Panel denies air-code changes
BY MICHELLE HILLEN
Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/229886/
Saying the request was premature, the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission on Friday unanimously rejected a request by environmental groups to change Arkansas’ air code to consider carbon dioxide an “air contaminant.”
“I do think this is putting the cart before the horse,” commission member Scott Henderson, explaining that he believes the governor’s Global Warming Commission should have first crack at determining how carbon dioxide emissions should be regulated.
The commission, established last year, is studying ways state agencies can offset factors that might contribute to climate change.
“I don’t agree with the discussion about waiting for the federal government to do it, but I do think the Global Warming Commission has to do its work,” Henderson said.
The Arkansas Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas and the Environmental Integrity Project had filed a petition seeking to amend definitions included in Regulations 18 and 26 of the state’s airquality regulations. The proposal called for the definitions in both regulations to eliminate carbon dioxide from a list of emissions not considered air contaminants, including water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and inert gases.
The petition cited concerns that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can lead to higher maximum temperatures, more hot days, higher minimum temperatures, fewer cold days, more intense “precipitation events” and increased risk of drought.
Environmentalists argued their proposal wouldn’t immediately require regulation of carbon dioxide by the Environmental Quality Department. But industry and department officials disagreed.
“We are not opposed to the removal of this exemption.... We realize that global warming is a global problem,” department Director Teresa Marks said. “Our concern is unintended consequences, and the practicality of what we would do if the exemption was removed immediately.”
Marks said existing regulations would require the department to regulate anyone who emits more than 25 tons per year of an “air contaminant.” The department today doesn’t have the technology available to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, she said.
After more than a half-hour of comments from industry leaders and environmentalists, the commission approved an order supplied by the Arkansas Environmental Federation, an organization that lobbies on behalf of companies on environmental matters.
The order states that the request from the environmental- ists was defective for a number of reasons, including that it failed to include an economic impact statement and an environmental benefit analysis. Such statements are required by state law if the proposed change is more stringent than federal requirements.
Glen Hooks, regional representative of the Sierra Club, said he was surprised by the decision.
“I think what these guys have done is stand up and say we know CO 2 is a pollutant, we know it is a contaminant, but we don’t want to do anything about it,” Hooks said.
“They said it publicly, and I found it amazing.”
He said he and other environmentalists expect to bring forward a new petition that addresses the commissioners’ concerns sooner rather than later.
“We’ll be back,” said Ilan Levin of the Environmental Integrity Project.
The concerns can be addressed in a number of ways, including by increasing the allowable emission threshold from 25 tons per year, Levin said.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Telecom Board's recommendation to council doesn't please administration
Please click on images to read Susan Thomas' letter and Richard Drake's letter to the Fayetteville City Council.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Petition to protect council-, citizen-initiated forums on government channel
PLEASE KEEP OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHANNEL ISSUE FORUMS OPEN!
The City Administration recently cancelled issue forums about Fayetteville High School and Walton Arts Center, although the forums were requested by a City Council member. The City has arbitrarily decided that they will not allow such forums, although they have served our community for over 15 years. Please keep television Channel 16 open to requests by city council members and citizens, so that the channel can continue to help create an open and participatory city government, as called for in Fayetteville Ordinance 4504 and current Government Channel policy.
SIGN HERE TO ENSURE THAT OUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND ALL CITIZENS
CAN CONTINUE TO REQUEST LOCAL ISSUE FORUMS ON CITY 16 TV:
I, being a registered voter, living within the city limits of Fayetteville, ask that the Telecommunications Board and City Council continue the current policy and procedures of allowing City Council members and citizens to request forums, about issues faced by local governments, to be produced and shown on the Government Channel.
Printed Name Signature Address Telephone and/or E-mail¬¬¬¬¬
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The City Administration recently cancelled issue forums about Fayetteville High School and Walton Arts Center, although the forums were requested by a City Council member. The City has arbitrarily decided that they will not allow such forums, although they have served our community for over 15 years. Please keep television Channel 16 open to requests by city council members and citizens, so that the channel can continue to help create an open and participatory city government, as called for in Fayetteville Ordinance 4504 and current Government Channel policy.
SIGN HERE TO ENSURE THAT OUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND ALL CITIZENS
CAN CONTINUE TO REQUEST LOCAL ISSUE FORUMS ON CITY 16 TV:
I, being a registered voter, living within the city limits of Fayetteville, ask that the Telecommunications Board and City Council continue the current policy and procedures of allowing City Council members and citizens to request forums, about issues faced by local governments, to be produced and shown on the Government Channel.
Printed Name Signature Address Telephone and/or E-mail¬¬¬¬¬
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Printed Name Signature Address Telephone and/or E-mail ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Printed Name Signature Address Telephone and/or E-mail _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Monday, June 23, 2008
Ozark Highlands Group of Sierra Club to meet with James Burke to discuss fight against dirty coal burning in Arkansas at Smiling Jack's at 7 p.m. Wed.
Our June monthly meeting will be this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Smiling Jack's just off Dixon Street behind the Dixon Street book shop.
James Burke will be joining us to talk about the coal campaign and the progress we are making in that area. It will be very informal; this is a great opportunity to learn more about what we can do to make sure Arkansas doesn't build any new coal fired power plants. Bring your coal questions for James to answer!
Our Arkansas Chapter chair, Adrienne, will be bringing some yard signs protesting dirty coal if you would like one.
As always, please forward this email along to others you think might be interested.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
James Burke will be joining us to talk about the coal campaign and the progress we are making in that area. It will be very informal; this is a great opportunity to learn more about what we can do to make sure Arkansas doesn't build any new coal fired power plants. Bring your coal questions for James to answer!
Our Arkansas Chapter chair, Adrienne, will be bringing some yard signs protesting dirty coal if you would like one.
As always, please forward this email along to others you think might be interested.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Despite congress' effort, impeachment off the table
NEWSLETTER 5 ON IMPEACHMENT
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 6/21/08 11:29 AM
OMNI NEWSLETTER, SPECIAL NUMBER 5 to IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY, JUNE 21, 2008, WE, THE PEOPLE FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE
Editor: Dick Bennett (Previous Impeachment Newsletters, available in OMNI’s web site, www.omnicenter.org: 1) Dec. 7, 2006; 2)June 17, 2007; 3)October 25, 2007; 4) Feb. 12, 2008. Plenty of material for your own analysis and letters and calls against attacking Iran and for impeach ing Bush and Cheney ! )
CONTENTS
Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment
Iran and Impeachment
Possible Iranian Reactions to Attack
Ray McGovern
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]
Second Statement by McGovern
New Play in San Francisco for Impeachment
Impeachment Movement
New Hampshire Resolution
Brattleboro, VT on War Crimes
Kucinich Introduces Impeachment Articles Against Bush
Tuesday 10 June 2008 by: Christopher Kuttruff, t r u t h o u t | Report
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush late on Monday during a speech on the House floor.
Kucinich, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush administration, including misrepresenting intelligence in the lead-up to the war, violating domestic and international laws against torture, illegally spying on American citizens, obstructing justice and governmental oversight, and dozens of other violations.
The impeachment resolution came four days after a June 5 Senate Select Intelligence Committee report that vigorously challenged statements made by the Bush administration regarding military intelligence in the runup to the invasion of Iraq. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee John D. Rockefeller said in a press release, "Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence."
"It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa'ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Rockefeller noted.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and other members of the Democratic leadership maintain that such a resolution is "off the table," Kucinich, along with a group of his colleagues, has consistently pressed for a more urgent and direct response to the often unilateral and controversial actions of the Bush administration.
Despite the unlikeliness of impeachment gaining much traction in Congress, advocates of such a resolution continue to demand greater accountability of the executive branch.
As Kucinich began to issue his remarks, shuffling and talking could be heard in the background of the House chamber. Responding to the disarray, Kucinich objected to the Speaker, "The House is not in order." After several strikes of Pelosi's gavel, Kucinich started reading his articles into the record.
"In violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president ..." Kucinich stated, "George W. Bush ... both personally and through his subordinates ... illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq."
Kucinich started his speech by referencing a variety of news and intelligence reports regarding White House communications, specifically the White House Iraq Group, which was composed of senior officials (then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Karl Rove, then-Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, former chief of staff Andrew Card, then-chief of staff to the Vice President I. Lewis Libby, then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan and others) who "produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later proved to be false." These papers included later-debunked claims that Iraq sought uranium and specialized centrifuges for enrichment.
These claims, which were central to the administration's rationale for preemptive action against Iraq, were used, according to Kucinich, to "market an invasion of Iraq to the American people."
Kucinich also noted that the White House Iraq Group papers "were written at same time and by the same people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and for some of his top officials."
Congressman Kucinich went on to challenge the administration's policies toward Iran, as well as its conduct regarding military interrogations.
The resolution comes days after a sharply written letter by 56 Congress members requesting that Attorney General Michael Mukasey investigate potential crimes committed by the Bush administration during the course of its interrogation program. The letter, signed by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Barney Frank, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich and other House Democrats, urged that the seriousness of the evidence on the program warrants a thorough investigation by a special counsel.
Revelations about the Bush administration's interrogations policies, along with its systematic practice of controlling information provided to the media and the American people, led Kucinich to conclude that the president has "misled the Congress and the citizens of the United States" and should be held accountable for violating his oaths of office to "faithfully execute the office of the president" and "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution."
CHRISTOPHER KUTTRUFF IS AN EDITOR AND REPORTER FOR TRUTHOUT.
Articles of Impeachment
Dear Friend:
Under circumstances that can best be described as "suspicious," the www.kucinich.us website was crippled early this morning a few hours after Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 extensively documented Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.
Until we can restore the website and implement additional security measures, you can find the full list and detailed Articles at
http://www.democrats.com/files/amomentoftruth.pdf
and http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf
If you would like to show your support for the Congressman's efforts, please go to myinfo.kucinich.us to offer your comments and provide us with contact information so that we can continue to keep you informed.
Thank you
Committee to Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich
PO Box 110475 | Cleveland | OH | 44111 | 216-252-9000
FROM DAVE DAVISON OF PN0 ON KUCINICH’S ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT
To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,
We have all heard about Dennis Kucinich presenting 35 articles of impeachment against Bush to the House floor this last Monday night. I watched it on C-SPAN, and he did such a good job to emphasize the gross illegalities of the Bush-Cheny Adminsitration it took him over four hours to make his presentation. On Tuesday night all of the 35 articles were read into the House Record. On Wednesday the House voted to send the impeachment demand to the House Judiciary Committee.
We are planning an updated "Support Impeachment" rally soon.
US PUBLIC FOR IMPEACHMENT
The other day, due to the Kucinich action in the House for impeachment, MSNBC did a live poll on impeachment. Over 700,000 people participated in the poll, which is a large enough segment to make the wishes of America quite plain. I am showing you the MSNBC graph below that indicates 89% of those polled approve, and want impeachment of the white house crazies, starting at the top.
Live Vote
Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? * 702770 responses
Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
89%
No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
4.2%
No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
4.6%
I don't know.
2%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.
Peace.
Dave
“Full House sends Articles of Impeachment to Judiciary”
Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:41 AM (from Larry W)
Submitted by Bob Fertik on June 11, 2008 - 2:47pm.
Dennis Kucinich
Impeach.TV
ImpeachForChange
John Conyers
Nancy Pelosi
By a bipartisan vote of 251-166, the full House of Representatives sent Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.
That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.
Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.
So what will Conyers do? After the Downing Street Memo was published on May 1, 2005, Democrats.com worked closely with Conyers to hold the famous basement hearings featuring Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, and John Bonifaz. In August 2006, Conyers published all of the evidence of Bush's crimes in The Constitution in Crisis. Many of us believed he would begin impeachment proceedings if Democrats won the House, which they did that November.
But in the spring of 2006, Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table." And when Democrats took control and Conyers was sworn in as Judiciary Chairman, he fell firmly into line behind the Speaker. (Conyers insists Pelosi did not threaten to deny him the Chairmanship.)
Since 2005, Conyers has received millions of impeachment petitions. Hundreds if not thousands of activists have spoken to him personally. But he remains adamantly opposed to hearings, for one simple reason: he fears it will hurt the Democratic candidate for President (now Barack Obama) in November.
http://www.democrats.com/house-sends-impeachment-to-john-conyers
LETTER FROM PRES. OF PNO ON IRAN AND IMPEACHMENT: WE, THE PEOPLE, MUST TAKE ACTION
From: peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [mailto:peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 12:21 PM
To: lgddavison@aol.com
Subject: The Prospective Attack On Iran
To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,
The prospective attack on Iran is heating up. Many of us are seeing the blathering Bush rhetoric on televsion, and reading the latest internet reports of the Israeli practice attack maneuver that describes the practice utilizing 100 war planes. This is getting more and more serious, and all without correct methods of diplomacy by reasonable minded men. The cowboy diplomacy and considerations of the Bush Adminstration fall far short of understanding what agreements may be made, and what will happen if Iran is attacked by the war mongerinig right wing leaders of America and Israel.
Experts are saying that if the attack occurs the price of oil will increase to $300 per barrel immediately. If we think we are having a hard time in in our daily routines now in just moving around for the necessary purposes of work and family, we haven't seen anything yet compared to the difficultuties that will come to America and the entire world in energy costs. What do we think that will cause in the American transportation industry, the many trucking companies that serve America? Will food and supplies be readily available to American shelves when the independent truckers, the vast majority of trucks on the road, have to increase their prices astronomically in order to stay alive in their business? What will the price effects be in the insurance costs of the ocean going oil tankers who will suffer war risks in their business? What do we think the reaction of the entire world will be who will be equally affected by the tremendously increased oil price?
Regardless of the administration's cowboy bravado, our own military indicates large concerns in what the reaction to the attack will be. Shites throughout the middle east will unite to attack our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan as a minimum. Its no telling what the reaction may be with retaliatory missle strikes on the nearby American bases, and on Israel, and maybe on the oil fields. After all the back and forth blathering for so many months in the poor cowboy tactics, do our leaders really believe Iran has not taken many steps to withstand an attack with their most lethal weapons that will respond to the attack?
This is crazy!!! Consequently there are a growing number of notable Americans who are standing up for impeachment to begin as a method to deter the attack and dramatically expanded war. The former commander of American Forces in Kuwait stood up the other day to recommend charges against Bush for war crimes. Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst we met in Springfield over a year ago, while undergoing treatment for cancer, and many other notable Americans, are literally pounding on the table for impeachment action before something really bad happens. Kucinich is ready to go with another 25 articles of impeachment additional to the the initial 35 articles presented to the House last week... while the national Democratic leaders and the Judiciary Committee are just sitting on their duff. It is time for our 2006 elected leaders to stop fooling around and rolling over for their Bush tummy rub, and AIPAC money in their bank accounts.
All Peace Keepers... let’s all write a letter to our local newspaper reporter. The Springfield News-Leader has assigned a bright, new, energetic reporter to cover such actions and events. His name is Chad Livengood, and his email address is... clivengood@springfi.gannett.com [WHO ARE THE EQUIVALENT REPORTS WITH TMN, NAT, AND ADG?] Also please send a copy to PNO by pasting it in an email you can punch back on the reply button, and we will print them and hand carry them to the News-Leader. We will also hand deliver them to local offices of Blunt and McCaskill. [GOOD IDEAS FOR US.]
