers have already discovered flaws."
Think Fast
A portrait of sectarian violence in Baghdad. "A wrong turn, a detour, an untoward stare, a pointed finger, an anonymous denunciation, a nod of the head -- these can, and do, lead regularly to death."
Top House conservatives reportedly want Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who pled guilty last week in connection with the Abramoff scandal, to resign from Congress immediately. Ney "hasn't taken the hint."
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, applicants who applied for reconstruction jobs "didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration." Pentagon officials "posed blunt questions" to candidates like whether they voted for George W. Bush in 2000, and whether they supported Roe v. Wade.
At least 255,000 people have died in Darfur since the genocide began in 2003, researchers report in the journal Science, "though they believe the actual number may be much higher." Tens of thousands marked the "Global Day for Darfur" yesterday in four dozen cities worldwide.
Thomas W. O'Connell, the Pentagon's top special operations policy-maker, "is quitting in a move that several Bush administration sources say is the first negative fallout from a major reorganization of advisers in the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld."
A far-right party "which openly espouses xenophobic and neo-Nazi views...made further inroads in Germany's economically fragile east" in yesterday's elections.
Project BioShield, the $5.6 billion program to expand medical stockpiles in case of a biological attack, "has largely failed to deliver." Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) calls it a "torturous labyrinth of federal fiefdoms into which billions disappear."
The U.S. continues to rank 16th among industrialized nations for broadband internet development and penetration, and customers in countries like Japan and South Korea "enjoy broadband speeds that are hundreds of times faster" as standard U.S. speeds.
And finally: Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) argued last week that the South could have won the Civil War if the Confederates had just had better intelligence. Sources told Roll Call that Chambliss said, "We need better intelligence. If we had better intelligence in the Civil War we'd be quoting Jefferson Davis, not Lincoln."
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From "Democracy Now!"
The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
September 12, 2006
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Democracy Now! 10th Anniversary Tour and launch of Amy and
David Goodman's second book STATIC: Government Liars, Media
Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.
09/12 Washington, DC
09/12 Washington, DC
09/13 Philadelphia, PA
09/13 Houston, TX
09/14 Oakland, CA
09/14 Oakland, CA
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
For more tour details and dates, visit http://tour.democracynow.org
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TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War *
The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War On the
fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, President Bush took the
occasion to claim success in the "war on terror" and defend his decision to
invade Iraq. Now a new book has been released with new details of what was
happening inside the White House in the run-up to the invasion. It's called
"Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq
War." The book has already made headlines for exposing former Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the White House source who outed CIA
operative Valerie Plame Wilson. We spend the hour with the co-authors of the
book, journalists Michael Isikoff of Newsweek and David Corn of The Nation.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/12/139208
* Headlines for September 12, 2006 *
- U.S. Embassy in Syria Attacked
- Memorials Held Across U.S. To Mark 9/11 Anniversary
- Bush: Worst Mistake Would Be to Pull Out of Iraq
- Democrats Criticize Bush For Politicizing 9/11 Anniversary
- Palestinians Agreed to Form Power-Sharing Government
- Peace Activist Interrupts Blair Press Conference in Lebanon
- IDF Commander: "What We Did Was Insane and Monstrous"
- Report Finds Wide Gaps in Mortality Rates Inside U.S.
- Kofi Annan Accuses Sudan of Violating Darfur Peace Deal
- Chicago Mayor Daley Vetoes Living Wage Ordinance
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/12/139200
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The Republican Plan for Dominance in 21st Century//Primaries in
Nine States
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
September 13, 2006
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Democracy Now! 10th Anniversary Tour and launch of Amy and
David Goodman's second book STATIC: Government Liars, Media
Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.
09/12 Washington, DC
09/12 Washington, DC
09/13 Philadelphia, PA
09/13 Houston, TX
09/14 Oakland, CA
09/14 Oakland, CA
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
For more tour details and dates, visit http://tour.democracynow.org
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TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* Primaries Held in Nine States *
Nine states held primaries on Tuesday, the last day of primary battles
before the November elections. Among the results, Rhode Island Republican
Senator Lincoln Chafee fended off a challenge from Cranston Mayor Stephen
Laffey and Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison won the Democratic
Congressional nomination in the state's fifth district putting him on a path
to become the first Muslim member of Congress. We discuss some of the races
with John Nichols of The Nation.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1331228
* The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century *
Journalists Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten discuss their new book, "One
Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century." In
it, they reveals how the Republican party owns a clear advantage in the
fundamentals of campaigning and has built up a series of structural
advantages that make it increasingly difficult to beat.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1331232
* FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Discusses New Report That Shows U.S.
