Who Voted For This Knife in the Constitution's Gut?

Who Voted For This Knife in the Constitution's Gut?
Most Republicans; A Few Democrats

Senator Lindsey Graham's Constitution-killing amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act was proposed and passed with no real debate about its far-ranging implications - and it was passed without any hearings. Our troops are fighting for Iraq's freedom while Constitutional freedoms become more and more limited - with fear used as a political tool to convince citizens that it's necessary. The lack of discussion calls to mind the Iraq Resolution of 2002 when, absent of meaningful debate, an all too trusting Congress hurriedly provided Bush and Rumsfeld the authorization to "do the right thing." That was a big mistake. Will we keep letting Congress make these big mistakes until our freedom has vanished altogether?

The Democrats who voted for this Amendment should be scrutinized. Who are they?

-Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut
-Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana
-Ben Nelson of Nebraska
-Kent Conrad of North Dakota
-Ron Wyden of Oregon


Republicans who deserve credit for voting against the bill were:

-Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
-John E. Sununu of New Hampshire
-Gordon H. Smith of Oregon
-Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island

In blatant defiance of the Constitution's guarantees of Habeas Corpus and separation of powers, the Senate on Thursday approved the Graham Amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 49 to 42. Five Democrats joined all but 4 Republican Senators in giving the President unfettered power to hold prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for the rest of their lives, with no criminal charges, and no right to challenge their confinement by Habeas Corpus [...]

Only a handful of prisoners at Guantánamo have been charged with crimes. Their cases will be heard in military commissions that George W. Bush established to impose long sentences and even execute detainees with virtually no judicial oversight. Without habeas access to federal courts, Bush and Donald Rumsfeld will ostensibly serve as prosecutor, judge and executioner in the military commissions. This flies in the face of the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. - Marjorie Cohn, Truthout

Edwards on Iraq - Leave Behind Success, Not Failure

Edwards on Iraq - Leave Behind Success, Not Failure

In today's Washington Post, Senator John Edwards is telling you that if he knew then what we all know now about the deeply flawed and politically manipulated intelligence, he never would have voted for the Iraq resolution in 2002.

It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a dear price.

The world desperately needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth.

This could never have been easy for Senator Edwards to admit. Most political leaders in Washington still won't admit what we all can see - that they were mistaken. I admire Senator Edwards' honesty and humility. He's a man of outstanding moral character. It isn't the first time he's publically communicated his regret, and it may not be the last. It isn't so much the regret that we should focus upon - instead it is the ideas for bringing our troops home with full honor intact and with something we can all identify as "success" brought to Iraq that should be in focus.

I'd like all of my readers to put themselves in the position of being a responsible leader. All of you who've been calling for the troops to be sent home - what would you honestly do if you suddenly came to power? I've heard a lot of cocky answers on both sides of the political fence, but when I look reality straight in its face, the political leader who is speaking directly to my heart and mind is Senator Edwards.

The urgent question isn't how we got here but what we do now. We have to give our troops a way to end their mission honorably. That means leaving behind a success, not a failure.

Senator Edwards gives us a plan for success in Iraq, focusing on three interlocking objectives:

1. Reducing the American presence. (We've reached the point where the large number of our troops in Iraq hurts, not helps, our goals.)

2. Building Iraq's capacity. (A more effective training program for Iraqi forces, implementing a clear plan for training and hard deadlines for certain benchmarks to be met.)

3. Getting other countries to meet their responsibilities to help. (To create a unified international front.)

He honors the families who have lost their loved ones in this war by promising to implement clear plans for a definitive success, while removing the image of an imperialist America from the landscape of Iraq - even if that means asking American contractors who have taken unfair advantage of the turmoil in Iraq need to leave the country and hand the work over to Iraqi businesses.

More than 2,000 Americans have lost their lives in this war, and more than 150,000 are fighting there today. They and their families deserve honesty from our country's leaders. And they also deserve a clear plan for a way out.

I'm proud of Senator Edwards for sending this message to the people of America - to Washington D.C. - and to the world. Integrity, honesty, courage, humility, and truth are values that are largely missing in Washington D.C. today. Clear ideas born of ethics are even more of a rarity. Is it any wonder that our vision has been lost? The vision has been emptied of all the values that give meaning and moral force to it. I believe that Senator Edwards can bring the vision back and make it work.

Related:

Think Progress
One America
Oliver Willis
Atrios
David Sirota
AmericaBlog
Editor and Publisher
Blogcritics

Peter and Stirling Turn Up the Volume

Peter and Stirling Turn Up the Volume

Peter Daou has come up with a set of killer questions, and Stirling Newberry has come up with some compelling replies. We need to be having this conversation.

1. Now that we know more about his real views on Bush, Kerry, and war, is Pat Tillman considered a “moonbat” by the right, and is he now a liberal or a conservative hero? Or both?