Print this email and give it to others, your friends and neighbors, with our email address... peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [ANOTHER GOOD IDEA]
We NEED to pay attention to this, and we NEED your help. Everybody please follow through with a letter. We have to make the consequences of the very ill advised attack known to our community.
I am embedding a copy of an article from this morning. See below.
Thanks to all. We all always wish for peace, and now it is time for us to pray in our own various ways for the insanity to be halted in time.
Peace to all, including our many Republican friends who have become much more aware of the poor leadership and their antics in their quest for profit and oil, not to mention the poor economic policies that are breaking our country's economy.
Dave Davison Pres. PNO http://www.ozarkpeace.net/
How Iran would retaliate if it comes to war
Military analysts say the Islamic Republic would strike back in unconventional ways - targeting American interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 20, 2008 edition
Istanbul, Turkey - Pressure is building on Iran. This week Europe agreed to new sanctions and President Bush again suggested something more serious - possible military strikes - if the Islamic Republic doesn't bend to the will of the international community on its nuclear program.
But increasingly military analysts are warning of severe consequences if the US begins a shooting war with Iran. While Iranian forces are no match for American technology on a conventional battlefield, Iran has shown that it can bite back in unconventional ways.
Iranian networks in Iraq and Afghanistan could imperil US interests there; American forces throughout the Gulf region could be targeted by asymmetric methods and lethal rocket barrages; and Iranian partners across the region - such as Hezbollah in Lebanon - could be mobilized to engage in an anti-US fight.
Iran's response could also be global, analysts say, but the scale would depend on the scale of the US attack. "One very important issue from a US intelligence perspective, [the Iranian reaction] is probably more unpredictable than the Al Qaeda threat," says Magnus Ranstorp at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm.
"I doubt very much our ability to manage some of the consequences," says Mr. Ranstorp, noting that Iranian revenge attacks in the past have been marked by "plausible deniability" and have had global reach.
"If you attack Iran you are unleashing a firestorm of reaction internally that will only strengthen revolutionary forces, and externally in the region," says Ranstorp. "It's a nightmare scenario for any contingency planner, and I think you really enter the twilight zone if you strike Iran."
Though the US military has since early 2007 accused Iran's Qods Force - an elite element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - of providing anti-US militias in Iraq with lethal roadside bombs, and of training and backing "special groups" in actions that the US government alleges have cost "thousands" of lives, US commanders have played down Iran's military capabilities.
Even Admiral William Fallon, who publicly opposed a US strike on Iran before he resigned in April, dismissed Iran as a military threat. "Get serious," Adm. Fallon told Esquire in March. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
But that has not kept Iran from rhetorical chest-beating, with an active military manpower of 540,000 - the largest in the Middle East - dependent on some of the lowest per capita defense spending in the region. Iran "can deal fatal blows to aggressor America by unpredictable and creative tactical moves," the senior commander Brig. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid said in late May. "It is meaningless to back down before an enemy who has targeted the roots of our existence."
Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei also warned of far-reaching revenge in 2006. "The Americans should know that if they assault Iran, their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible," he said. "The Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity."
Analysts say Iran has a number of tools to make good on those threats and take pride in taking on a more powerful enemy. "This is not something they are shying away from," says Alex Vatanka, a Middle East security analyst at Jane's Information Group in Washington.
"They say: 'Conventional warfare is not something we can win against the US, but we have other assets in the toolbox,' " says Mr. Vatanka, noting that the IRGC commander appointed last fall has been "marketed as this genius behind asymmetric warfare doctrine."
"What they are really worried about is the idea of massive aerial attacks on literally thousands of targets inside Iran," says Vatanka, also an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. "Their reading of America's intentions in that scenario would be twofold: One is to obviously dismantle as much as possible the nuclear program; and [the other], indirectly try to weaken the [Islamic] regime."
Any US-Iran conflict would push up oil prices, and though Iran could disrupt shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, its weak economy depends on oil revenues.
But nearby US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf provide a host of targets. Iran claimed last October that it could rain down 11,000 rockets upon "the enemy" within one minute of an attack and that rate "would continue."
Further afield, Israel is within range of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah claims its rockets - enhanced and resupplied by Iran since the 2006 war to an estimated 30,000 - can now hit anywhere in the Jewish state, including its nuclear plant at Dimona.
Closer to home, Iran has honed a swarming tactic, in which small and lightly armed speedboats come at far larger warships from different directions. A classified Pentagon war game in 2002 simulated just such an attack and in it the Navy lost 16 major warships, according to a report in The New York Times last January.
"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who commanded the swarming force, told the Times. "The whole thing was over in five, maybe 10 minutes."
During the 1990s, Iranian agents were believed to be behind the assassinations of scores of regime opponents in Europe, and German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Iran's intelligence minister.
Iran and Hezbollah are alleged to have collaborated in the May 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in revenge for Israel's killing of a Hezbollah leader months before. Argentine prosecutors charge that they jointly struck again in 1994, bombing a Jewish community center in the Argentine capital that killed 85, one month after Israel attacked a Hezbollah base in Lebanon.
With some 30,000 on the payroll by one count, Iranian intelligence "is a superpower in intelligence terms in the region; they have global reach because of their reconnaissance ability and quite sophisticated ways of inflicting pain," says Ranstorp. "They have been expanding their influence.... Who would have predicted that Argentina would be the area that Hezbollah and the Iranians collectively would respond?"
Past examples show that "Tehran recognizes that at times its interest are best served by restraint," says a report on consequences of a strike on Iran published this week by Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
But Iran could target the US, too, depending on the magnitude of any US strike. "Iran's capacity for terror and subversion remains one of its most potent levers in the event of a confrontation with the United States," says the report, adding that "success" in delaying Iran's nuclear programs could backfire.
If "US and world opinion were so angered by the strikes that they refused to support further pressure against Iran's nuclear ambitions, then prevention could paradoxically [eventually ensure] Iran's open pursuit of nuclear weapons," concludes the report.
And the long list of unconventional tactics should not be taken for granted in Tehran, says Vatanka, noting that the Islamic system's top priority is survival.
"So the Iranians have to be careful," says Vatanka. "Just because the US doesn't have the will right now, or the ability to produce the kind of stick that they would fear, doesn't mean the way of confrontation is going to pay off for them in the long run."
Two articles from Ray McGovern. In between is a message from Chris Rice about how to mobilize. (From Babs Bakie)
“Cheney Impeachment Not Off the Table” By Ray McGovern, Consortium News
Posted on March 21, 2008, Printed on May 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/79761/
You would not know it for the news blackout, but New Yorkers of Rep. Jerrold Nadler's district held a Town Hall/Impeachment Forum last Sunday to encourage Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Panelists included former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein, human rights attorney and Harper's commentator Scott Horton, and John Nirenberg, the activist who at the turn of the year walked from Boston to Washington, D.C., in a futile attempt to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.
The organizers had asked me to be on the panel, but I had to send regrets and submitted a statement instead (see below). A video of the proceedings will be posted on afterdowningstreet.org.
Taking Stock
In a post mortem the next evening, the organizers reflected on what seemed to be a mixed picture of good and bad news.
On the positive side, Judson Memorial Church was crammed to overflowing with 300 folks. And this, despite the fact that most were already aware that Nadler had announced (late Friday afternoon) that he would be a no-show. He did not even send a representative.
The panelists' remarks were compelling. Blame for inaction on impeachment was laid squarely on our invertebrate Congress. (But ouch, that familiar whining can get a bit tiresome.)
The audience was described as well-educated, nonfringe, and polite.
On the negative side, despite Herculean efforts to interest the "mainstream media," no one showed. And the enthusiasm of those hardy souls trying to spur action on impeachment was dampened by continuing frustration at the obstacles, as politicians like Nadler continue to put political expedience above their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution.
Tories back in charge
It took some 230 years, but the Tories are back in charge -- I mean the Nadlers, the Conyers, the Pelosis, so bereft of the courage of our forebears to defy a new King George, preferring to let him dis us the people and trash the Constitution. Remember those stirring final words of the Declaration of Independence? "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." We have come a long way. Surely, the Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Many of our forebears were also well-educated and nonfringe; fortunately, they were NOT polite.
Is it not clear, finally, that the time for politeness is over?
It is up to us, now, whether we shall have constitutional separation of powers or shall have kings. It is up to us whether an unrestrained executive will be able to march our children and grandchildren off to an endless series of resource wars likely to dominate this century.
The time for talking is over. Impeachment proceedings must begin. And no one is going to get that done but us.
We need to acknowledge that one of the hurdles is outrage fatigue; it is hard to decide where to start among the many high crimes and misdemeanors of which Vice President Cheney is demonstrably guilty. From my perspective as a former intelligence officer, we certainly cannot allow to escape censure Cheney's conjuring up false "intelligence" to justify what Nuremberg defined as the "supreme international crime" -- a war of aggression -- in Iraq.
My colleagues and I in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity could see what was happening early on. That is why, in the first appeal of its kind by an intelligence alumni group, we wrote to President George W. Bush on July 14, 2003: "We strongly recommend that you ask for Cheney's immediate resignation (Memorandum for the President, "Intelligence Unglued").
As I mention in my statement to the NYC Town Hall, former CIA director George Tenet has since written that Cheney's warmongering "went well beyond what our analysis would support," and apparently came as something of a surprise to the president himself.
The Founders knew that, human nature being what it is, abuses like these were inevitable somewhere down the line. That's why they took such pains to provide an orderly political procedure to enable us to deal promptly and responsibly with such high crimes and misdemeanors. I doubt it ever entered their minds that their successors, for perceived partisan political advantage, would shun that orderly procedure upon which so much now depends.
The process is called impeachment; the rules are clear.
All it takes is courage. And I do not refer here to the invertebrates in Congress.
I mean us. Can we handle the truth? Can we press for our rights as courageously as the Founders? Everything hinges on our answers to these questions.
[End of McGovern's first statement]
Chris Rice www.votestrike.com: CALL FOR NATIONAL ACTION SEPTEMBER 11
Sooner or later all freedom loving Americans will realize that the only
way to stop those who would bleed our nation dry, dismantle our
constitution, and dissolve our national sovereignty is to say I will not
work for you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the
criminals are gone from the halls of our government.
Call to action: No work, No school on September 11, 2008. It also includes "no shopping;" a suspension of all purchasing during the strike. 75% of our economy is consumer spending, when Bush says to shop, we must STOP!
The general strike calls for participants to "Hit the Streets." But why spend our time protesting in DC to be ignored? Unless we get in the streets outside our rep’s personal residences- who is going to care?
We need to mobilize locally- & demand national action. Few of us could go to Washington, DC- but many of us- can go to our city halls or state legislatures- or local Congressional offices.
Tell the government that we're fed up with lies, war, torture, corruption, & special interest funding our elections & our media.
Strikes have brought civil rights in the U.S. & around the world. Help make our voices louder than the mainstream media & corporate dollars.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
In order to get involved, here are the five best steps to take now:
1) Sign up with your email address HERE in order to get updates,
e-alerts@votestrike.com
2) Mark the day on your calendar and plan to be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it to forums, put it on your personal pages, http://www.votestrike.com
4) Be a volunteer activist, CONTACT OMNI .
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11 , CONTACT OMNI.
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908 .
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH.
END OF NEWSLETTER #5 ON IMPEACHMENT, June 21, 2008
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 6/21/08 11:29 AM
OMNI NEWSLETTER, SPECIAL NUMBER 5 to IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY, JUNE 21, 2008, WE, THE PEOPLE FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE
Editor: Dick Bennett (Previous Impeachment Newsletters, available in OMNI’s web site, www.omnicenter.org: 1) Dec. 7, 2006; 2)June 17, 2007; 3)October 25, 2007; 4) Feb. 12, 2008. Plenty of material for your own analysis and letters and calls against attacking Iran and for impeach ing Bush and Cheney ! )
CONTENTS
Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment
Iran and Impeachment
Possible Iranian Reactions to Attack
Ray McGovern
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]
Second Statement by McGovern
New Play in San Francisco for Impeachment
Impeachment Movement
New Hampshire Resolution
Brattleboro, VT on War Crimes
Kucinich Introduces Impeachment Articles Against Bush
Tuesday 10 June 2008 by: Christopher Kuttruff, t r u t h o u t | Report
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush late on Monday during a speech on the House floor.
Kucinich, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush administration, including misrepresenting intelligence in the lead-up to the war, violating domestic and international laws against torture, illegally spying on American citizens, obstructing justice and governmental oversight, and dozens of other violations.
The impeachment resolution came four days after a June 5 Senate Select Intelligence Committee report that vigorously challenged statements made by the Bush administration regarding military intelligence in the runup to the invasion of Iraq. Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee John D. Rockefeller said in a press release, "Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence."
"It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa'ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Rockefeller noted.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and other members of the Democratic leadership maintain that such a resolution is "off the table," Kucinich, along with a group of his colleagues, has consistently pressed for a more urgent and direct response to the often unilateral and controversial actions of the Bush administration.
Despite the unlikeliness of impeachment gaining much traction in Congress, advocates of such a resolution continue to demand greater accountability of the executive branch.
As Kucinich began to issue his remarks, shuffling and talking could be heard in the background of the House chamber. Responding to the disarray, Kucinich objected to the Speaker, "The House is not in order." After several strikes of Pelosi's gavel, Kucinich started reading his articles into the record.
"In violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president ..." Kucinich stated, "George W. Bush ... both personally and through his subordinates ... illegally spent public dollars on a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false cause for war against Iraq."
Kucinich started his speech by referencing a variety of news and intelligence reports regarding White House communications, specifically the White House Iraq Group, which was composed of senior officials (then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Karl Rove, then-Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, former chief of staff Andrew Card, then-chief of staff to the Vice President I. Lewis Libby, then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan and others) who "produced white papers detailing so-called intelligence of Iraq's nuclear threat that later proved to be false." These papers included later-debunked claims that Iraq sought uranium and specialized centrifuges for enrichment.
These claims, which were central to the administration's rationale for preemptive action against Iraq, were used, according to Kucinich, to "market an invasion of Iraq to the American people."
Kucinich also noted that the White House Iraq Group papers "were written at same time and by the same people as speeches and talking points prepared for President Bush and for some of his top officials."
Congressman Kucinich went on to challenge the administration's policies toward Iran, as well as its conduct regarding military interrogations.
The resolution comes days after a sharply written letter by 56 Congress members requesting that Attorney General Michael Mukasey investigate potential crimes committed by the Bush administration during the course of its interrogation program. The letter, signed by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Barney Frank, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich and other House Democrats, urged that the seriousness of the evidence on the program warrants a thorough investigation by a special counsel.
Revelations about the Bush administration's interrogations policies, along with its systematic practice of controlling information provided to the media and the American people, led Kucinich to conclude that the president has "misled the Congress and the citizens of the United States" and should be held accountable for violating his oaths of office to "faithfully execute the office of the president" and "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution."