Falling Behind Rest of World in High-Speed Internet Access *
A new report by media activist group Free Press shows that the U.S continues
to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to affordable and
accessible broadband service. We speak with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
about the report.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1331236
* Headlines for September 13, 2006 *
- 63 Bodies Recovered Overnight in Baghdad
- Report: US Commanders Said To Want 3x US Forces
- Musharraf: Taliban Greater Threat Than Al Qaeda
- Report: 5 Workgroups Tasked With US Policy in Cuba
- Magistrate Orders Carriles Release
- UN Relief Coordinator: Darfur in "Free Fall"
- Blair Heckled By Anti-War Activists For Consecutive Day
- Israeli Judge Order Release of 21 Hamas MPs, Ministers
- GOP Fundraiser Sentenced To 27 Months
- Anti-War Groups Win Pledge For Suzanne Swift Investigation
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1331212
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Extraordinary Rendition//Govt Crackdown on Reporters
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
September 15, 2006
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Democracy Now! 10th Anniversary Tour and launch of Amy and
David Goodman's second book STATIC: Government Liars, Media
Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
09/15 Los Angeles, CA
09/16 Portland, OR
09/16 Seattle, WA
09/17 Sebastopol, CA
09/17 San Rafael, CA
09/17 Santa Cruz, CA
09/18 Atlanta, GA
09/19 Sarasota, FL
09/19 Tampa, FL
09/20 Chicago, IL
For more tour details and dates, visit http://tour.democracynow.org
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TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War
on Terror' *
As Spain acknowledges its territory may have been used as a stopover for the
CIA's transfer of prisoners known as extraordinary rendition, we excerpt a
new documentary by the human rights group Witness. "Outlawed" tells the
stories of two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret
detention, and torture by the U.S. government working with various other
governments worldwide.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342246
* Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights *
As President Bush admits the existence of secret overseas CIA prisons, we
take a look at the U.S. government's shadowy program of extraordinary
rendition with the authors of the new book: "Torture Taxi: On the Trail of
the CIA's Rendition Flights."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342250
* Jail Time For Journalists: The Government Crackdown on Reporters *
We speak with two journalists whose fates have been closely monitored by
First Amendment advocates. Freelance reporter Josh Wolf spent 30 days in
jail for refusing to give authorities a video of a protest he filmed in San
Francisco. Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle could soon be
jailed for refusing to disclose confidential sources to the government in
the Barry Bonds steroid case.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342254
* Headlines for September 15, 2006 *
- Senate Rebuffs White House Over Terror Trials
- Spain Says it May Have Been Stopover for CIA Renditions
- Activists Walk Out of Meeting With IMF-WB Officials
- Bush Admin Warns Nicaraguans on Electing Sandinista Leader
- Ney Expected to Plead Guilty in Bribery Case
- Study: 9 in 10 Unable to Buy Health Insurance
- HP Admits Obtaining Journalists' Phone Records
- FCC Ordered Destruction of Report Critical of Media Concentration
- Ford Cuts 10,000 Jobs
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342236
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EXCLUSIVE: Army Specialist Suzanne Swift Speaks Out
DEMOCRACY NOW! DAILY EMAIL DIGEST
September 18, 2006
= = = = = = = = =
Democracy Now! 10th Anniversary Tour and launch of Amy and
David Goodman's second book STATIC: Government Liars, Media
Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.