Jude: Pat Tillman's image as an American athlete-turned military volunteer was used with gleeful partisan craftsmanship by the Right - until the story of the circumstances of Pat's death was widely spread and the Tillman family's reactions and opinions came to light. Then the "Sunshine patriots" of the extreme rightwing, who will hold a soldier to angelic heights only when he and his family agree to their unspoken and undemocratic vow of silence, turned on their destruction machinery. "Pat Tillman could not have been a patriot," the extremists would say. I'd love to spit in the faces of any partisan who would raise a young man to heroic heights and then sully his good name when his political opinions come to light. I see Pat Tillman as a human being - a caring and patriotic American who believed in a vision of America as an indivisible nation. He was lifted to "hero" status by Americans who place a high cultural value on athletes and soldiers. I don't think it's probable that Pat gave too much weight to the divisive political elements that exist today when he decided to join the Military. I think he was moved by all that he'd seen. I think he wanted to put an end to the power of fear that terrorism held over his country. I think he was a brave young man. In 2004, long before the truth came out about Pat's political beliefs, I had written this about him:

The cause in which his country was engaged mattered more to Pat than the dull emptiness of greed. It mattered more to Pat than life.

If Pat was a hero, then all soldiers are heroes. They all risk the same thing - their lives - for their coutry.


2. Do bloggers who oppose an immediate pullout from Iraq (on the grounds that more people will suffer there if we leave) think that preserving Iraqi lives is a priority for Americans? Assuming the blood, toil, and money being paid there are limited resources, might those resources be put to better use saving dying children or feeding the starving in places other than Iraq? And if this is about the Pottery Barn rule, is there a statute of limitations on that rule? What if we can't fix what's broken in Iraq? Is there a point at which we acknowledge we can't fix it and stop trying? Also, are there other things we've broken that we're obliged to fix? Is there a reason our limited resources should go to fixing Iraq and not saving poor, sick, and hungry children in America?

Jude: It sounds cold, but this is a question that necessitates cold answers. I believe that most Americans would not wish to see their sons and daughters risk their lives for a police-action in Iraq that could (and should) be accomplished effectively with an international effort. American opinion today tells us that our nation is headed in the wrong direction - 'the vision' is confusing - or gone. It's one of two choices: George W. Bush either doesn't want to follow an international code that would involve material multilateral cooperation - or else he has no clue how to make it happen. I think most of us see his leadership twisting in the wind because he is lost between the voices of Dick Cheney's office and the voices of the many experienced Military generals (ie: Gen Pace, Gen. Zinni) and ex-State officials who firmly speak against the kind of war his administration is executing. There is a clear "Disconnect" and the public knows it - and to see the President hurling careless anti-American accusations toward Democrats (as he did in his defensive speech yesterday) rather than admitting clear mistakes and moving toward national unity - - that's lazy, proud, defensive, shitty leadership. America deserves better! I don't know about an implied statute of limitations on the Pottery Barn rule, but I do know that we broke it, we bought it, and the American people were conned into it. In a business contract, that would be deemed as fraud - and fraud just might make that contract legally null and void. Yet, here we are - looking at real lives shattered by our nation's doing. Is our nation made weaker by admitting our mistakes and asking and convincing the international community to return with full cooperation - or are we made weaker by sending more troops into the biggest damned mistake-hole that an American President has ever dug for the American people? If the American people were to have a real debate and referendum on how their money would best be spent - - if we were encouraged to really talk about our common values - it is my opinion that the children in the homeless shelters today, along with their mothers, would be a higher priority than the Utopian goal of the PNAC (especially knowing that we, the people, were LIED to - our worst fears were exploited to take us to an elective war that was unjust and unnecessary).
Is it an American value to heap failure upon failure?


3. Is there truth to the argument that because some of our troops don't have a problem fighting in Iraq, anti-war activists have no business trying to protect these troops from themselves? Soldiers fight, it's what they do, it's what they train to do, it's what they volunteer to do. Should anti-war activists/bloggers distinguish between opposition to the Iraq invasion on moral and legal grounds as opposed to "protecting the troops," or "bringing the troops home?"