CHRISTOPHER KUTTRUFF IS AN EDITOR AND REPORTER FOR TRUTHOUT.
Articles of Impeachment
Dear Friend:
Under circumstances that can best be described as "suspicious," the www.kucinich.us website was crippled early this morning a few hours after Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 extensively documented Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.
Until we can restore the website and implement additional security measures, you can find the full list and detailed Articles at
http://www.democrats.com/files/amomentoftruth.pdf
and http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf
If you would like to show your support for the Congressman's efforts, please go to myinfo.kucinich.us to offer your comments and provide us with contact information so that we can continue to keep you informed.
Thank you
Committee to Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich
PO Box 110475 | Cleveland | OH | 44111 | 216-252-9000
FROM DAVE DAVISON OF PN0 ON KUCINICH’S ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT
To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,
We have all heard about Dennis Kucinich presenting 35 articles of impeachment against Bush to the House floor this last Monday night. I watched it on C-SPAN, and he did such a good job to emphasize the gross illegalities of the Bush-Cheny Adminsitration it took him over four hours to make his presentation. On Tuesday night all of the 35 articles were read into the House Record. On Wednesday the House voted to send the impeachment demand to the House Judiciary Committee.
We are planning an updated "Support Impeachment" rally soon.
US PUBLIC FOR IMPEACHMENT
The other day, due to the Kucinich action in the House for impeachment, MSNBC did a live poll on impeachment. Over 700,000 people participated in the poll, which is a large enough segment to make the wishes of America quite plain. I am showing you the MSNBC graph below that indicates 89% of those polled approve, and want impeachment of the white house crazies, starting at the top.
Live Vote
Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? * 702770 responses
Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
89%
No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
4.2%
No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
4.6%
I don't know.
2%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.
Peace.
Dave
“Full House sends Articles of Impeachment to Judiciary”
Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:41 AM (from Larry W)
Submitted by Bob Fertik on June 11, 2008 - 2:47pm.
Dennis Kucinich
Impeach.TV
ImpeachForChange
John Conyers
Nancy Pelosi
By a bipartisan vote of 251-166, the full House of Representatives sent Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.
That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.
Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.
So what will Conyers do? After the Downing Street Memo was published on May 1, 2005, Democrats.com worked closely with Conyers to hold the famous basement hearings featuring Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, and John Bonifaz. In August 2006, Conyers published all of the evidence of Bush's crimes in The Constitution in Crisis. Many of us believed he would begin impeachment proceedings if Democrats won the House, which they did that November.
But in the spring of 2006, Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table." And when Democrats took control and Conyers was sworn in as Judiciary Chairman, he fell firmly into line behind the Speaker. (Conyers insists Pelosi did not threaten to deny him the Chairmanship.)
Since 2005, Conyers has received millions of impeachment petitions. Hundreds if not thousands of activists have spoken to him personally. But he remains adamantly opposed to hearings, for one simple reason: he fears it will hurt the Democratic candidate for President (now Barack Obama) in November.
http://www.democrats.com/house-sends-impeachment-to-john-conyers
LETTER FROM PRES. OF PNO ON IRAN AND IMPEACHMENT: WE, THE PEOPLE, MUST TAKE ACTION
From: peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [mailto:peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 12:21 PM
To: lgddavison@aol.com
Subject: The Prospective Attack On Iran
To Members & Friends of the Peace Network of the Ozarks,
The prospective attack on Iran is heating up. Many of us are seeing the blathering Bush rhetoric on televsion, and reading the latest internet reports of the Israeli practice attack maneuver that describes the practice utilizing 100 war planes. This is getting more and more serious, and all without correct methods of diplomacy by reasonable minded men. The cowboy diplomacy and considerations of the Bush Adminstration fall far short of understanding what agreements may be made, and what will happen if Iran is attacked by the war mongerinig right wing leaders of America and Israel.
Experts are saying that if the attack occurs the price of oil will increase to $300 per barrel immediately. If we think we are having a hard time in in our daily routines now in just moving around for the necessary purposes of work and family, we haven't seen anything yet compared to the difficultuties that will come to America and the entire world in energy costs. What do we think that will cause in the American transportation industry, the many trucking companies that serve America? Will food and supplies be readily available to American shelves when the independent truckers, the vast majority of trucks on the road, have to increase their prices astronomically in order to stay alive in their business? What will the price effects be in the insurance costs of the ocean going oil tankers who will suffer war risks in their business? What do we think the reaction of the entire world will be who will be equally affected by the tremendously increased oil price?
Regardless of the administration's cowboy bravado, our own military indicates large concerns in what the reaction to the attack will be. Shites throughout the middle east will unite to attack our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan as a minimum. Its no telling what the reaction may be with retaliatory missle strikes on the nearby American bases, and on Israel, and maybe on the oil fields. After all the back and forth blathering for so many months in the poor cowboy tactics, do our leaders really believe Iran has not taken many steps to withstand an attack with their most lethal weapons that will respond to the attack?
This is crazy!!! Consequently there are a growing number of notable Americans who are standing up for impeachment to begin as a method to deter the attack and dramatically expanded war. The former commander of American Forces in Kuwait stood up the other day to recommend charges against Bush for war crimes. Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst we met in Springfield over a year ago, while undergoing treatment for cancer, and many other notable Americans, are literally pounding on the table for impeachment action before something really bad happens. Kucinich is ready to go with another 25 articles of impeachment additional to the the initial 35 articles presented to the House last week... while the national Democratic leaders and the Judiciary Committee are just sitting on their duff. It is time for our 2006 elected leaders to stop fooling around and rolling over for their Bush tummy rub, and AIPAC money in their bank accounts.
All Peace Keepers... let’s all write a letter to our local newspaper reporter. The Springfield News-Leader has assigned a bright, new, energetic reporter to cover such actions and events. His name is Chad Livengood, and his email address is... clivengood@springfi.gannett.com [WHO ARE THE EQUIVALENT REPORTS WITH TMN, NAT, AND ADG?] Also please send a copy to PNO by pasting it in an email you can punch back on the reply button, and we will print them and hand carry them to the News-Leader. We will also hand deliver them to local offices of Blunt and McCaskill. [GOOD IDEAS FOR US.]
Print this email and give it to others, your friends and neighbors, with our email address... peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net [ANOTHER GOOD IDEA]
We NEED to pay attention to this, and we NEED your help. Everybody please follow through with a letter. We have to make the consequences of the very ill advised attack known to our community.
I am embedding a copy of an article from this morning. See below.
Thanks to all. We all always wish for peace, and now it is time for us to pray in our own various ways for the insanity to be halted in time.
Peace to all, including our many Republican friends who have become much more aware of the poor leadership and their antics in their quest for profit and oil, not to mention the poor economic policies that are breaking our country's economy.
Dave Davison Pres. PNO http://www.ozarkpeace.net/
How Iran would retaliate if it comes to war
Military analysts say the Islamic Republic would strike back in unconventional ways - targeting American interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 20, 2008 edition
Istanbul, Turkey - Pressure is building on Iran. This week Europe agreed to new sanctions and President Bush again suggested something more serious - possible military strikes - if the Islamic Republic doesn't bend to the will of the international community on its nuclear program.
But increasingly military analysts are warning of severe consequences if the US begins a shooting war with Iran. While Iranian forces are no match for American technology on a conventional battlefield, Iran has shown that it can bite back in unconventional ways.
Iranian networks in Iraq and Afghanistan could imperil US interests there; American forces throughout the Gulf region could be targeted by asymmetric methods and lethal rocket barrages; and Iranian partners across the region - such as Hezbollah in Lebanon - could be mobilized to engage in an anti-US fight.
Iran's response could also be global, analysts say, but the scale would depend on the scale of the US attack. "One very important issue from a US intelligence perspective, [the Iranian reaction] is probably more unpredictable than the Al Qaeda threat," says Magnus Ranstorp at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm.
"I doubt very much our ability to manage some of the consequences," says Mr. Ranstorp, noting that Iranian revenge attacks in the past have been marked by "plausible deniability" and have had global reach.
"If you attack Iran you are unleashing a firestorm of reaction internally that will only strengthen revolutionary forces, and externally in the region," says Ranstorp. "It's a nightmare scenario for any contingency planner, and I think you really enter the twilight zone if you strike Iran."
Though the US military has since early 2007 accused Iran's Qods Force - an elite element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - of providing anti-US militias in Iraq with lethal roadside bombs, and of training and backing "special groups" in actions that the US government alleges have cost "thousands" of lives, US commanders have played down Iran's military capabilities.
Even Admiral William Fallon, who publicly opposed a US strike on Iran before he resigned in April, dismissed Iran as a military threat. "Get serious," Adm. Fallon told Esquire in March. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
But that has not kept Iran from rhetorical chest-beating, with an active military manpower of 540,000 - the largest in the Middle East - dependent on some of the lowest per capita defense spending in the region. Iran "can deal fatal blows to aggressor America by unpredictable and creative tactical moves," the senior commander Brig. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid said in late May. "It is meaningless to back down before an enemy who has targeted the roots of our existence."
Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei also warned of far-reaching revenge in 2006. "The Americans should know that if they assault Iran, their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible," he said. "The Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity."
Analysts say Iran has a number of tools to make good on those threats and take pride in taking on a more powerful enemy. "This is not something they are shying away from," says Alex Vatanka, a Middle East security analyst at Jane's Information Group in Washington.
"They say: 'Conventional warfare is not something we can win against the US, but we have other assets in the toolbox,' " says Mr. Vatanka, noting that the IRGC commander appointed last fall has been "marketed as this genius behind asymmetric warfare doctrine."
"What they are really worried about is the idea of massive aerial attacks on literally thousands of targets inside Iran," says Vatanka, also an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. "Their reading of America's intentions in that scenario would be twofold: One is to obviously dismantle as much as possible the nuclear program; and [the other], indirectly try to weaken the [Islamic] regime."
Any US-Iran conflict would push up oil prices, and though Iran could disrupt shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, its weak economy depends on oil revenues.
But nearby US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf provide a host of targets. Iran claimed last October that it could rain down 11,000 rockets upon "the enemy" within one minute of an attack and that rate "would continue."
Further afield, Israel is within range of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah claims its rockets - enhanced and resupplied by Iran since the 2006 war to an estimated 30,000 - can now hit anywhere in the Jewish state, including its nuclear plant at Dimona.
Closer to home, Iran has honed a swarming tactic, in which small and lightly armed speedboats come at far larger warships from different directions. A classified Pentagon war game in 2002 simulated just such an attack and in it the Navy lost 16 major warships, according to a report in The New York Times last January.
"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who commanded the swarming force, told the Times. "The whole thing was over in five, maybe 10 minutes."
During the 1990s, Iranian agents were believed to be behind the assassinations of scores of regime opponents in Europe, and German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Iran's intelligence minister.
Iran and Hezbollah are alleged to have collaborated in the May 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in revenge for Israel's killing of a Hezbollah leader months before. Argentine prosecutors charge that they jointly struck again in 1994, bombing a Jewish community center in the Argentine capital that killed 85, one month after Israel attacked a Hezbollah base in Lebanon.
With some 30,000 on the payroll by one count, Iranian intelligence "is a superpower in intelligence terms in the region; they have global reach because of their reconnaissance ability and quite sophisticated ways of inflicting pain," says Ranstorp. "They have been expanding their influence.... Who would have predicted that Argentina would be the area that Hezbollah and the Iranians collectively would respond?"
Past examples show that "Tehran recognizes that at times its interest are best served by restraint," says a report on consequences of a strike on Iran published this week by Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
But Iran could target the US, too, depending on the magnitude of any US strike. "Iran's capacity for terror and subversion remains one of its most potent levers in the event of a confrontation with the United States," says the report, adding that "success" in delaying Iran's nuclear programs could backfire.
If "US and world opinion were so angered by the strikes that they refused to support further pressure against Iran's nuclear ambitions, then prevention could paradoxically [eventually ensure] Iran's open pursuit of nuclear weapons," concludes the report.
And the long list of unconventional tactics should not be taken for granted in Tehran, says Vatanka, noting that the Islamic system's top priority is survival.
"So the Iranians have to be careful," says Vatanka. "Just because the US doesn't have the will right now, or the ability to produce the kind of stick that they would fear, doesn't mean the way of confrontation is going to pay off for them in the long run."
Two articles from Ray McGovern. In between is a message from Chris Rice about how to mobilize. (From Babs Bakie)
“Cheney Impeachment Not Off the Table” By Ray McGovern, Consortium News
Posted on March 21, 2008, Printed on May 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/79761/
You would not know it for the news blackout, but New Yorkers of Rep. Jerrold Nadler's district held a Town Hall/Impeachment Forum last Sunday to encourage Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Panelists included former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, former Reagan Justice Department attorney Bruce Fein, human rights attorney and Harper's commentator Scott Horton, and John Nirenberg, the activist who at the turn of the year walked from Boston to Washington, D.C., in a futile attempt to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on impeachment.
The organizers had asked me to be on the panel, but I had to send regrets and submitted a statement instead (see below). A video of the proceedings will be posted on afterdowningstreet.org.
Taking Stock
In a post mortem the next evening, the organizers reflected on what seemed to be a mixed picture of good and bad news.
On the positive side, Judson Memorial Church was crammed to overflowing with 300 folks. And this, despite the fact that most were already aware that Nadler had announced (late Friday afternoon) that he would be a no-show. He did not even send a representative.
The panelists' remarks were compelling. Blame for inaction on impeachment was laid squarely on our invertebrate Congress. (But ouch, that familiar whining can get a bit tiresome.)
The audience was described as well-educated, nonfringe, and polite.
On the negative side, despite Herculean efforts to interest the "mainstream media," no one showed. And the enthusiasm of those hardy souls trying to spur action on impeachment was dampened by continuing frustration at the obstacles, as politicians like Nadler continue to put political expedience above their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution.
Tories back in charge
It took some 230 years, but the Tories are back in charge -- I mean the Nadlers, the Conyers, the Pelosis, so bereft of the courage of our forebears to defy a new King George, preferring to let him dis us the people and trash the Constitution. Remember those stirring final words of the Declaration of Independence? "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." We have come a long way. Surely, the Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Many of our forebears were also well-educated and nonfringe; fortunately, they were NOT polite.
Is it not clear, finally, that the time for politeness is over?
It is up to us, now, whether we shall have constitutional separation of powers or shall have kings. It is up to us whether an unrestrained executive will be able to march our children and grandchildren off to an endless series of resource wars likely to dominate this century.
The time for talking is over. Impeachment proceedings must begin. And no one is going to get that done but us.
We need to acknowledge that one of the hurdles is outrage fatigue; it is hard to decide where to start among the many high crimes and misdemeanors of which Vice President Cheney is demonstrably guilty. From my perspective as a former intelligence officer, we certainly cannot allow to escape censure Cheney's conjuring up false "intelligence" to justify what Nuremberg defined as the "supreme international crime" -- a war of aggression -- in Iraq.