09/18 Atlanta, GA
09/19 Sarasota, FL
09/19 Tampa, FL
09/20 Chicago, IL
09/21 Grand Rapids, MI
09/21 Ann Arbor, MI
09/22 Detroit, MI *
09/23 Dayton, OH *
09/23 St Louis, MO
09/24 Fresno, CA
09/24 Santa Barbara, CA
09/25 Salt Lake City, UT
For more tour details and dates, visit http://tour.democracynow.org
= = = = = = = = =
TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:
* EXCLUSIVE... Army Investigation into Sexual Harassment Charges by
Specialist Suzanne Swift Ended in July, Attorney Says Military "Did Not Do
Diligent Investigation" *
In a Democracy Now! exclusive, Army Specialist Suzanne Swift speaks out in
her first national broadcast interview. After serving in Iraq, Swift was
arrested and confined to base for going AWOL. She says she was sexually
harassed and abused by her commanders in Iraq and at home. In the interview,
Swift reveals for the first time that an Army investigation concluded in
July that they could not substantiate her claims. Swift says, "For women
considering going into [the military]: Don't." Her attorney, Keith Scherer,
says, "It's pretty clear from the language in the report that they didn't do
a diligent investigation."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/1351245
* Day for Darfur: Tens of Thousands Rally in Global Day Against Genocide *
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied around the world on Sunday in a
global day against genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. The global day of
protests was organized to coincide with the start of the United Nations
General Assembly debate this week on Sudan. We speak with Darfur refugee
Mohamed Yahya as well as the head of a Sudan divestment campaign.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/1351249
* Headlines for September 18, 2006 *
- Rallies Worldwide Demand Darfur Intervention
- Pro-Divestment Section Removed From Darfur Legislation
- UK Attorney General Calls for Gitmo Closure
- EU Condemns CIA Prisons
- US Holds 14,000 in Foreign Prisons
- Kirkuk Attacks Kill 23, Wound 100
- 4 NATO Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing
- Pope Apologizes Over Remarks on Islam
- HP Spying More Extensive Than Acknowledged
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/1351232
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From the Huffington Post
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Sr. Commander In Iraq: US Not Strong Enough To Defeat Insurgency...
APA Senior Commander of US forces in the embattled Anbar province in Western Iraq said yesterday that US-led military forces are not strong enough to defeat the insurgency.
Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer told reporters that, while coalition forces are able to train Iraqi security forces with approximately 30,000 troops, if they are expected to "win that insurgency fight," they would need greater numbers. Currently there are about 147,000 US troops in Iraq, the largest number since December 2005, but White House spokesman Tony Snow said, "If the president gets a recommendation from the combatant commanders to send more troops to al-Anbar province, they will get them."
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News...Gas Prices Tumble: How Low Will They Go?
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Security Moms to Bush: We're Just Not that Into YouAnymore
Dr. Leo Rangell: Music in the Head: Living at the Brain-Mind Border; Part
I Sidney
Sidney Blumenthal: How Bush Rules: Bush's Radicalism is Leading to a GOP Crackup
Stephen Gylennhaal: The Day After 9/11
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GOP Senators Vote To Support Warrantless Wiretapping...
From howstuffworks.comThe Senate Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to approve the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program. The program allows Bush to monitor overseas phone calls and emails of American citizens when one party is suspected of links to terrorism. Under the new legislation, Bush is not required to submit the program to a court for constitutional review.
Despite the Judiciary Committee's approval, some House and Senate GOP members expressed their concern over the wiretapping bill and a bill allowing CIA prisons that the House Armed Services Committee also passed yesterday. Republican members of Congress acknowledge that their inter-party rift will present the biggest challenge in getting either bill passed.
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News: Who's The Top Woman In TV News?
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Fearless, the Song and Book Tour TV: Good Morning AmericaRep. John Murtha: My Resolution Calling for Rumsfeld's Immediate Resignation
Bill Maher: Drug War Allowed To Get In The Way of Terror War
T. Christian Miller: Attention Must Be Paid
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BUSH WANTS TO GUT GENEVA CONVENTIONS...
From indymedia.org.ukGOP VETERANS, COLIN POWELL SAY NO WAY...
Senators John McCain (R-AZ), John Warner (R-VA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) led GOP senators yesterday in a campaign to keep President Bush from invalidating a crucial section of the Geneva Conventions. The three senators, all veterans of the armed services, argue that President Bush's proposal would put soldiers at risk by setting a dangerous precedent for interpretation of Article III, which delineates torture and prisoner mistreatment. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed similar concerns in an open letter to Sen. McCain.Following these senators' lead, the Senate Armed Services Committee drafted an alternate bill to provide detainees with appropriate protection under Article III. Despite GOP infighting and the concerns of his party's leading members, President Bush refuses to entertain alternate legislation and remains committed to curbing the Geneva Conventions.