Jude: When I say I support the troops, I mean it in the fullness of the consideration of my personal value system. Do I want to see my fellow Americans sent to risk their lives for what I believe is against my values as an American citizen? Is it wrong to talk about our values in the public square in the face of a war that we are told will have no foreseeable end? In past wars (until Vietnam), Americans were made to understand the cause; were united in that cause; sacrificed as a nation for the cause. Today, the cause in Iraq - and how it applies to the overall war against terrorism - is fuzzy(at best); the richest Americans are richly rewarded rather than called upon for sacrifice; most citizens believe Bush is dishonest; only a small fraction of Americans believe the Iraq war was the right thing to do (the same crowd who believe that Darwin and Liberace brought God's wrath upon America); all the world can see the strategic mistakes that have been made; no one can foresee an end because there is no end game; most citizens understand that terrorism must be defeated, but the Iraq war has made terror recruitment a booming success (literally and figuratively). Spinning our wheels might be morally acceptable on matters of certain governmental policies, but when we begin spinning our wheels on the issue of a war in which our nation is engaged - and when divisive politics are employed by the Commander-in-chief as more troops die every day - something's terribly wrong. To answer the last question, bloggers and anti-Iraq-war activists should not just be complaining - they should be offering alternatives to what we are doing in Iraq today. The protests of the 1960s are not effective today because their collective message is often as unclear as the President's message on the war on terror. Americans have lost their vision - in good part because of poor leadership. Without a discussion of our common moral values - and how those values apply to the rule of law, anti-war activists will go on as they are today - marginalized; demeaned by the cheap soundbites of the Sean Hannitys and the Rush Limbaughs. If the President cannot convince the public that he has a clear vision, yet he still plays and preys upon their worst prejudices and fears, we are still here with a responsibility. We need to remind Americans that we have not lost confidence and hope that we are still one America in pursuit of democratic policy that takes into consideration the rule of law and the citizens' common values. We bloggers need to create a vision in the absence of a vision from our leaders.



4. Is the obsession with terrorism symptomatic of a deeper-seated fear? In 2004 I lived and worked a few blocks from the White House and today I live a couple of hundred yards from Ground Zero. Not exactly safe zones. But I never hear my friends and neighbors discussing terrorism. So why is it a predominant topic in the media and on blogs? Is death by terrorist attack qualitatively worse than death by other causes? Why not have hourly, daily, and weekly freak-outs about heart disease or cancer or drunk driving?

Jude: The obsession with terrorism has everything to do with human nature. People can be overly-reliant upon their government to erase their vulnerability, when it just isn't possible for any government to accomplish that. At the time of the 9/11 attack, my brother-in-law worked for Moody's Investors Services in the shadow of the towers in Manhattan and saw the whole thing with his every sense - he heard and he saw the planes and his fellow citizens falling from the sky - he smelled the inferno - he tasted the acrid smoke - he felt his feet tire from running and then wandering the city searching for a way to get back home to Queens. When I visit my family and speak with them, terrorism isn't something that they are frenzied about. All risk is a fact of life - especially in a city like New York. You're more likely to be run down by a cab or trip in the subway. Cancer is quietly taking the lives of millions of us. The political leaders of the Right have found what they once thought was a perfect tool to win elections: Fear. It's easy for political leaders to invoke 9/11 - and all the fear that comes with the territory - on Fox News around election-time and have a vulnerable-feeling parent in a Red state start to believe that Osama's coming to Fumbuck to blow up the bus depot. When will Americans stop accepting fear-mongering as a campaign tool? It seems like they've already begun their protest, if you look at the latest polls. Bush is being seen as a dishonest President who has cried "Wolf!" "Orange Alert!" far too often. I saw Mayor Bloomberg take part in the fear-mongering just after the 2004 Democratic Convention, and I found it to be a sickening sight, as did many other New Yorkers. Was a sense of vulnerability shattered after 9/11? You bet. Can anyone give us back our fantasy-based national sense of invulnerability after 9/11? Not a chance. Has the Republican party taken the fear-mongering too far? Yes, to a deliberate extent - with full cooperation of cable news media as they go into their own unique 'obsession-mode.'


*My replies have been linked at the Daou Report.
(to be cont'd soon - Questions 5-10)

Veterans Day - For Our Mil-Bloggers

Veterans Day - For Our Mil-Bloggers
On Veterans Day, I want to pay tribute to our Mil-bloggers, past and present.

Often, I realize that I sound irreverent about the Bush administration, and I realize that sort of public talk and behavior is not freely allowed within the ranks of active American military service. My irreverence is wholly packed with the punch of the truth from my standpoint of individual conscience. I am grateful for the fact that our men and women of the armed forces serve our nation trustingly and loyally and to them, I am reflecting that essence for which I know they risk everything. By exercising the right and privilege to speak as a free and honest American citizen, a large part of my goal is to watch over these soldiers and to ensure they are being given a fair shake by the government (and people) they serve to protect. I know that their lives depend upon the stability and wisdom of their commander in chief.

Today, I honor the following websites--all written by members, past or present, of our Armed Forces:

http://www.voiceofaveteran.blogspot.com/-I got to know Vet when we mutually supported Howard Dean. He is an important rational voice in the blogging community.

A big shout out to my co-blogger at Syracuse Progressive - milblogger Fred Bieling, who's currently serving with the New York State Army National Guard. I'm so glad Fred and I have become acquainted. He has a lot of writing talent. Check him out.