My colleagues and I in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity could see what was happening early on. That is why, in the first appeal of its kind by an intelligence alumni group, we wrote to President George W. Bush on July 14, 2003: "We strongly recommend that you ask for Cheney's immediate resignation (Memorandum for the President, "Intelligence Unglued").
As I mention in my statement to the NYC Town Hall, former CIA director George Tenet has since written that Cheney's warmongering "went well beyond what our analysis would support," and apparently came as something of a surprise to the president himself.
The Founders knew that, human nature being what it is, abuses like these were inevitable somewhere down the line. That's why they took such pains to provide an orderly political procedure to enable us to deal promptly and responsibly with such high crimes and misdemeanors. I doubt it ever entered their minds that their successors, for perceived partisan political advantage, would shun that orderly procedure upon which so much now depends.
The process is called impeachment; the rules are clear.
All it takes is courage. And I do not refer here to the invertebrates in Congress.
I mean us. Can we handle the truth? Can we press for our rights as courageously as the Founders? Everything hinges on our answers to these questions.
[End of McGovern's first statement]
Chris Rice www.votestrike.com: CALL FOR NATIONAL ACTION SEPTEMBER 11
Sooner or later all freedom loving Americans will realize that the only
way to stop those who would bleed our nation dry, dismantle our
constitution, and dissolve our national sovereignty is to say I will not
work for you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the
criminals are gone from the halls of our government.
Call to action: No work, No school on September 11, 2008. It also includes "no shopping;" a suspension of all purchasing during the strike. 75% of our economy is consumer spending, when Bush says to shop, we must STOP!
The general strike calls for participants to "Hit the Streets." But why spend our time protesting in DC to be ignored? Unless we get in the streets outside our rep’s personal residences- who is going to care?
We need to mobilize locally- & demand national action. Few of us could go to Washington, DC- but many of us- can go to our city halls or state legislatures- or local Congressional offices.
Tell the government that we're fed up with lies, war, torture, corruption, & special interest funding our elections & our media.
Strikes have brought civil rights in the U.S. & around the world. Help make our voices louder than the mainstream media & corporate dollars.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
In order to get involved, here are the five best steps to take now:
1) Sign up with your email address HERE in order to get updates,
e-alerts@votestrike.com
2) Mark the day on your calendar and plan to be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it to forums, put it on your personal pages, http://www.votestrike.com
4) Be a volunteer activist, CONTACT OMNI .
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11 , CONTACT OMNI.
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for full newsletter]
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908 .
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON’S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH.
END OF NEWSLETTER #5 ON IMPEACHMENT, June 21, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Get to know the real McCain and then vote for Obama
OMNI MCCAIN WATCH NEWSLETTER
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Tue 6/17/08 3:32 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
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OMNI NEWSLETTER: MCCAIN WATCH #2
FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE, JUNE 17, 2008
Compiled by Dick Bennett (First McCain Watch, April 15, 2008)
CONTENTS
The Real McCain Films
McCain in the Media (see below)
McCain and Hamas
M and Oil
M and GOP
M and GI Benefits
M and Pennsylvania
M and Lobbyists
A Developer
Donors
[For rest of Newsletter see www.omnicenter.org, click on periodicals.]
Hagee
Media (more)
Neocons
McCain Is More Of McSame
Its always a hard thing to watch someone deny who they are and what they believe. With the amount of television coverage that McCain will get as we head to the general election campaign, this is going to be continually painful
THE REAL MCCAIN Series: Watch the video http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/24684188/39179
There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!
Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.
We're doing everything to get the facts out there about McCain. Join us in making a concerted effort to tell the story that corporate media refuses to tell. E-mail this video to all of your friends and family members, news blogs and other local media outlets. And don't forget to Digg it!
According to Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't:
"It is dangerous for a democracy when a presidential candidate can lie with impunity, change positions on a whim, and physically and verbally threaten others and virtually none of it is reported by a besotted media eagerly awaiting the next moment when he might slap their backs in friendship."
The mainstream press may not do their job, but we can surely do ours. It is crucial that we alert the public to the REAL McCain, and it is crucial we act now, before it's too late.
Yours, Robert Greenwald, and the Brave New Team Brave New Films is located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. You can get our latest videos on email, iTunes, RSS, Facebook, and YouTube here.
MCCAIN IN THE MEDIA
“The Press Corps’ Unshakeable Crush on McCain” by Peter Hart, Extra! (May-June 2008). The corporate media follows the GOP line. In same no. see “Failing to Use the 1st Amendment to Defend the Bill of Rights” by Cynthia Cooper: Media don’t probe candidates on civil liberties.
MEDIA AND MCCAIN
Isabel Macdonald. “Endorsing a Different Standard for McCain, Obama.” Extra!Update (April 2008). Corporate media were more interested in examining Obama’s connections (Rev. Wright) than McCain’s.
Peter Hart, “McCain’s Iraq War ‘Advantage.’” Extra! Update (April 2008). Pundits have treated the Iraq War as an advantage for McCain over his Democratic opponent, even though he is as hawkish as Bush, because they believe he has a built-in advantage on military matters.
MCCAIN AND HAMAS
EXPOSED: McCain a Complete Hypocrite on Hamas!
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/85587
McCain was for talking to Hamas before he was against it.
MCCAIN VS. FAIR PAY FOR WOMEN
Recently, Senate Republicans filibustered the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that would have overturned an appalling Supreme Court decision that practically abolished remedies for gender-based compensation discrimination in the workplace. In opposing this legislation, Senator John McCain said that if women want better-paying jobs, they just need more "education and training."
Let's tell Senator McCain that he should stop blocking an up or down vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Women don't need more "education and training." They need the Senate to ensure equal rights for women under the law. Please have a look and take action. http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=142&id=191-433089-di3gfa&t=42
Thanks! Edrene
John McCain is lying to America. He claims to be a straight-talking maverick. He publicly distances himself from the wildly unpopular Bush administration.
But it's just more of the same. Making windfall corporate profits the law of the land. Pandering to the religious right. Endless war.
McCain's latest ingenious policy proposal is his idea to lift the gas tax during the summer months to supposedly help ease the burden on vacationing families. McCain's idea is so out of touch that everyone from Paul Krugman to Bush's council of economic advisors thinks it's a horrible idea.
McCain's proposal is not about making life easier for families. McCain's real special interest is big oil. They get huge tax breaks to help them continue to rake in record profits, even as prices soar at the pump.
Democracy for America wants the voters to know the truth. We need to make an impact now while the issue is hot. Our goal: 2,000 donors contributing $50 each to fight back.
https://democracyforamerica.com/contribute/mccain
DFA will run a people-powered campaign, using radio ads to target the very voters McCain hopes to shore up with his gas tax holiday. We will go after white men and independents, running our aggressive persuasion ads on drive time sports radio in upcoming primary states.
It is imperative that we stop McCain from taking us deeper into economic despair with nonsense proposals designed to pander to a key voting bloc in an election year.
The time is now. Together we will unmask the McCain myth. Join us today and contribute $50.
https://democracyforamerica.com/contribute/mccain
This is only the beginning. The more DFA members take action, the faster we can escalate the attack. DFA's people-powered campaigns will use sophisticated micro-targeting to contact voters who are crucial to a Democratic victory in November.
McCain is appealing to working and middle class Americans. He wants folks to think he is working for them. The gas tax holiday is no exception. A recent Reuters article connects the not-so-subtle dots:
"Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers. "You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-
MCCAIN TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ: WAR FOR OIL
AND A CORPORATE MEDIA SPOKESMAN AGREES
"My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East." --McCain, May 2, 08
Chris Matthews opines:
"You know, if somebody else were to say that, they would be accused of being a communist, or radical, or a leftist. For John McCain, a war hero, to say that we're fighting in the Middle East to protect our oil sources is an astounding development." --
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/02/john-mccain-admits-iraq-war-was-over-oil/
MCCAIN WINNING GOP CONSERVATIVES
“All Aboard the McCain Express” by Rick Perlstein, The Nation (April 21, 2008). Between 2001 and 2006 the Republicans conservative movement controlled the gov’t., with the result of a crashing economy, a rotting infrastructure, a failed war, and a less safe world. It’s this Party McCain is leading.
GI BENEFITS
A letter in the NWTimes today gives yet another reason to oppose McCain. His is the first of 3 names on a bill competing with another bill which would expand GI benefits. McCain's bill apparently preserves the status quo and discriminates against the Natl Guard and Reservist guys who have been fighting, and also favors soldiers who have been in the service longer over those who have fought several tours of combat. ---Coralie
How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania
Frank Rich
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27rich.html?ref=opinion
McCain: The 'Anti-Lobbyist' Who Works With Lobbyists
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/22/mccain-the-antilobbyis_n_87941.html
A Developer, His Deals and His Ties to McCain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/us/politics/22diamond.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all
Jim Hightower has compiled some good information about donors and finances of Clinton, Obama, and McCain.
Scroll to end of the first article.
-Carl
http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/1654
MORE ON DONORS from The Real McCain Series
1. Watch the video
2. Forward it to others
Dear Dick,
Gas prices are hitting all-time highs. Our country is in the midst of a recession thanks in part to our crippling dependence on oil, so what's John McCain's plan? Will he hold the corporate leaders of the energy industry accountable when he addresses them today in Houston? Probably not, considering they are some of his biggest fund-raisers.
The Center for Responsive Politics finds that McCain has accepted over $1 million from the oil and gas industry. Many of McCain's top advisers have lobbied for big oil, which is why he now acts in their best interests, opposing environmental legislation and alternative energy plans. And that's exactly why we want everyone to know The REAL McCain.
Watch the video: http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/24684188/42047?utm_source=rgemail
McCain is desperate to distance himself from President Bush. But according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, McCain has received millions in donations from the same oil, coal, nuclear, chemical, utility, and auto companies that helped the Bush administration create its energy plan-a plan that has raised gasoline to $4 a gallon.
Here's what you can do: Send this e-mail to ten of your friends, family members, and colleagues. Tell them to send it on to ten people they know. And don't forget to Digg it! Spread the word that McCain is taking major contributions from wealthy oil executives like Bob Mosbacher, just one of the special interest leaders he'll be addressing in Houston.
Make sure everyone gets to know The REAL McCain, subscribe to Brave New Films today. Yours, Robert Greenwald
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for complete Newsletter #2 June 17, 2008.]
This is also a BOOZMAN WATCH if our Congressman supports McCain as completely as he has been a Bushclone.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Tue 6/17/08 3:32 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
Security scan upon download
att94f2.gif (15.3 KB), att9503.gif (0.2 KB), att9504.gif (0.2 KB), att9515.gif (1.6 KB), att9525.jpg (9.4 KB)
OMNI NEWSLETTER: MCCAIN WATCH #2
FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE, JUNE 17, 2008
Compiled by Dick Bennett (First McCain Watch, April 15, 2008)
CONTENTS
The Real McCain Films
McCain in the Media (see below)
McCain and Hamas
M and Oil
M and GOP
M and GI Benefits
M and Pennsylvania
M and Lobbyists
A Developer
Donors
[For rest of Newsletter see www.omnicenter.org, click on periodicals.]
Hagee
Media (more)
Neocons
McCain Is More Of McSame
Its always a hard thing to watch someone deny who they are and what they believe. With the amount of television coverage that McCain will get as we head to the general election campaign, this is going to be continually painful
THE REAL MCCAIN Series: Watch the video http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/24684188/39179
There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!
Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.
We're doing everything to get the facts out there about McCain. Join us in making a concerted effort to tell the story that corporate media refuses to tell. E-mail this video to all of your friends and family members, news blogs and other local media outlets. And don't forget to Digg it!
According to Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't:
"It is dangerous for a democracy when a presidential candidate can lie with impunity, change positions on a whim, and physically and verbally threaten others and virtually none of it is reported by a besotted media eagerly awaiting the next moment when he might slap their backs in friendship."
The mainstream press may not do their job, but we can surely do ours. It is crucial that we alert the public to the REAL McCain, and it is crucial we act now, before it's too late.
Yours, Robert Greenwald, and the Brave New Team Brave New Films is located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. You can get our latest videos on email, iTunes, RSS, Facebook, and YouTube here.
MCCAIN IN THE MEDIA
“The Press Corps’ Unshakeable Crush on McCain” by Peter Hart, Extra! (May-June 2008). The corporate media follows the GOP line. In same no. see “Failing to Use the 1st Amendment to Defend the Bill of Rights” by Cynthia Cooper: Media don’t probe candidates on civil liberties.
MEDIA AND MCCAIN
Isabel Macdonald. “Endorsing a Different Standard for McCain, Obama.” Extra!Update (April 2008). Corporate media were more interested in examining Obama’s connections (Rev. Wright) than McCain’s.
Peter Hart, “McCain’s Iraq War ‘Advantage.’” Extra! Update (April 2008). Pundits have treated the Iraq War as an advantage for McCain over his Democratic opponent, even though he is as hawkish as Bush, because they believe he has a built-in advantage on military matters.
MCCAIN AND HAMAS
EXPOSED: McCain a Complete Hypocrite on Hamas!
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/85587
McCain was for talking to Hamas before he was against it.
MCCAIN VS. FAIR PAY FOR WOMEN
Recently, Senate Republicans filibustered the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that would have overturned an appalling Supreme Court decision that practically abolished remedies for gender-based compensation discrimination in the workplace. In opposing this legislation, Senator John McCain said that if women want better-paying jobs, they just need more "education and training."
Let's tell Senator McCain that he should stop blocking an up or down vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Women don't need more "education and training." They need the Senate to ensure equal rights for women under the law. Please have a look and take action. http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=142&id=191-433089-di3gfa&t=42
Thanks! Edrene
John McCain is lying to America. He claims to be a straight-talking maverick. He publicly distances himself from the wildly unpopular Bush administration.
But it's just more of the same. Making windfall corporate profits the law of the land. Pandering to the religious right. Endless war.
McCain's latest ingenious policy proposal is his idea to lift the gas tax during the summer months to supposedly help ease the burden on vacationing families. McCain's idea is so out of touch that everyone from Paul Krugman to Bush's council of economic advisors thinks it's a horrible idea.
McCain's proposal is not about making life easier for families. McCain's real special interest is big oil. They get huge tax breaks to help them continue to rake in record profits, even as prices soar at the pump.
Democracy for America wants the voters to know the truth. We need to make an impact now while the issue is hot. Our goal: 2,000 donors contributing $50 each to fight back.
https://democracyforamerica.com/contribute/mccain
DFA will run a people-powered campaign, using radio ads to target the very voters McCain hopes to shore up with his gas tax holiday. We will go after white men and independents, running our aggressive persuasion ads on drive time sports radio in upcoming primary states.
It is imperative that we stop McCain from taking us deeper into economic despair with nonsense proposals designed to pander to a key voting bloc in an election year.
The time is now. Together we will unmask the McCain myth. Join us today and contribute $50.
https://democracyforamerica.com/contribute/mccain
This is only the beginning. The more DFA members take action, the faster we can escalate the attack. DFA's people-powered campaigns will use sophisticated micro-targeting to contact voters who are crucial to a Democratic victory in November.