Click here to read the whole story.
Click here to discuss it on HuffPost.
On AOL News: What Happened To Hurricanes? Compare This Year to 2005...
ON THE BLOG TODAY
Arianna Huffington: Bolton Confirmation: Dead... or Ready to beReincarnated?
Sidney Blumenthal: How Bush Rules: How Republicans Are Hyping Fear to Keep
One-Party Rule
John McQuaid: Getting it up for New Orleans
Marty Kaplan: How to Hack a Diebold (Ivy League Edition)
-----
From Greg Palast
REPORTER PALAST SLIPS CLUTCHES OF HOMELAND SECURITY
September, 14, 2006Forget the orange suit. Exxon Mobil Corporation, which admits it was behind the criminal complaint brought by Homeland Security against me and television producer Matt Pascarella, has informed me that the oil company will no longer push charges that Pascarella and I threatened "critical infrastructure."
The allegedly criminal act, which put us on the wrong side of post-9/11 anti-terror law, was our filming of Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery where, nearby, 1,600 survivors of Hurricane Katrina remain interned behind barbed wire.
I have sworn to Homeland Security that we no longer send our footage to al-Qaeda -- which, in any case, can get a much better view of the refinery and other "critical infrastructure" at Google maps.
Given Exxon's back-down, I hope to confirm with Homeland Security, Baton Rouge, that charges will be dropped today.
Matt and I want to thank you, our readers and viewers, for your extraordinary and heartfelt responses. Public support undoubtedly led Exxon to call off the feds.
Of course, this was never about our tipping off Osama that Louisiana contains oil refineries. This has an awful lot to do with a petroleum giant's sensitivity to unflattering depictions of their plants which are major polluters along Louisiana's notorious "Cancer Alley."
I've learned that, in April last year, Exxon brought a similar Homeland Security charge against Willie Fontenot, an assistant to the Attorney General of Louisiana. Fontenot was guiding a group of environmental studies pupils from Antioch College on a tour of Cancer Alley. Exxon's complaint about the "national security" threat posed by their photos of the company's facility cost Fontenot his job.
The issue is not national security but image security. You can get all the film you want from Exxon of refineries if you'll accept nice, sanitized VPRs (video press releases) of clean smokestacks surrounded by happy herons.
What's dangerous is not that reporters will end up in Guantanamo; the insidious effect of these threats is to keep networks from filming government and corporate filth, incompetence and inhumanity. Besides the Exxon foolishness, our camera crew was also blocked from filming inside the notorious Katrina survivors trailer encampment.
Furthermore earlier that same day, a FEMA contractor had grabbed our camera, in mid-interview, when polite but pointed questions exposed their malfeasance.
As with Exxon, the bar from filming at the refugee camp and in the offices of the government contractor were presented to us as a "Homeland Security" matter.
After the September 11 attacks, CBS Newsman Dan Rather said, "George Bush is the President. Wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where."
Reporters who step out of line, who ask uncomfortable questions and film uncomfortable scenes, soon find their careers toasted, as Dan can attest to.
One of George Bush's weirder acts in office (and that's saying a lot) was to move FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose main job is to save us from floods and earthquakes, into the control of the Department of Homeland Security. Exxon's refineries, once "pollution source points" scrutinized by government watchdogs, are now "critical infrastructure" protected by federal hounddogs.
As the front lines in the War on Terror expand from Baghdad to Baton Rouge, we find that America has been made secure only against hard news and uncomfortable facts.
Again, our sincere thanks and gratitude for your support. Cakes with files have been consumed.
- Greg Palast, New York
*****
Many of you have asked for copies of the film which threatened national security. In response to your requests, with the permission of LinkTV, we are making "Big Easy to Big Empty: the Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans" available on DVD. The disc will also include an interview of reporter Greg Palast by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman plus an excerpt from Palast's bestseller, Armed Madhouse on the topic, "Class War and Hurricane Katrina."
For a copy of the film, I am asking for a modest, tax-deductible donation to our foundation, the Palast Investigative Fund. The fund supports our work and pays our legal fees.
posted by The Scallion @ 6:19 PM