Colby's book

http://cbftw.blogspot.com/ - Colby (aka CB) was stationed in Mosul with the Stryker brigade. He writes with the heart of the philosopher. He was cut off from blogging by the powers that be for a short time, but now he's back with a book called My War. He's my favorite 'Charlie Bravo.'

http://docinthebox.blogspot.com/ - Sean is a Navy medic. He's articulate and his writing is very well thought out. (Even though he dreads what his high school English teacher might think if she were to gaze upon his blog).

http://lt-smash.us/ - Iraq war veteran and war blogger, now he's a stateside citizen. He has a group called Protest Warriors. Go here for a sample of his thoughts and the discourse that follows in the Comments section.

The Daily Brief (SSDB) -A collaborative blog discussing the conflict day-today. Pay Stryker, Kevin Connors, Sgt. Mom, and Sparkey a visit. Good, honest writing.

http://www.dogtulosba.com/ I got to know Chad when he came to Iddybud to straighten me out on my military terminology. (I suck at it). He's the expert, and I deferred to him. I also became a fan. Note: Chad gets my vote for the category of 'Best blogger smile'. ;)

http://www.cimoli.com/blog/cimoli_blog - Gordo is a US Army Aviator. He's been in the Army since August 1988 and has been all over the world from Panama to Canada. In iraq now, Gordo recently expressed concern that his unit's embedded reporter, CBS Bob, is leaving to head back to the states. He was their link to the world--he had the sattelite internet connection and could keep the soldiers up to date on what was going on in the world.

http://livefromiraq.blogspot.com/ -Sorry, folks. He's been shut down and shut up.

http://scrimshaw.blogspot.com/ -91 Ghost- A literary vet, who recently wrote: "Say a little prayer that our enemies shall be defeated, that our Republic shall flourish in the light of its Constitutional intentions and guidances, and that our leaders, whomsoever they may be, will have the wisdom and discretion to do the right thing, whatever that may be...and say a little prayer that our politicians, on either side of the aisle, will defer to our war chiefs when it comes to making war decisions...because this situation we are in, is not a football game. Say a little prayer, above all, for the soldier walking point tonight, and for the soldier laying up in Walter Reed tonight, and for those whose last sight on earth was of a mzzle flash in some slum in Iraq, and not the fields they called home."

"If the coalition were to just pick up and go would the insurgency stop altogether? I mean these people have some plan right? I only wonder what their objective mission is? Seems to me that they are killing more of their own people then ours. If I take CNN's word for it, they killed 40 of their own and just 1 US Soldier today. So is it about the Coalition being there? Now when I say one of their own, I mean of Arab descendent. We all know that the insurgency is not just Iraqi's.

I couldn't imagine what goes through their thick stinking skulls as they are planning this shit. Do they really justify killing woman and children? Do they chalk it up as a casualty of war and Allah will compensate them when they go to Heaven?

I wonder what would make it all go away? I can bet that if we just left it wouldn't!"

--American Soldier, 30 September 2004

From American Soldier

American Soldier (was: here previously) states: "I sacrifice so others may never have to face war or adversity that plagues this nation that we live in."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski-arch.html -Karen Kwiatkowski recently retired from the active duty USAF as a Lieutenant Colonel. Her final assignment was as a political-military affairs officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary for Policy, in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Near East South Asia (NESA) Policy directorates. Her work can be viewed at Lew Rockwell's website. See An interview with Karen Kwiatkowski, Oct 26, 2005


http://www.hackworth.com/ -David Hackworth's military career as a sailor, soldier and a military writer has spanned several dozen wars and conflicts, from the end of World War II to the first Gulf War to the present situation in Iraq -- which he described as “the biggest military miscalculation in our nation’s history.” David Hackworth died earlier this year and we will miss his voice.


http://www.ivaw.net/ -Iraq Veterans Against the War(IVAW) is currently working on a nation wide speaking tour and in 2004, they participated in a Vigil in Washington D.C., with speakers including Lila Lipscombe, who was a mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq. I saw the entire event on CSPAN and found it to be very moving, but it never made the news, curiously. Other than CSPAN, the media was dead-silent for far too long. Some of them have been supporting Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen soldier Casey Sheehan.

I'm including a blogging "Soldier's Angel" named Holly Aho and Patti Patton-Bader, mother of Sgt. Brandon Varn who served in Iraq, Soldier's Angels, who asks this of you:

Soldiers are truly enduring the horrible. We must pull together as a country. I ask, you no I get down on my knees and I beg you support a soldier TODAY. Do something now to help, Adopt A Soldier,. Write a letter, go to your local veterans association, see if there is a wife with a husband deployed and mow her lawn, watch her children, give her a hug.. Help the wounded, DO SOMETHING to support these precious heroes.

Here's to Ross Myers, Tara Sue Clark, and Jerry McClough of North Carolina who, along with their help with the Military WebCOM Video Conferencing Program and the VFW's Operation Uplink, enabled and facilitated a Milbloggers session at a Blog Conference in Nashville this year.