McCain is appealing to working and middle class Americans. He wants folks to think he is working for them. The gas tax holiday is no exception. A recent Reuters article connects the not-so-subtle dots:
"Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers. "You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-
MCCAIN TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ: WAR FOR OIL
AND A CORPORATE MEDIA SPOKESMAN AGREES
"My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East." --McCain, May 2, 08
Chris Matthews opines:
"You know, if somebody else were to say that, they would be accused of being a communist, or radical, or a leftist. For John McCain, a war hero, to say that we're fighting in the Middle East to protect our oil sources is an astounding development." --
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/02/john-mccain-admits-iraq-war-was-over-oil/
MCCAIN WINNING GOP CONSERVATIVES
“All Aboard the McCain Express” by Rick Perlstein, The Nation (April 21, 2008). Between 2001 and 2006 the Republicans conservative movement controlled the gov’t., with the result of a crashing economy, a rotting infrastructure, a failed war, and a less safe world. It’s this Party McCain is leading.
GI BENEFITS
A letter in the NWTimes today gives yet another reason to oppose McCain. His is the first of 3 names on a bill competing with another bill which would expand GI benefits. McCain's bill apparently preserves the status quo and discriminates against the Natl Guard and Reservist guys who have been fighting, and also favors soldiers who have been in the service longer over those who have fought several tours of combat. ---Coralie
How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania
Frank Rich
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27rich.html?ref=opinion
McCain: The 'Anti-Lobbyist' Who Works With Lobbyists
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/22/mccain-the-antilobbyis_n_87941.html
A Developer, His Deals and His Ties to McCain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/us/politics/22diamond.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all
Jim Hightower has compiled some good information about donors and finances of Clinton, Obama, and McCain.
Scroll to end of the first article.
-Carl
http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/1654
MORE ON DONORS from The Real McCain Series
1. Watch the video
2. Forward it to others
Dear Dick,
Gas prices are hitting all-time highs. Our country is in the midst of a recession thanks in part to our crippling dependence on oil, so what's John McCain's plan? Will he hold the corporate leaders of the energy industry accountable when he addresses them today in Houston? Probably not, considering they are some of his biggest fund-raisers.
The Center for Responsive Politics finds that McCain has accepted over $1 million from the oil and gas industry. Many of McCain's top advisers have lobbied for big oil, which is why he now acts in their best interests, opposing environmental legislation and alternative energy plans. And that's exactly why we want everyone to know The REAL McCain.
Watch the video: http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/24684188/42047?utm_source=rgemail
McCain is desperate to distance himself from President Bush. But according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, McCain has received millions in donations from the same oil, coal, nuclear, chemical, utility, and auto companies that helped the Bush administration create its energy plan-a plan that has raised gasoline to $4 a gallon.
Here's what you can do: Send this e-mail to ten of your friends, family members, and colleagues. Tell them to send it on to ten people they know. And don't forget to Digg it! Spread the word that McCain is taking major contributions from wealthy oil executives like Bob Mosbacher, just one of the special interest leaders he'll be addressing in Houston.
Make sure everyone gets to know The REAL McCain, subscribe to Brave New Films today. Yours, Robert Greenwald
[Go to www.omnicenter.org for complete Newsletter #2 June 17, 2008.]
This is also a BOOZMAN WATCH if our Congressman supports McCain as completely as he has been a Bushclone.
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Counter-Recruiting newsletter
OMNI COUNTER-RECRUITING NEWSLETTER #1, WE, THE PEOPLE BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE, JUNE 13, 2008, Compiled by Dick Bennett
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
"I believe the best chance we have of keeping the current wars from eclipsing the 10-year length of Vietnam would be if groups put much more emphasis on cutting off the flow of human resources, i.e., through counter-recruitment work and school demilitarization work." Rick Jahnkow, Coord., Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO). Read his essay:
http://www.projectyano.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=1
CONTENTS
Counter-recruiting Network and Rick Jahnkow
Youth Against War and Racism
Song: “Halliburton Boardroom Massacre”
Article on Counter-Recruiting
Films v. Recruiting: Winter Soldier, Redacted, The Valley of Elah, Stop Loss
Guide to Alternatives After High School
Berkeley City Council v. Marine Recruiting (Code Pink)
GI Rights Hotline
NETWORK FOR COUNTER-RECRUITING
Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO)(1984)(org).
PO Box 230157, Encinitas 92023; 760-634-3604; projyano@aol.com; www.projectyano.org
Offers youths in San Diego County a contrasting view on military enlistment, informs them about non-military alternatives for skills training and college financial aid, and promotes careers in peacemaking and social change. Many pubs., request resource list. Rick Jahnkow, Prog. Coord. (See: War Resisters League.) For a list of counter-recruiting orgs., go to www.nnomy.org and click on Counter Recruitment Orgs in the left menu.
Six key groups, besides Project YANO and NNOMY, would be:
AFSC Youth and Militarism, Philadelphia
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/default.htm
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, Philadelphia/Oakland
http://www.objector.org/
Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools, Los Angeles
http://www.militaryfreeschools.org/
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft, San Diego
http://comdsd.org/
War Resisters League, Youth and Militarism Program, NYC
http://www.warresisters.org/youth/
Youth Activists / Youth Allies Network NYC
http://www.yayanetwork.org/
Rick Jahnkow on long-range counter-recruiting, impeding the flow to the imperial legions: “The problems that have minimized the effectiveness of the peace movement as a whole are many, including U.S. cultural and economic class factors. But to me, the bottom line is that the groups and individuals in the peace movement largely fail to think long-term and miss the bigger picture that would lead to more strategic thinking. I haven't read the Nation article, but long-term strategic thinking means that to prevent the invasion of Iraq, the peace movement should have acted over the preceding two decades to "combat" the resurgence of militarism. It especially would have made a difference to put more resources into preventing the militarization of schools, since the 20- and 30-year-olds who are acting as cannon fodder today were indoctrinated via that militarization. I believe the best chance we have of keeping the current wars from eclipsing the 10-year length of Vietnam would be if groups refocussed and put much more emphasis on cutting off the flow of human resources, i.e., through counter-recruitment work and school demilitarization work. That's something that the media, Congress and the next president would not be able to ignore the way they have ignored antiwar marches and demonstrations.
Rick
P.S. If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in a piece I wrote on this that was picked up by Znet and a few other publications: http://www.projectyano.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=1
Activists seek to counter military recruiters on L.A. campuses (from Lyell T)
“Group will ask school officials for access to high school facilities. But some say their message is controversial.”
By Seema Mehta Los Angeles Times, June 9 2008
Troubled by military recruiting at Los Angeles high schools, activists are seeking equal access to students on campus to provide what they say is unvarnished information about the armed forces and information about nonmilitary careers.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-recruit9-2008jun09,0,7576883.story
Youth Against War and Racism
16th walkout of 125 students against the Iraq war and military recruitment ... Youth Against War and Racism is a growing national network of youth activists ...
www.yawr.org/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Youth Against War and Racism
If we build antiwar groups like Youth Against War and Racism in thousands ... consciously targeting poor and working-class youth for military recruitment. ...
www.yawr.org/nov2/milout-povdraft.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
More results from www.yawr.org »
MySpace.com - YOUTH AGAINST WAR & RACISM - MN - 20 - Male ...
Youth in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area interested in fighting back against the occupation of Iraq and against military recruitment in our schools! ...
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=67164433 - 161k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
For an international mobilization of workers and youth against the ...
Jan 22, 2007 ... In Iraq itself, most people not only want an end to the military ..... people and youth against the entire political establishment and the ...
www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/war-j22.shtml - 39k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Keep Building Youth Against War and Racism
Youth Against War and Racism began in the fall of 2004 when three high school members of Socialist Alternative started to organize against military ...
www.socialistalternative.org/news/article13.php?id=32 - 19k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
On the Fringe » Blog Archive » Youth Against War and Racism ...
Youth Against War and Racism is a counter-recruitment organization in ... board to place meaningful limits on the access of military recruiters to schools. ...
kvrx.org/onthefringe/?p=34 - 12k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
MANIFESTO AGAINST CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY SYSTEM
(2) Against Conscription and the Military Training of Youth 1930, signed among others by Jane Addams, Paul Birukoff und Valentin Bulgakoff (secretaries of ...
www.peace.ca/manifestoagainstconscription.htm - 5k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
DAVID ROVICS’ “HALLIBURTON BOARDROOM”
(last night Peace Train played during CAT Message Board, instead of KXUA's audio. A couple of my favorites played, “Baghdad Suite”, and David Rovics’ “Halliburton Boardroom Massacre.” Jim Hale )
I joined the army when high school was through I didn’t know what else to do
Thought I’d take care of that traveling jones Then maybe take out some student loans
They sent me away to the land of the dead Where I didn’t know a word that they said
I got shot at a lot, I was nearly toast But its the ones that I killed that hurts the most Most
of the time I didnt know what was going on The rest of the time I knew there was something
going wrong Every reason we were there turned out to be a lie I thought of that each time I
saw another person die I was supposed to stay for a year, they kept me for four By the time
I got back home no one knew me anymore Of the man I once was there didnt seem to be a
trace And when I looked me in the mirror I didnt recognize my face I wasnt home too long
before the time that I fell ill It was like the air was thick as mud and I ached enough to kill I
didnt know Id been fighting in a nuclear war DU was in my blood and I was knocking on
deaths door I cant tell you how it felt to be betrayed at every turn Like the earth was spinning
backwards, like my heart began to burn Like I had to do something while I still had the strength
to stand While I still could run with a machine gun in my hand I thought of Halliburton and the
military brass And the things they get away with all for their ruling class But Im not a pawn and
I cant just let it be And if Im gonna die, Im gonna take some of them fuc*ers with me Ill spare
you the details, I did what I had to do Theres a boardroom blown to hell and soon I will be, too
You can say I lost it, you can say that Im insane But may no one ever say that my death was
in vain I joined the army when high school was through I didnt know what else to do.
ARTICLE ON COUNTER-RECRUITING
Here's a good article about countering military recruitment:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier103.html
NEW FILMS INSPIRING REFLECTION ABOUT JOINING UP FOR WAR
If young folks saw the testimonials of returning soldiers like this:
http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/rules-engagement-part-2/jon-turner/video)
they might think twice about joining.
The movie "Redacted" would also be good to show to youngsters considering joining up.
(Article and films from Bill O.)
Also see “The Valley of Elah” and “Stop Loss.”
BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL VERSUS MARINE RECRUITING STATION
February 14, 2008
Dear Dick,
Watch veterans and youth speak out in our video, and sign our petition!
In the early hours of yesterday morning, we witnessed a historical moment in the anti-war struggle. The Berkeley City Council withstood thousands of hate-filled emails, threats to cut off state and federal funds, hundreds of irate pro-war activists descending on their town insisting they were anti-troops. They stood firm in their opposition to a Marine Recruiting Station in the heart of their peace-loving city. Yesterday as we gathered to celebrate, the City Council expressed their gratitude of the resolve and tenacity of CODEPINK. Finally people in power modeling for Congress how to choose peace, instead of trembling in fear as the right hurls insults and threats.
Help us spread this campaign and sign our pledge of resistance to military recruiting and war and watch the video of youth and veterans speaking out for peace in Berkeley!
Today, CODEPINKers and friends are holding "kiss-ins" at recruiting centers around the country with the message, "Don't Enlist, Stay and Kiss (”That Way Everyone Makes Out!" Of course, these actions are energized by the recent landmark actions in Berkeley. We are using the creative power of love to combat the destructive power of war. How better to celebrate Valentine's Day?!
Standing strong, with hearts wide open,
Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Liz, Medea, Nancy and Rae
Sign our pledge of resistance to military recruiting and the war!
“IT’S MY LIFE! A GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVES AFTER HIGH SCHOOL”, from the AFSC for young people who aren’t ready to make a decision about their future. Chapters on training and apprenticeships, travel, national service, social activism, “green” careers, paying for college, and more. 89pp. $9.95. www.afsc.org/store; www.afsc.org/itsmylife
GI Rights Hotline website is www.girightshotline.org . The
phone numbers are 877-447-4487, and in Alaska 888-554-2822 or
907-374-2822. It is a network of non-profit, nongovernmental agencies
which provides information to members of the military about
conscientious objection, discharges, grievance and complaint procedures
and other civil rights; and information for people in the Delayed
Enlistment Program.
CONTACT THE PRINCIPAL OF YOUR HIGH SCHOOL. FORM A GROUP OF PARENTS TO EXPOSE RECRUTING PRACTICES. COUNTER-RECRUITING SHOULD BE AN IMPORTANT PART OF OMNI’S COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-WAR STRATEGY.
OMNI NEEDS A COUNTER-RECRUITING COORDINATOR. Contact Gladys Tiffany.
END OF OMNI’S NEWSLETTER #1 ON COUNTER-RECRUITING
6-13-08
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
"I believe the best chance we have of keeping the current wars from eclipsing the 10-year length of Vietnam would be if groups put much more emphasis on cutting off the flow of human resources, i.e., through counter-recruitment work and school demilitarization work." Rick Jahnkow, Coord., Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO). Read his essay:
http://www.projectyano.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=1
CONTENTS
Counter-recruiting Network and Rick Jahnkow
Youth Against War and Racism
Song: “Halliburton Boardroom Massacre”
Article on Counter-Recruiting
Films v. Recruiting: Winter Soldier, Redacted, The Valley of Elah, Stop Loss
Guide to Alternatives After High School
Berkeley City Council v. Marine Recruiting (Code Pink)
GI Rights Hotline
NETWORK FOR COUNTER-RECRUITING
Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO)(1984)(org).
PO Box 230157, Encinitas 92023; 760-634-3604; projyano@aol.com; www.projectyano.org
Offers youths in San Diego County a contrasting view on military enlistment, informs them about non-military alternatives for skills training and college financial aid, and promotes careers in peacemaking and social change. Many pubs., request resource list. Rick Jahnkow, Prog. Coord. (See: War Resisters League.) For a list of counter-recruiting orgs., go to www.nnomy.org and click on Counter Recruitment Orgs in the left menu.
Six key groups, besides Project YANO and NNOMY, would be:
AFSC Youth and Militarism, Philadelphia
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/default.htm
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, Philadelphia/Oakland
http://www.objector.org/
Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools, Los Angeles
http://www.militaryfreeschools.org/
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft, San Diego
http://comdsd.org/
War Resisters League, Youth and Militarism Program, NYC
http://www.warresisters.org/youth/
Youth Activists / Youth Allies Network NYC
http://www.yayanetwork.org/
Rick Jahnkow on long-range counter-recruiting, impeding the flow to the imperial legions: “The problems that have minimized the effectiveness of the peace movement as a whole are many, including U.S. cultural and economic class factors. But to me, the bottom line is that the groups and individuals in the peace movement largely fail to think long-term and miss the bigger picture that would lead to more strategic thinking. I haven't read the Nation article, but long-term strategic thinking means that to prevent the invasion of Iraq, the peace movement should have acted over the preceding two decades to "combat" the resurgence of militarism. It especially would have made a difference to put more resources into preventing the militarization of schools, since the 20- and 30-year-olds who are acting as cannon fodder today were indoctrinated via that militarization. I believe the best chance we have of keeping the current wars from eclipsing the 10-year length of Vietnam would be if groups refocussed and put much more emphasis on cutting off the flow of human resources, i.e., through counter-recruitment work and school demilitarization work. That's something that the media, Congress and the next president would not be able to ignore the way they have ignored antiwar marches and demonstrations.