Other Milbloggers:

MilBlogging.com

Mudville Gazette
Black Five
The Word Unheard
Fourth Rail
One Hand Clapping
365 and a Wake Up
Four Knots to Nowhere
Bobby's World
Wordsmith at War
One Marine's View
The Will To Exist
When Last We Left Our Intrepid Home
Femme La Guerre
LZSally.com
VFW.org
Isaac Callahan (who recently deleted a shitload of bad memories)

John McCain's Impractical Iraq Ideas

"Do the math. Mosul is 1.1 million, Baghdad is about 6 million, Kirkuk is about a million. All are highly mixed ethnically, and all are
tinderboxes. If you put 50,000 US troops into each of those three cities and just abandoned Anbar province, you still could not control them."

- Juan Cole

John McCain's Impractical Iraq Ideas

Read Juan Cole to understand how John McCain's Iraq strategy is impractical. More troops? No way. Cole compares McCain's ideas to the Soviet concept for military occupation of Afghanistan - and you know how well that turned out!

In response to Mr. Cole's opinion, Michael Pollak says that the reality of the problems that come with controlling the countryside magnifies Cole's criticism:

How to control the countryside afterwards - that is the soul of the question facing the government. To say "And then we move on to control the countryside" is like saying "And then voila a miracle happens."...But this doesn't undercut your criticism, it only magnifies it. The problem with invoking the oil spot theory now is that the oil spot theory assumes you already control the cities. And it assumes that you already have a strong state. Neither of which is at all true now in Iraq. Iraq and Afghanistan are 4th generation wars, which are entirely different. Now you don't have weak forces trying to wrest control from a state. Rather the guerrillas are trying to stop a state from coming into being, which is much easier. In the entire history of colonialism and the cold war, a steady flow of random terrorism never accomplished the first. But in the world of post-cold war failed states, it can accomplish the second. It can stop strong states from coming into being.

Judith Miller leaves NY Times

Judith Miller leaves NY Times
Chalabi gets a pat on the back from the White House

Judith Miller's farewell is here.Her plans for the future?

I will continue speaking in support of a Federal shield law. In my future writing, I intend to call attention to the internal and external threats to our country’s freedoms – Al Qaeda and other forms of religious extremism, conventional and W.M.D. terrorism, and growing government secrecy in the name of national security – subjects that have long defined my work.

I find it to be ironic that, as Judith Miller's star falls, Ahmed Chalabi is honored once again by his White House friends. It's quite sickening. Chalabi and the war planners within the Bush administration were perpetrators of the biggest fraud ever palmed off on the American people. Justice is nowhere to be found. Only a lost national vision, a disillusioned public, and a once-popular journalist disappearing from the mainstream for the part she unwittingly-yet foolishly and unprofessionally played. I'm sorry for my nation that it has all happened this way.

Reverend Brown's Village

Reverend Brown's Village


Rev. Brown counsels a 'Camp Edwards village' resident
photo credit - Harvard Gazette

"I have never been involved in this kind of volunteer effort before ... This was the worst disaster in recent U.S. history, and it exposed an ugly side of the American ethos and [an] underside of American society, when talking about issues of race, poverty and class."

- Rev. Jeffrey Brown, unofficial mayor of the of Camp Edwards refugee shelter for Katrina evacuees, co-founder of the Boston Ten Point Coalition

I started out with thoughts of attempting a Veteran's Day memorial-post effort. My father is an Air Force and Korean War veteran and he'd once worked on a radar project at Otis AFB (now Air National Guard base) on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. When researching Otis Air National Guard Base , I found an inspirational story about something that has recently happened there - at a makeshift village called "Camp Edwards."

There's a Boston Globe story by Sally Jacobs about an inspirational leader, Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who was placed at the right place at the right time - and made a difference in 235 lives. It isn't a fairy tale - real life is too untidy for such notions. According to the Globe article, about 20% of the "villagers" had a serious mental illness - four times the national average. Two dozen were homeless, and several were illiterate. Most had been poor back home, and were poorer now. Among the last to leave New Orleans, they were, as one state official put it, "the people society left behind."

This wasn't a job for anyone seeking glory. It was the kind of job where you roll up your sleeves; get ready to hear (and face) the bald truth; bury your judgement; get some hard work done - while showing compassion and care for some people who are in a struggle for their very existence. Not an easy task. Rev. Jeffrey Brown is a special person - and our society would be lost without leaders like him.

It was, by definition, an extraordinary place. It brought together 235 human beings whose lives had been in some measure destroyed, and settled them upon a barren stretch of pine forest in a place few of them had ever heard of. During the 47 days that it existed, each of those lives would be recast.