Rick
P.S. If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in a piece I wrote on this that was picked up by Znet and a few other publications: http://www.projectyano.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=1
Activists seek to counter military recruiters on L.A. campuses (from Lyell T)
“Group will ask school officials for access to high school facilities. But some say their message is controversial.”
By Seema Mehta Los Angeles Times, June 9 2008
Troubled by military recruiting at Los Angeles high schools, activists are seeking equal access to students on campus to provide what they say is unvarnished information about the armed forces and information about nonmilitary careers.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-recruit9-2008jun09,0,7576883.story
Youth Against War and Racism
16th walkout of 125 students against the Iraq war and military recruitment ... Youth Against War and Racism is a growing national network of youth activists ...
www.yawr.org/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Youth Against War and Racism
If we build antiwar groups like Youth Against War and Racism in thousands ... consciously targeting poor and working-class youth for military recruitment. ...
www.yawr.org/nov2/milout-povdraft.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
More results from www.yawr.org »
MySpace.com - YOUTH AGAINST WAR & RACISM - MN - 20 - Male ...
Youth in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area interested in fighting back against the occupation of Iraq and against military recruitment in our schools! ...
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=67164433 - 161k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
For an international mobilization of workers and youth against the ...
Jan 22, 2007 ... In Iraq itself, most people not only want an end to the military ..... people and youth against the entire political establishment and the ...
www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/war-j22.shtml - 39k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Keep Building Youth Against War and Racism
Youth Against War and Racism began in the fall of 2004 when three high school members of Socialist Alternative started to organize against military ...
www.socialistalternative.org/news/article13.php?id=32 - 19k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
On the Fringe » Blog Archive » Youth Against War and Racism ...
Youth Against War and Racism is a counter-recruitment organization in ... board to place meaningful limits on the access of military recruiters to schools. ...
kvrx.org/onthefringe/?p=34 - 12k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
MANIFESTO AGAINST CONSCRIPTION AND THE MILITARY SYSTEM
(2) Against Conscription and the Military Training of Youth 1930, signed among others by Jane Addams, Paul Birukoff und Valentin Bulgakoff (secretaries of ...
www.peace.ca/manifestoagainstconscription.htm - 5k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
DAVID ROVICS’ “HALLIBURTON BOARDROOM”
(last night Peace Train played during CAT Message Board, instead of KXUA's audio. A couple of my favorites played, “Baghdad Suite”, and David Rovics’ “Halliburton Boardroom Massacre.” Jim Hale )
I joined the army when high school was through I didn’t know what else to do
Thought I’d take care of that traveling jones Then maybe take out some student loans
They sent me away to the land of the dead Where I didn’t know a word that they said
I got shot at a lot, I was nearly toast But its the ones that I killed that hurts the most Most
of the time I didnt know what was going on The rest of the time I knew there was something
going wrong Every reason we were there turned out to be a lie I thought of that each time I
saw another person die I was supposed to stay for a year, they kept me for four By the time
I got back home no one knew me anymore Of the man I once was there didnt seem to be a
trace And when I looked me in the mirror I didnt recognize my face I wasnt home too long
before the time that I fell ill It was like the air was thick as mud and I ached enough to kill I
didnt know Id been fighting in a nuclear war DU was in my blood and I was knocking on
deaths door I cant tell you how it felt to be betrayed at every turn Like the earth was spinning
backwards, like my heart began to burn Like I had to do something while I still had the strength
to stand While I still could run with a machine gun in my hand I thought of Halliburton and the
military brass And the things they get away with all for their ruling class But Im not a pawn and
I cant just let it be And if Im gonna die, Im gonna take some of them fuc*ers with me Ill spare
you the details, I did what I had to do Theres a boardroom blown to hell and soon I will be, too
You can say I lost it, you can say that Im insane But may no one ever say that my death was
in vain I joined the army when high school was through I didnt know what else to do.
ARTICLE ON COUNTER-RECRUITING
Here's a good article about countering military recruitment:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier103.html
NEW FILMS INSPIRING REFLECTION ABOUT JOINING UP FOR WAR
If young folks saw the testimonials of returning soldiers like this:
http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/rules-engagement-part-2/jon-turner/video)
they might think twice about joining.
The movie "Redacted" would also be good to show to youngsters considering joining up.
(Article and films from Bill O.)
Also see “The Valley of Elah” and “Stop Loss.”
BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL VERSUS MARINE RECRUITING STATION
February 14, 2008
Dear Dick,
Watch veterans and youth speak out in our video, and sign our petition!
In the early hours of yesterday morning, we witnessed a historical moment in the anti-war struggle. The Berkeley City Council withstood thousands of hate-filled emails, threats to cut off state and federal funds, hundreds of irate pro-war activists descending on their town insisting they were anti-troops. They stood firm in their opposition to a Marine Recruiting Station in the heart of their peace-loving city. Yesterday as we gathered to celebrate, the City Council expressed their gratitude of the resolve and tenacity of CODEPINK. Finally people in power modeling for Congress how to choose peace, instead of trembling in fear as the right hurls insults and threats.
Help us spread this campaign and sign our pledge of resistance to military recruiting and war and watch the video of youth and veterans speaking out for peace in Berkeley!
Today, CODEPINKers and friends are holding "kiss-ins" at recruiting centers around the country with the message, "Don't Enlist, Stay and Kiss (”That Way Everyone Makes Out!" Of course, these actions are energized by the recent landmark actions in Berkeley. We are using the creative power of love to combat the destructive power of war. How better to celebrate Valentine's Day?!
Standing strong, with hearts wide open,
Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Liz, Medea, Nancy and Rae
Sign our pledge of resistance to military recruiting and the war!
“IT’S MY LIFE! A GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVES AFTER HIGH SCHOOL”, from the AFSC for young people who aren’t ready to make a decision about their future. Chapters on training and apprenticeships, travel, national service, social activism, “green” careers, paying for college, and more. 89pp. $9.95. www.afsc.org/store; www.afsc.org/itsmylife
GI Rights Hotline website is www.girightshotline.org . The
phone numbers are 877-447-4487, and in Alaska 888-554-2822 or
907-374-2822. It is a network of non-profit, nongovernmental agencies
which provides information to members of the military about
conscientious objection, discharges, grievance and complaint procedures
and other civil rights; and information for people in the Delayed
Enlistment Program.
CONTACT THE PRINCIPAL OF YOUR HIGH SCHOOL. FORM A GROUP OF PARENTS TO EXPOSE RECRUTING PRACTICES. COUNTER-RECRUITING SHOULD BE AN IMPORTANT PART OF OMNI’S COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-WAR STRATEGY.
OMNI NEEDS A COUNTER-RECRUITING COORDINATOR. Contact Gladys Tiffany.
END OF OMNI’S NEWSLETTER #1 ON COUNTER-RECRUITING
6-13-08
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Thursday, June 12, 2008
House of Representatives sends 35 articles of impeachment to Judiciary Committee
By a bipartisan vote of 251-166, the full House of Representatives sent Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.
That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.
Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.
So what will Conyers do? After the Downing Street Memo was published on May 1, 2005, Democrats.com worked closely with Conyers to hold the famous basement hearings featuring Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, and John Bonifaz. In August 2006, Conyers published all of the evidence of Bush's crimes in The Constitution in Crisis. Many of us believed he would begin impeachment proceedings if Democrats won the House, which they did that November.
But in the spring of 2006, Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table." And when Democrats took control and Conyers was sworn in as Judiciary Chairman, he fell firmly into line behind the Speaker. (Conyers insists Pelosi did not threaten to deny him the Chairmanship.)
Since 2005, Conyers has received millions of impeachment petitions. Hundreds if not thousands of activists have spoken to him personally. But he remains adamantly opposed to hearings, for one simple reason: he fears it will hurt the Democratic candidate for President (now Barack Obama) in November.
http://www.democrats.com/house-sends-impeachment-to-john-conyers
© 2008 Microsoft
That means Chairman John Conyers now has the power to decide whether to hold impeachment hearings - or not.
Incredibly, 24 Republicans voted with 227 Democrats; the 166 no votes came exclusively from Republicans.
So what will Conyers do? After the Downing Street Memo was published on May 1, 2005, Democrats.com worked closely with Conyers to hold the famous basement hearings featuring Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, and John Bonifaz. In August 2006, Conyers published all of the evidence of Bush's crimes in The Constitution in Crisis. Many of us believed he would begin impeachment proceedings if Democrats won the House, which they did that November.
But in the spring of 2006, Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table." And when Democrats took control and Conyers was sworn in as Judiciary Chairman, he fell firmly into line behind the Speaker. (Conyers insists Pelosi did not threaten to deny him the Chairmanship.)
Since 2005, Conyers has received millions of impeachment petitions. Hundreds if not thousands of activists have spoken to him personally. But he remains adamantly opposed to hearings, for one simple reason: he fears it will hurt the Democratic candidate for President (now Barack Obama) in November.
http://www.democrats.com/house-sends-impeachment-to-john-conyers
© 2008 Microsoft
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Kucinich, Wexler pushing for impeachment
Last night, Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced the first Articles of Impeachment ever to be introduced against President Bush. It includes, in total, thirty-five Articles detailing this Administration's blatant abuse of power. Today, I enthusiastically co-sponsored this vitally important bill.
I am grateful for Dennis' leadership on this issue and for the steadfast support that countless Americans have given to both of our efforts to redeem our government and expose the crimes of Bush and Cheney.
I will now expand my efforts to secure impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee for these new Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.
Many of the charges against President Bush are well known – and would shock the conscience of everyday Americans if only the national media would be willing to report on these stark facts.
The Articles present a stunning narrative of offenses that have go well beyond previous crimes committed by any US chief executive. In fact no President or Vice President in history has done more to undermine our constitution.
These charges are broad, with 35 separate allegations including the deliberate lies regarding WMDs that led us to war and the approval of illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The Articles also include new allegations of high crimes – including the explicit approval for high Administration officials to violate treaties and US law banning the use of torture.
The Democratic Party gained a majority in the House and Senate due in large part to our promises to end the corruption of the Republican majority and to hold the Administration accountable to the law. This courageous bill is a crucial step towards fulfilling this promise, but – like the Articles against Cheney – they require your support to convince Democrats and open-minded Republicans to support this bold but necessary action.
Time is running out so we must work together to spread the message and apply pressure.
First, please encourage your friends and family members to sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com – as it will allow us to keep in touch with you and speak to a wider audience. If you haven't yet put in your phone and address, please sign up again, as we will be doing telephone town halls in the near future.
Second, call your representative and urge them to support Impeachment hearings.
Finally, contact newspapers, news stations, and your favorite bloggers and urge them to report on this movement. We need to keep Impeachment a significant news story until the Democratic leadership sees the value in it.
McClellan Agrees to Testify:
I was pleased to inform you yesterday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers met my call to have Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify under oath. I am thrilled to inform you that McClellan has agreed to testify on June 20th at 10AM. This will be the first step in what we hope will be ongoing and deepening examinations of the stark evidence and charges against both President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Thank you for your continued passion and advocacy. Your support means so much to me.
Sincerely,
Congressman Robert Wexler
I am grateful for Dennis' leadership on this issue and for the steadfast support that countless Americans have given to both of our efforts to redeem our government and expose the crimes of Bush and Cheney.
I will now expand my efforts to secure impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee for these new Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.
Many of the charges against President Bush are well known – and would shock the conscience of everyday Americans if only the national media would be willing to report on these stark facts.
The Articles present a stunning narrative of offenses that have go well beyond previous crimes committed by any US chief executive. In fact no President or Vice President in history has done more to undermine our constitution.
These charges are broad, with 35 separate allegations including the deliberate lies regarding WMDs that led us to war and the approval of illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The Articles also include new allegations of high crimes – including the explicit approval for high Administration officials to violate treaties and US law banning the use of torture.
The Democratic Party gained a majority in the House and Senate due in large part to our promises to end the corruption of the Republican majority and to hold the Administration accountable to the law. This courageous bill is a crucial step towards fulfilling this promise, but – like the Articles against Cheney – they require your support to convince Democrats and open-minded Republicans to support this bold but necessary action.
Time is running out so we must work together to spread the message and apply pressure.
First, please encourage your friends and family members to sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com – as it will allow us to keep in touch with you and speak to a wider audience. If you haven't yet put in your phone and address, please sign up again, as we will be doing telephone town halls in the near future.
Second, call your representative and urge them to support Impeachment hearings.
Finally, contact newspapers, news stations, and your favorite bloggers and urge them to report on this movement. We need to keep Impeachment a significant news story until the Democratic leadership sees the value in it.
McClellan Agrees to Testify:
I was pleased to inform you yesterday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers met my call to have Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify under oath. I am thrilled to inform you that McClellan has agreed to testify on June 20th at 10AM. This will be the first step in what we hope will be ongoing and deepening examinations of the stark evidence and charges against both President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Thank you for your continued passion and advocacy. Your support means so much to me.
Sincerely,
Congressman Robert Wexler
Monday, June 9, 2008
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OMNI NEWSLETTER ON HUMAN RIGHTS JUNE 8, 2008
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 6/08/08 1:10 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
Security scan upon download
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OMNI NEWSLETTER, SPECIAL NUMBER ON the UNITED STATES VERSUS HUMAN RIGHTS, June 8, 2008, Compiled by Dick Bennett
See OMNI’s newsletters on Terror, Torture, and other related subjects.
Building a Culture of Peace Through Justice.
These materials enable us better to be WE, THE PEOPLE, informed citizens demanding a constitutional democracy.
“Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment; and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” G. B. Shaw.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
CONTENTS
I. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR)60TH ANNIVERSARY
Human Rights Organizations
II. USA and HUMAN RIGHTS
US Withdraws from UN Human Rights Council
US Exceptionalism
Guantanamo (3)
US and Habeas Corpus
[For remaining contents go to www.omnicenter.org]
Death Penalty: ABA
Death Penalty: NWA, John Threet
Human Rights Week 2008 at UA
Graffiti Prosecutions
I. UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHT 60TH ANNIVERSARY
Dear Dick,
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude...."
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
These fundamental principles are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the milestone document that for the first time set forth specific rights to which every individual is entitled. Although this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Declaration, its ideals remain far from reality in too many places.
This 60th anniversary year provides an important opportunity to renew America's commitment to the Declaration, and you can help by urging your Representative to cosponsor H. Con. Res. 332, which calls on all countries to reaffirm their commitment to the Declaration's principles of freedom and equality.