.There were 35 children (under the age of 18), 157 adults, 43 elderly people (age 59 and over). There were 14 familes with children. For many of the evacuees, the care and attention they'd received in the village was like nothing they had known before in their lives. It was not a perfect place. By the end of tis past September, the mood in the village had flattened. There were not enough blankets, and the road trips had dropped off. The search policy offended many. No one knew how the FEMA housing money would be distributed, making it almost impossible for leases to be signed, and the solutions did not come overnight. It took time to care for these people, but as Ms. Jacoby has written, the pieces of their future were eventually "snapping into place." 100 decided to remain in Massachssetts. The majority of the rest headed back toward their native South.

Like many nameless Americans across the nation who helped Katrina refugees through a tremendously difficult time, Reverend Brown and the Camp Edwards crew and volunteers played a part in making these jarring transitions, after the trauma of rooftop rescues and near-drownings, a caring and healing experience. I'd like to take a moment to thank them and tell them that they are truly appreciated. I hope that Reverend Brown will take all that he learned from his selfless experience and lead us to understand how we, as citizens, can play a part to never again ignore the nameless, faceless numbers of our fellow Americans who suffer from poverty, homelessnes, mental illness, social isolation, or discrimination.

The Nation: Moser on Edwards

The Nation: Moser on Edwards

Bob Moser has written an illuminative piece on the political pathway and progress of former VP candidate John Edwards titled Cornbread and Roses.
- posted November 9, 2005 (November 28, 2005 issue)

Please Don't Loot

Mississippi Gulf Coast Van
Photo by Don Howerton

ANWR - Faith-Tradition Meets Politics

photo credit - ensnewswire

"The Gwich'in believe that a bit of human heart is in every caribou - and that a bit of caribou is in every person. Any threat to the animal is a threat to the Gwich'in."

ANWR - Faith-Tradition Meets Politics

In Alaska, a faith-related political dilemma has been reported in the news. The Gwich'in are the northernmost Indian Nation living in fifteen small villages scattered across vast area extending from northeast Alaska in the U.S. to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. The Gwich'in are carrying out their longstanding responsibility given to them by the Creator to take care of the caribou herds in the ANWR region of Alaska. In Gwich'in villages, caribou provide 60 to 70 percent of their food.

It is being said that drilling in ANWR would violate the Gwich'in people's rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by 154 countries, including the United States, in 1994 and the OAS charter, which is the treaty that founded the OAS shortly after World War II.

Excerpt from article in the Indian Country Today news:

"It represents who we are as a people," Beach said. "What happens to the caribou, happens to the Gwich'in."

Beach's comments came during the release of the new report, ''A Moral Choice for the United States: The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich'in of Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.''

The report was released by the Gwich'in Steering Committee; Trustees for Alaska; the Episcopal Church; and Professor Richard J. Wilson, director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University in Washington, D.C.

The Gwich'in Nation, with a population of about 8,000, said it is now fighting its toughest battle yet: to ensure that Congress does not open AMWR to oil drilling.

Beach said that unlike tribes in the lower 48 states, Gwich'in are able to subsist off the land and continue to rely on the caribou for food and survival....

.... ..... During a national telephone conference with the media on Oct. 25 to release the report, Bishop Mark MacDonald of the Episcopal Church said it is a moral issue. MacDonald said while the United States uses morality to justify its presence in Iraq and the war, the United States proposes drilling in ANWR and passes this off as progress.

This is a human rights issue - a moral issue - a faith issue - an issue of respect for a religious tradition of the people - an issue involving international treaties. What will Congress do?

Democrats Corzine and Kaine Win Governor's Seats

Democrats Corzine and Kaine Win Governor's Seats

Congratulations to Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Tim Kaine of Virginia for the wins in their respective state governor's races.

Here at home, congratulations go out to Matt Driscoll, who won a second term as mayor of Syracuse, NY.

Homeless in Chicago: "Far From Home"

Far From Home
Homeless in Chicago

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless has marked its 25th anniversary.
Far From Home
Why - 25 years later - we are no closer to solving the homelessness in Chicago [pdf]

This progress report card is the kind that a frightened child might hide from his parents. It's nothing that we, as a moral society, should be proud of. Hurricane Katrina refocused national attention on the issue of homelessness. There is more public sympathy centered around the issue. Today, 40% of the homeless population is made up with families with children. Homelessness is affecting more people than just those with little or no income. A new class of "working poor" households is often paying more than 50% of its income for rent and is at high risk of homelessness.

Do you know that, in no state in the U.S. today does a full-time minimum wage job enable a family to pay fair market rent for a 2-bedroom apartment?

Did you know that, in 2000, 16.8% of full time workers working year round, earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four?


The causes and facts are many. Solutions do not come easy.

The federal government has drastically reduced its commitment to creating affordable housing and has mandated the demolition of public housing. The City of Chicago's 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness has had solid elements, but minimal resources to implement it.