UNA-USA member Margaret "Molly" Bruce has a unique perspective on the Declaration, having worked with Eleanor Roosevelt and others in drafting the historic document. "Anniversaries," she observes, "encourage us to review the past, evaluate the present and assess the future in the light of history." While acknowledging the widespread human rights abuses that continue today, Mrs. Bruce nevertheless stresses, "Governments, however, can be pressured, they can change, and they can be swayed by the force of public opinion at home and abroad."
That Means You Can Make a Difference! To ACT NOW, click here.
HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST (orig. Lawyers Committee for Human Rights)
Human Rights First | Home Page
Human Rights First is a human rights advocacy group working on issues related to: refugees, civil liberties after September 11, Darfur, discrimination, ...
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Staff
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Contact Us
Board of Directors
About Human Rights Defenders
Contribute
More results from humanrightsfirst.org »
Human Rights First | About Us - Internship program
Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled ...
www.humanrightsfirst.org/about_us/jobs/interns.htm - 27k - Cached - Similar pages
Human Rights First - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Founded in 1978, Human Rights First also works on a range of other issues, including asylum seekers in the United States, international refugee policy, ...
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Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide
Home page for Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists ...
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Human Rights Watch: Women's Human Rights (Discrimination ...
The Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch fights against the dehumanization and marginalization of women. We promote women's equal rights and human ...
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Human Rights Watch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ...
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American Civil Liberties Union
National organization advocating individual rights, by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual ...
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American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization which focuses on ...
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American Civil Liberties Union
This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU ... Learn more about the distinction between these two components of the ACLU. ...
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S National Casework Program has some 600 groups in the US engaged on specific long-term cases. To learn more and join the Freedom Writer’s network, call 404-876-5661, or e-mail: casework@iusa.org
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUSES in both houses of Congress since at least FEBRUARY 15, 2006 according to http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=251635
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS BECOMES BICAMERAL
Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Human Rights Caucus, a bipartisan organization in the House of Representatives, is expanding to the U.S. Senate for the first time in its 23-year history. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) will co-chair the Senate Caucus.
The Caucus, currently with 240 House members, was founded in 1983 by Co-Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) and former Co-Chairman John Edward Porter (R-IL). The Caucus welcomed Congressmen Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) as Co-Chair in 2001 when Porter retired. Porter continues to serve as honorary co-chair.
As a long-time supporter of human rights, I am delighted that the Senate will have a forum devoted to shedding light on human rights abuses around the world. It is my hope that this caucus will influence US foreign policy that will advance human rights throughout the world,†said Senate Co-Chair Harkin.
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS (CHRC)
Created in 1983, the CHRC is the leading voice in Congress on human rights issues as defined in the UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
ACTION; Urge Rep. John Boozman to join the Caucus, at 202-225-4301. And write his staff: they follow Boozman’s limited vision, but because they can also influence him we need to educate them. Write Cong. Boozman and his staff regularly. They hear mainly from people who agree with his values.
II. USA and HUMAN RIGHTS
See OMNI’s Newsletters on Torture.
US WITHDRAWS FROM UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Google news has at least 7 news articles about this matter at the following link http://news.google.com/news?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&tab=wn&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1219826754
June 7, 2008 3:40 PM | permalink
The US has pulled out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, "an international body within the United Nations System. Its stated purpose is to address human rights violations."
The news that the US has completely withdrawn from the Human Rights Council spread like wildfire Friday afternoon (June 6) through the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There was general consternation amongst diplomats and NGOS. Reached by phone, the American mission in Geneva neither confirmed nor denied the report. Although unofficial, the news comes at a time of long opposition by the Bush administration to the reforms which created the Human Rights Council in June 2006. Washington announced from the beginning that the US would not be an active member but its observer status would mean that it could intervene during the sessions. To date even this has rarely happened.
Link (from Chris)
HRW slams US over disengagement from UN Rights Council
Hindu, India - Jun 6, 2008
New York (PTI): A prominent international human rights watchdog has slammed the United States for its decision to disengage entirely from the United Nations ...
US EXCEPTIONALISM
US policies can be better understood in the context of the old, deeply
ingrained belief by the people of the US in the unique superiority of the USA. A good source for understanding is American Exceptionalism and Human Rights edited by Michael Ignatieff. This conviction, or hubris, enables our leaders to exempt the nation from international conventions and treaties by reservation, nonratification, or noncompliance; to employ double standards of judging the nation and its friends by more permissive criteria than it does its enemies; and to deny jurisdiction to international laws within its own domestic law. Recently a writer in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (4-14-08) justified the establishment of the U.S. military’s new African Command as necessary to “make [Africa] less vulnerable to extremists.” Obviously the writer did not consider the fact and the global perception of the US as itself extremist, itself the greatest example today of State Terror.
Subscribe to WILLIAM BLUM, Anti-Empire Report,
http://killinghope.org/aer57.htm
GUANTANAMO: January 11, December 5
Take Action, Defend International Law, the International Declaration on Human Rights, Geneva Conventions, the U. S. Bill of Rights
Donate | Calendar | Local Groups | Store
January 9, 2008
Dear Dick,
Last year at this time, the three of us were in Guantanamo, Cuba with former detainee Asif Iqbal and the mother and brother of detainee Omar Deghayes. Omar's mother, Zohar, had not seen her son in five years. When we got to the gates of the U.S. Naval Base to stage our protest, she broke down. "It breaks my heart to think of my son in a cramped narrow cell without sunshine or fresh air, living for so many years in conditions not even fit for animals," she cried.
Omar grew up in Brighton, England, where he studied law. In 2001 he traveled to Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he married and had a son. When war broke out in Afghanistan, he fled with his family to Pakistan, planning to return to England. But he was arrested, reportedly for a bounty of $5,000, and sent to Guantanamo. Omar says he was beaten repeatedly and kept in solitary confinement for eight months. In March 2004, when he protested a body cavity search, five guards pepper sprayed him so badly, he lost sight in one eye.
After six years of horrendous detention without charges or a trial, Omar was finally released on December 18, 2007. While we join his family in celebrating his release, we know over 300 prisoners still remain in Guantanamo, subjected to the same abuses and utter disregard for due process.
January 11 marks the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. CODEPINK is organizing a protest in Miami outside the Southern Command, which runs the prison. For a list of dozens of local protests across the country, click here. If you can't join a protest, please take a moment to call (202-353-1555) or write Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Demand that Guantanamo prison be shut down, and that all detainees either be charged and tried in US federal courts or released.
[Let’s make every day Shut Down Guantanamo Day. Dick]
Upon Omar's release from prison, he wrote the following note to CODEPINK:
"I thank everyone from America who has written and emailed my family for my release. I do not have hatred toward Americans. I know that not all Americans are bad. Even inside the prison, some guards were not bad.
I thank you for your support and ask that you continue to work hard to ensure that due process is provided for all prisoners and to force the closing of the prison in Guantanamo."
If you would like a write a note of apology to Omar or his mother, Zohra, you can send it to info@codepinkalert.org.
Let's begin the new year by demanding that our government respect the rule of law. [Let’s continue this protest here in Arkansas. Dick]
With justice for all,
Call (202-353-1555)
or write
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and demand that Guantanamo prison be shut down, and that all detainees either be charged and tried in US federal prisons or released
http://ccrjustice.org/
Guantanamo Detainees' Fates on Trial
Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: The upcoming Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush will decide whether Guantanamo detainees will still have a right to habeas corpus.
Human Rights Crusader Michael Ratner: We'll Keep Going After Bush and Cheney When They Leave Office
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear the next major challenge to Bush's imperial power grab, AlterNet talks with Michael Ratner, who has been at the center of the battle over the administration's human rights assault. Read more » http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/69421/
GUANTANAMO AND HABEAS CORPUS
center
for
constitutional
rights
Dear Dick,
Tomorrow, December 5, the Center for Constitutional Rights will return to the Supreme Court for part III of what The New York Times has called "the most important civil rights case in 50 years." Please go to our website to learn more about the arguments and principles at stake in this Guantánamo case.You can also listen to the arguments in real time tomorrow on C-SPAN radio beginning at 11:15 EST.
In the lead up to this historic argument, CCR has been undertaking a major campaign to highlight the importance of this case. As part of this campaign we produced a television ad featuring actor and activist Danny Glover speaking about Bush administration's destruction of the Constitution. This ad was rejected by Fox News, their explanation being that we could "not document that Bush is in fact 'destroying' the Constitution." It is airing tonight in the DC area on CNN and MSNBC.
Read more and watch the video.
But the serious story behind the ad is CCR's historic case before the Supreme Court, which will in all likelihood determine once and for all whether there is a constitutional right to habeas corpus - that is, a fair hearing before a real court - for everyone detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.
Read more about Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush here.
This new case goes Beyond Guantánamo - we are directly challenging President Bush's unprecedented power grab, his use of torture in violation of domestic and international law, and his assertion that he can hold anyone indefinitely anywhere in the world on his word alone. The case also challenges the 2006 Republican Congress's attempt to clear his way with its passage of the Military Commissions Act.
In 2004, CCR won the first Guantánamo Supreme Court case - Rasul v. Bush - when the Supreme Court ruled that the men at Guantánamo have the fundamental right to challenge their detention.
Even though you're not in D.C. to see the arguments, you can still take action to make sure that our rights - and our Constitution - are rescued from the hands of the Bush administration, where they have been systematically shredded for the past seven years:
Send President Bush a copy of the Constitution (something he seems to have forgotten about);
Watch the controversial video with Danny Glover that was rejected by Fox News;
Watch other videos of Eve Ensler and Vanessa Redgrave speaking out against Guantánamo and forward them to your friends and family; or
Attend a local event tomorrow, check our calendar of events for actions near you.
We need your help to restore the damage done to our most basic rights: join us today and take action to Rescue the Constitution. Let's move Beyond Guantánamo.
Take
Action
Donate
To unsubscribe from this list reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line
Center for Constitutional Rights ll 666 Broadway 7th floor NY, NY 10012 ll 212-614-6464 ll www.ccrjustice.org
GUANTANAMO
Heart-wrenching accounts of individual cases of U.S. violations of prisoner rights would fill a warehouse of volumes. The Columbia Journalism Review (July-Aug. 2007) recently told about Sami al-Haj. Read it and weep. “Prisoner 345: What Happened to Al Jazeera’s Sami al-Haj” by Rachel Morris. One day he was arrested and six years later he is still at Guantanamo along with other detainees asking why they have been held there for so long without trial; that is, without any way to fairly determine whether they belong there.
Poems from Guantanamo, ed. Marc Falcoff. Thousands of lines were censored out by US Army, yet these poems remain powerful witnesses to the cruelty of that torture prison.
For the rest of this Newsletter go to OMNI’s website: www.omnicenter.org
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
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OMNI NEWSLETTER ON HUMAN RIGHTS JUNE 8, 2008
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sun 6/08/08 1:10 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
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OMNI NEWSLETTER, SPECIAL NUMBER ON the UNITED STATES VERSUS HUMAN RIGHTS, June 8, 2008, Compiled by Dick Bennett
See OMNI’s newsletters on Terror, Torture, and other related subjects.
Building a Culture of Peace Through Justice.
These materials enable us better to be WE, THE PEOPLE, informed citizens demanding a constitutional democracy.
“Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment; and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” G. B. Shaw.
SENATOR LINCOLN (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371.
Fayetteville office: 251-1380
Senator Mark Pryor: Phone: (202) 224-2353 Fax: (202) 228-0908
CONGRESSMAN Boozman: Lowell office: 479-725-0400.
DC address: 1708 Longworth House Office Bldng., Washington, DC 20515; 202-225-4301.
CONTENTS
I. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR)60TH ANNIVERSARY
Human Rights Organizations
II. USA and HUMAN RIGHTS
US Withdraws from UN Human Rights Council
US Exceptionalism
Guantanamo (3)
US and Habeas Corpus
[For remaining contents go to www.omnicenter.org]
Death Penalty: ABA
Death Penalty: NWA, John Threet
Human Rights Week 2008 at UA
Graffiti Prosecutions
I. UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHT 60TH ANNIVERSARY
Dear Dick,
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude...."
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
These fundamental principles are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the milestone document that for the first time set forth specific rights to which every individual is entitled. Although this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Declaration, its ideals remain far from reality in too many places.
This 60th anniversary year provides an important opportunity to renew America's commitment to the Declaration, and you can help by urging your Representative to cosponsor H. Con. Res. 332, which calls on all countries to reaffirm their commitment to the Declaration's principles of freedom and equality.
UNA-USA member Margaret "Molly" Bruce has a unique perspective on the Declaration, having worked with Eleanor Roosevelt and others in drafting the historic document. "Anniversaries," she observes, "encourage us to review the past, evaluate the present and assess the future in the light of history." While acknowledging the widespread human rights abuses that continue today, Mrs. Bruce nevertheless stresses, "Governments, however, can be pressured, they can change, and they can be swayed by the force of public opinion at home and abroad."
That Means You Can Make a Difference! To ACT NOW, click here.
HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST (orig. Lawyers Committee for Human Rights)
Human Rights First | Home Page
Human Rights First is a human rights advocacy group working on issues related to: refugees, civil liberties after September 11, Darfur, discrimination, ...
www.humanrightsfirst.org/ - 36k - Cached - Similar pages
About Us
Staff
Law & Security
Contact Us
Board of Directors
About Human Rights Defenders
Contribute
More results from humanrightsfirst.org »
Human Rights First | About Us - Internship program
Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled ...
www.humanrightsfirst.org/about_us/jobs/interns.htm - 27k - Cached - Similar pages
Human Rights First - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Founded in 1978, Human Rights First also works on a range of other issues, including asylum seekers in the United States, international refugee policy, ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_First - 18k - Cached - Similar pages
Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide
Home page for Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists ...
www.hrw.org/ - 35k - Cached - Similar pages
Employment
Africa
Asia
Middle East
About Us
Americas
Contact Us
Publications
Human Rights Watch: Women's Human Rights (Discrimination ...
The Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch fights against the dehumanization and marginalization of women. We promote women's equal rights and human ...
www.hrw.org/women/ - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
Human Rights Watch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch - 67k - Cached - Similar pages
American Civil Liberties Union
National organization advocating individual rights, by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual ...
www.aclu.org/ - 29k - Cached - Similar pages
About Us
Contact
News
Donate Online
Action Center
Religion and Belief
Criminal Justice
Immigrants Rights
More results from aclu.org »
American Civil Liberties Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization which focuses on ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACLU - 119k - Cached - Similar pages
American Civil Liberties Union
This is the Web site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU ... Learn more about the distinction between these two components of the ACLU. ...
www.aclu.com/ - 29k - Cached - Similar pages
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S National Casework Program has some 600 groups in the US engaged on specific long-term cases. To learn more and join the Freedom Writer’s network, call 404-876-5661, or e-mail: casework@iusa.org
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUSES in both houses of Congress since at least FEBRUARY 15, 2006 according to http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=251635
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS BECOMES BICAMERAL
Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Human Rights Caucus, a bipartisan organization in the House of Representatives, is expanding to the U.S. Senate for the first time in its 23-year history. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) will co-chair the Senate Caucus.