The coalition expects to spend time battling proposed federal cuts to human services and pressing the mayor's office for more dollars for the city's own 10-year plan to end homelessness.

The coalition will continue organizing for its "It Takes a Home To Raise a Child" statewide housing campaign, which includes four basic components:

1. Family Homelessness Prevention Program – In 1999, the campaign successfully advocated for a program to provide rent, utility, legal and other assistance for families experiencing a short-term crisis. The campaign has successfully advocated for $5 million in funding for the program the past two years and continues to work to ensure that funding stays at that level.

2. Homeowner’s Stabilization Program – creates a program to provide housing counseling and loans to homeowner's who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments. The program could assist 2000 homeowner's at a cost of $5 million.

3. Rental Housing Support Program– provides longer-term rental assistance for 4,000 families through rental subsidies to current landlords.

4. New Homes for Families Program – creates a capital fund of $100 million for the development of affordable housing units targeted for homeless and extremely low-income families

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards appeared in Chicago this past Sunday to discuss the "Far From Home" report and to discuss the issue of poverty.

TNR on General Pace and Dick Cheney

TNR on General Pace and Dick Cheney

At TNR's The Plank, Spencer Ackerman separates the 'perfect' men from the torture-loving boys.

So now on one side of the fight, we have Dick Cheney, whom The Washington Post recently described as the "Vice President for torture," and on the other side, we have one of the most respected officers ever to become senior military adviser to the president. (To say nothing of numerous State Department and Pentagon officials; ninety members of the Senate; a slew of retired officers; and sanity.) Unfortunately, the president Pace serves not only lies about torture committed by the United States, he's threatened to veto McCain's Pace-endorsed measure.

'Yes, They Lied' by Wm Rivers Pitt

Yes, They Lied
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

A must-see.

Author's Note: I apologize in advance for the length of this essay. There is so much utter nonsense and outright disinformation flying around about Iraq right now that it takes 3,000 words to set things straight. Call this a fact-bomb, and put it to good use. - wrp

Being attacked for writing about Massey

Being attacked for
writing about Massey

Chip Atkinson is telling the world that Jimmy Massey is my "darling," simply because I wrote a piece on him. In my book, that is intellectual dishonesty. I realize that Mr. Massey's book has the right wing all a-twitter and that they are scrambling to make a liar out of him as quickly as they can. That's the way things go - let's not fool ourselves. I'll let them dance all around the story - but the story will still be there. Mr. Massey was disturbed by the fact that it was mostly civilians being killed by the units in which he was serving in Iraq toward the beginning of the Iraq war. A larger part of his story was trouble he saw with the methods of military recruitment and the fraud in which he observed and willingly participated while acting as a Marine recruiter.

If we only choose to scramble to find people to prove him a liar, we are biased reporters. If we choose to scramble to prove his statements true, we are biased. I was not biased when I wrote a summary of one of Mr. Massey's presentations. I simply reported on what he said.

Fair and balanced means finding two sides and putting them side by side. I blogged about Mr. Massey's story only. I got it straight from the horse's mouth. I'm not responsible for what you choose to do with a story like his, but I think it's important to give him an equal opportunity to speak. I don't get paid a thin dime for my reporting, so I'll choose what I wish to report and leave it up to you - the reader - to use your own critical thinking skills if you want to seek out alternatives to Mr. Massey's story.

Just don't sit there and call him "my darling" because I wrote a story about him. I interviewed a California Libertarian senatorial candidate last year - did that make him my darling? Of course not! Let's be accountable for the comments we thoughtlessly throw at each other. Mr. Massey is a man with a story - a story that he has been telling hundreds of people around the nation. He's news. Just because I chose not to shut him up and shut him out (as some of you might have liked me to do) does not mean that you or I have to agree with everything he says.

Rush Limbaugh starts jabber-jawing about Mr. Massey and knee-jerk tongues start lashing out at everyone in the line of fire. McCarthyism is still alive in the hearts of men who claim to cherish freedom, but act to cut the very head off of freedom.

You're not looking at Fox News here. You're looking at a blog - NOT written by some wild-eyed radical - but by an intelligent and fair fellow American citizen who is not paid for opining, who is far more centrist than you'd like to believe and who believes, firmly, in democracy and freedom of speech.

___________

That said, Ron Harris of the St. Louis Post Dispatch was embedded with Jimmy Massey's unit at the time Massey was there. Mr. Harris was interviewed about his embedded reporting in Iraq for STLToday.com:

Part of the Pentagon's thinking held that embedded reporters would bond with the service members with whom they shared rations, and danger.

Critics warned that embedded reporters would get too close to their subjects, with objectivity a casualty.

"I had an affinity for the Marines I covered," Harris says. "But I didn't feel I was a part of Lima Company. I was a journalist. In a way, it was like covering City Hall. You know people and like people -- but you're not part of the city government."