The Caucus, currently with 240 House members, was founded in 1983 by Co-Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) and former Co-Chairman John Edward Porter (R-IL). The Caucus welcomed Congressmen Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) as Co-Chair in 2001 when Porter retired. Porter continues to serve as honorary co-chair.
As a long-time supporter of human rights, I am delighted that the Senate will have a forum devoted to shedding light on human rights abuses around the world. It is my hope that this caucus will influence US foreign policy that will advance human rights throughout the world,†said Senate Co-Chair Harkin.
CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS (CHRC)
Created in 1983, the CHRC is the leading voice in Congress on human rights issues as defined in the UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
ACTION; Urge Rep. John Boozman to join the Caucus, at 202-225-4301. And write his staff: they follow Boozman’s limited vision, but because they can also influence him we need to educate them. Write Cong. Boozman and his staff regularly. They hear mainly from people who agree with his values.
II. USA and HUMAN RIGHTS
See OMNI’s Newsletters on Torture.
US WITHDRAWS FROM UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Google news has at least 7 news articles about this matter at the following link http://news.google.com/news?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&tab=wn&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1219826754
June 7, 2008 3:40 PM | permalink
The US has pulled out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, "an international body within the United Nations System. Its stated purpose is to address human rights violations."
The news that the US has completely withdrawn from the Human Rights Council spread like wildfire Friday afternoon (June 6) through the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There was general consternation amongst diplomats and NGOS. Reached by phone, the American mission in Geneva neither confirmed nor denied the report. Although unofficial, the news comes at a time of long opposition by the Bush administration to the reforms which created the Human Rights Council in June 2006. Washington announced from the beginning that the US would not be an active member but its observer status would mean that it could intervene during the sessions. To date even this has rarely happened.
Link (from Chris)
HRW slams US over disengagement from UN Rights Council
Hindu, India - Jun 6, 2008
New York (PTI): A prominent international human rights watchdog has slammed the United States for its decision to disengage entirely from the United Nations ...
US EXCEPTIONALISM
US policies can be better understood in the context of the old, deeply
ingrained belief by the people of the US in the unique superiority of the USA. A good source for understanding is American Exceptionalism and Human Rights edited by Michael Ignatieff. This conviction, or hubris, enables our leaders to exempt the nation from international conventions and treaties by reservation, nonratification, or noncompliance; to employ double standards of judging the nation and its friends by more permissive criteria than it does its enemies; and to deny jurisdiction to international laws within its own domestic law. Recently a writer in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (4-14-08) justified the establishment of the U.S. military’s new African Command as necessary to “make [Africa] less vulnerable to extremists.” Obviously the writer did not consider the fact and the global perception of the US as itself extremist, itself the greatest example today of State Terror.
Subscribe to WILLIAM BLUM, Anti-Empire Report,
http://killinghope.org/aer57.htm
GUANTANAMO: January 11, December 5
Take Action, Defend International Law, the International Declaration on Human Rights, Geneva Conventions, the U. S. Bill of Rights
Donate | Calendar | Local Groups | Store
January 9, 2008
Dear Dick,
Last year at this time, the three of us were in Guantanamo, Cuba with former detainee Asif Iqbal and the mother and brother of detainee Omar Deghayes. Omar's mother, Zohar, had not seen her son in five years. When we got to the gates of the U.S. Naval Base to stage our protest, she broke down. "It breaks my heart to think of my son in a cramped narrow cell without sunshine or fresh air, living for so many years in conditions not even fit for animals," she cried.
Omar grew up in Brighton, England, where he studied law. In 2001 he traveled to Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he married and had a son. When war broke out in Afghanistan, he fled with his family to Pakistan, planning to return to England. But he was arrested, reportedly for a bounty of $5,000, and sent to Guantanamo. Omar says he was beaten repeatedly and kept in solitary confinement for eight months. In March 2004, when he protested a body cavity search, five guards pepper sprayed him so badly, he lost sight in one eye.
After six years of horrendous detention without charges or a trial, Omar was finally released on December 18, 2007. While we join his family in celebrating his release, we know over 300 prisoners still remain in Guantanamo, subjected to the same abuses and utter disregard for due process.
January 11 marks the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. CODEPINK is organizing a protest in Miami outside the Southern Command, which runs the prison. For a list of dozens of local protests across the country, click here. If you can't join a protest, please take a moment to call (202-353-1555) or write Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Demand that Guantanamo prison be shut down, and that all detainees either be charged and tried in US federal courts or released.
[Let’s make every day Shut Down Guantanamo Day. Dick]
Upon Omar's release from prison, he wrote the following note to CODEPINK:
"I thank everyone from America who has written and emailed my family for my release. I do not have hatred toward Americans. I know that not all Americans are bad. Even inside the prison, some guards were not bad.
I thank you for your support and ask that you continue to work hard to ensure that due process is provided for all prisoners and to force the closing of the prison in Guantanamo."
If you would like a write a note of apology to Omar or his mother, Zohra, you can send it to info@codepinkalert.org.
Let's begin the new year by demanding that our government respect the rule of law. [Let’s continue this protest here in Arkansas. Dick]
With justice for all,
Call (202-353-1555)
or write
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and demand that Guantanamo prison be shut down, and that all detainees either be charged and tried in US federal prisons or released
http://ccrjustice.org/
Guantanamo Detainees' Fates on Trial
Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: The upcoming Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush will decide whether Guantanamo detainees will still have a right to habeas corpus.
Human Rights Crusader Michael Ratner: We'll Keep Going After Bush and Cheney When They Leave Office
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear the next major challenge to Bush's imperial power grab, AlterNet talks with Michael Ratner, who has been at the center of the battle over the administration's human rights assault. Read more » http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/69421/
GUANTANAMO AND HABEAS CORPUS
center
for
constitutional
rights
Dear Dick,
Tomorrow, December 5, the Center for Constitutional Rights will return to the Supreme Court for part III of what The New York Times has called "the most important civil rights case in 50 years." Please go to our website to learn more about the arguments and principles at stake in this Guantánamo case.You can also listen to the arguments in real time tomorrow on C-SPAN radio beginning at 11:15 EST.
In the lead up to this historic argument, CCR has been undertaking a major campaign to highlight the importance of this case. As part of this campaign we produced a television ad featuring actor and activist Danny Glover speaking about Bush administration's destruction of the Constitution. This ad was rejected by Fox News, their explanation being that we could "not document that Bush is in fact 'destroying' the Constitution." It is airing tonight in the DC area on CNN and MSNBC.
Read more and watch the video.
But the serious story behind the ad is CCR's historic case before the Supreme Court, which will in all likelihood determine once and for all whether there is a constitutional right to habeas corpus - that is, a fair hearing before a real court - for everyone detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo.
Read more about Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush here.
This new case goes Beyond Guantánamo - we are directly challenging President Bush's unprecedented power grab, his use of torture in violation of domestic and international law, and his assertion that he can hold anyone indefinitely anywhere in the world on his word alone. The case also challenges the 2006 Republican Congress's attempt to clear his way with its passage of the Military Commissions Act.
In 2004, CCR won the first Guantánamo Supreme Court case - Rasul v. Bush - when the Supreme Court ruled that the men at Guantánamo have the fundamental right to challenge their detention.
Even though you're not in D.C. to see the arguments, you can still take action to make sure that our rights - and our Constitution - are rescued from the hands of the Bush administration, where they have been systematically shredded for the past seven years:
Send President Bush a copy of the Constitution (something he seems to have forgotten about);
Watch the controversial video with Danny Glover that was rejected by Fox News;
Watch other videos of Eve Ensler and Vanessa Redgrave speaking out against Guantánamo and forward them to your friends and family; or
Attend a local event tomorrow, check our calendar of events for actions near you.
We need your help to restore the damage done to our most basic rights: join us today and take action to Rescue the Constitution. Let's move Beyond Guantánamo.
Take
Action
Donate
To unsubscribe from this list reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line
Center for Constitutional Rights ll 666 Broadway 7th floor NY, NY 10012 ll 212-614-6464 ll www.ccrjustice.org
GUANTANAMO
Heart-wrenching accounts of individual cases of U.S. violations of prisoner rights would fill a warehouse of volumes. The Columbia Journalism Review (July-Aug. 2007) recently told about Sami al-Haj. Read it and weep. “Prisoner 345: What Happened to Al Jazeera’s Sami al-Haj” by Rachel Morris. One day he was arrested and six years later he is still at Guantanamo along with other detainees asking why they have been held there for so long without trial; that is, without any way to fairly determine whether they belong there.
Poems from Guantanamo, ed. Marc Falcoff. Thousands of lines were censored out by US Army, yet these poems remain powerful witnesses to the cruelty of that torture prison.
For the rest of this Newsletter go to OMNI’s website: www.omnicenter.org
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Global warming called a war-generating machine
Global Warming is a war generating machine. Fight it to avoid more conflict.
Cutting back would hae been gentle if started iin 1990. Sarting cutting back this late, now, if to be successful - it's going to be really drastic. But even so, not as bad as the comnig Runaway Global Warming.
Harry Holloway
------------------------------------------------
Came from
aubrey@gci.org.uk
via GCN@igc.topica.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Various C&C News World Environment Day
[1] “The Age of Stupid”
Simply the best film on climate change ever made. The 'Age of Stupid'
was previewed to a selcted audience in London yesterday.
This full-length climate docu-drama is certainly informative. It is also
authentically hilarious yet gut-wrenching around the folly of our double
standards on the global impacts of poverty and climate change - now and
into the future.
The film's grim prognosis is seen ‘retrospectively’ by the actor Peter
Postlethwaite. He reviews the descent into the hell-on-earth of runaway
climate change from a specially created ‘future-archive for a failed
civilizations’ in the Artic Ocean.
Picking up the words of a Katrina survivor he asks ‘how could we have
been so stupid?’
The film recognises that the only serious proposal between now and that
prognosis-come-true is C&C.
As serious critical journalism, this film ranks with Naomi Klein, Robert
Fiske and a host of eminent others. But for relevance it outranks them
all as it understand the reality in the recent words about climate
change of James Hansen: - “The stakes, for all life on the planet,
surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued
ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
An extraordinarily effective piece of work. If five-stars is tops this
gets them all.
The general release date has not yet been revealed.
http://www.crudemovie.net/category/film
All this goes straight to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate
Change. The news from there is that the UK Climate Bill is back for
'debate' in the UK Parliament next week. Still without any coherent
methodology behind its numbers for emissions control, it is said the
Government want its 'Royal Assent' before summer recess [Mid July].
This UK 'uni-lateralism' is at odds with the debate beginning again in
the US Senate where, the Liebermann 'Climate Act' notwithstanding, the
demand for globality [this equals at least India and China on the
accounts] hasn't gone away and the 'pragmatic' C&C answer to this
stand-off has been upheld on both sides of that divide.
We are now beyond climate denial. So the severe and worsening problem
for us is 'picking emissions control numbers out-of-a-hat' . . . that
don't add up now to a coherently safe and stable ppmv outcome. With
Hansen calling for 350 ppmv [!] all out best local efforts will be
wasted in the large global failure that attends this absence.
As the film upholds, there is a way to address this - its called C&C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[2] Fair Shares Fair Choice: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/
A brilliant local campaign in the UK South West specifically based on
C&C: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/the_science.asp
. . . . has reached the support figure of 1,000 MPs and Councillors etc.
Here is the press release from Sustainability South West: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/press/Fair_Shares_Press_Release.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[3] Nice new website for the indefatigable C&C champion Mayer Hillman: -
http://www.mayerhillman.com/Articles/tabid/101/EntryID/51/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[4] A very funny and very clever critique of Foot-printing/C&C at ‘Cheat
Neutral’: -
http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/05/what-is-your-cheating-footprint/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[5] Some more C&C input to Government from: -
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30864.pdf [Plaid Cymru]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30744.pdf [Brecon Beacons]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file31378.pdf [Welsh Greens]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[6] Derek Wall of the UK Green Party – “C&C is Progress”!
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/06/permanent-revolution.html
Cutting back would hae been gentle if started iin 1990. Sarting cutting back this late, now, if to be successful - it's going to be really drastic. But even so, not as bad as the comnig Runaway Global Warming.
Harry Holloway
------------------------------------------------
Came from
aubrey@gci.org.uk
via GCN@igc.topica.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Various C&C News World Environment Day
[1] “The Age of Stupid”
Simply the best film on climate change ever made. The 'Age of Stupid'
was previewed to a selcted audience in London yesterday.
This full-length climate docu-drama is certainly informative. It is also
authentically hilarious yet gut-wrenching around the folly of our double
standards on the global impacts of poverty and climate change - now and
into the future.
The film's grim prognosis is seen ‘retrospectively’ by the actor Peter
Postlethwaite. He reviews the descent into the hell-on-earth of runaway
climate change from a specially created ‘future-archive for a failed
civilizations’ in the Artic Ocean.
Picking up the words of a Katrina survivor he asks ‘how could we have
been so stupid?’
The film recognises that the only serious proposal between now and that
prognosis-come-true is C&C.
As serious critical journalism, this film ranks with Naomi Klein, Robert
Fiske and a host of eminent others. But for relevance it outranks them
all as it understand the reality in the recent words about climate
change of James Hansen: - “The stakes, for all life on the planet,
surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued
ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
An extraordinarily effective piece of work. If five-stars is tops this
gets them all.
The general release date has not yet been revealed.
http://www.crudemovie.net/category/film
All this goes straight to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate
Change. The news from there is that the UK Climate Bill is back for
'debate' in the UK Parliament next week. Still without any coherent
methodology behind its numbers for emissions control, it is said the
Government want its 'Royal Assent' before summer recess [Mid July].
This UK 'uni-lateralism' is at odds with the debate beginning again in
the US Senate where, the Liebermann 'Climate Act' notwithstanding, the
demand for globality [this equals at least India and China on the
accounts] hasn't gone away and the 'pragmatic' C&C answer to this
stand-off has been upheld on both sides of that divide.
We are now beyond climate denial. So the severe and worsening problem
for us is 'picking emissions control numbers out-of-a-hat' . . . that
don't add up now to a coherently safe and stable ppmv outcome. With
Hansen calling for 350 ppmv [!] all out best local efforts will be
wasted in the large global failure that attends this absence.
As the film upholds, there is a way to address this - its called C&C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[2] Fair Shares Fair Choice: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/
A brilliant local campaign in the UK South West specifically based on
C&C: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/the_science.asp
. . . . has reached the support figure of 1,000 MPs and Councillors etc.
Here is the press release from Sustainability South West: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/press/Fair_Shares_Press_Release.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[3] Nice new website for the indefatigable C&C champion Mayer Hillman: -
http://www.mayerhillman.com/Articles/tabid/101/EntryID/51/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[4] A very funny and very clever critique of Foot-printing/C&C at ‘Cheat
Neutral’: -
http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/05/what-is-your-cheating-footprint/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[5] Some more C&C input to Government from: -
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30864.pdf [Plaid Cymru]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30744.pdf [Brecon Beacons]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file31378.pdf [Welsh Greens]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[6] Derek Wall of the UK Green Party – “C&C is Progress”!
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/06/permanent-revolution.html
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