I'm sure his experiences would lead him to come away with a healthy respect for our fighting men and women, which is understandable. I read some of his commentary about Massey today, however, and sensed an urgent attempt to destroy his credibility - and when it's one lone man against a Marine corps, well - - it isn't difficult to understand that the one guy is never going to win. I prize objectivity, and I was a bit surprised when I read the transcript of Mr. Harris' appearance on CNN's American Morning.

The CNN appearance came upon the heels of an article that Harris has written - a damning article about Massey. Mr. Harris said this on the cable news network calling Massey a liar. When asked by CNN host Carol Costello: Why would this staff sergeant, Jimmy Massey, lie about these things, and say such terrible things about his own comrades?

Harris said:

Well, one of the things that has happened -- number one, Jimmy Massey, I don't know why, but I can just speculate (my emphasis) a couple of things. Number one, Jimmy Massey was honorably discharged for post- traumatic stress syndrome. The second thing, Jimmy Massey has profited off of this. He does have a book. He has a Web site in which he sells his story on a CD for a hundred dollars. I think it's called jimmymassey.com. So it's been profitable for Jimmy Massey to keep telling this lie.

That's not what Jimmy Massey said when I saw him speak. Here are some excerpts to answer these questions:

Re: The Book:

Jimmy's writing a book, not for fame or fortune, but to simply document what he considers to be war crimes and to keep track of the places in Iraq that he knows had been directly affected by depleted uranium.

Re: The PTSD diagnosis, which came along well after the fact:

Shortly after the checkpoint incident with the Red Kia,(the point where Jimmy says he "lost it"), Jimmy was relieved of his command, slipped some Zoloft and Ambien, and was medevaced back to the U.S.

Having seven years to go before retirement with the Marine Corps, he was offered a stateside desk job. Jimmy says he didn't want their money anymore. His deep remorse had ended his days as an economic conscript.

The Marines sent him to a shrink and they tried to label him a conscientious objector. Jimmy asked them in wonder, "Conscientious objector?! Just what are you smoking?" He had been a Marine for 12 years. He had willingly gone to war for his country, no questions asked. He says that he'd supported his president, who'd told him that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the free world.

It was only when he voiced his concern that he no longer felt right about killing innocent civilians that they suddenly wished to label him as a "conscientious objector". Unwilling to accept the label, knowing it could have landed him in jail, Jimmy secured Gary Myers (of My Lai trial fame) as his attorney. Jimmy says the military quickly "changed their tune" when Myers came on board.

Jimmy was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) and was given, by the VA, 100% disability with no retirement benefits.

____________

Stan Goff has written a compelling piece for Counterpunch:
"What a Difference Embedding Makes"
Jimmy Massey, Ron Harris and Ambush Journalism

* see comments on this post.

Phase II - Sen Pat Roberts' Dramatics Won't Work Anymore

Phase II - Sen Pat Roberts' Dramatics Won't Work Anymore

Josh Marshall was previewing a WaPo/Walter Pincus article which raises questions about how Phase II of the Senate Intelligence investigation will be conducted. Primarily , it deals with the right to interview top policymakers or speechwriters as part of the inquiry into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. Josh was asking:

If what Roberts wants is really closer to last year's agreement than what Rockefeller is now pushing for, what was Rockefeller thinking last year when he agreed to it?

I was (obviously) disappointed with Senator Rockefeller's actions back in 2003, even though I realize that he was really trying to get an investigation off the ground in a politically smothering atmosphere. Back then, I had said:

"Congress is far, far more worried about polls and re-election than they are about the American people's damaged trust in the administration's decision to send of nearly 200 American troops to their death in Iraq."

I was disappointed in Senator Rockefeller's carelessness and actions surrounding a story about a stolen Democratic memo and Sen. Bill Frist Accusing Democrats of Undermining the Intelligence Panel (see Ken Guggenheim AP story). I had commented in 2003:

This is about a a Democratic memo leaked this week that outlines a strategy for exposing contradictions between intelligence reports and Bush's claims about Iraqi weapons programs.

The memo in question was apparently STOLEN...then leaked.

Jay Rockefeller's capability as an effective Senator has been in much doubt as of late, IMHO, judging from what I've seen from him on recent FOX interviews. Rockefeller was careless in allowing something like this staff-memo to fall by the wayside.

The paranoid Pat Roberts is whining that Democrats are "plotting against him". Roberts went on with his paranoid complaint (which may actually be a deceptive way to pull the plug on a decent investigation), saying: "The memo said that at some point the Democrats could 'pull the trigger'. When I read that, I felt like they're going to pull the trigger on me."


Drama Diva

Dirty business all around.

While Senator Pat Roberts played the injured drama diva of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Rockefeller was nowhere near Robert's match. When a Senate Intelligence committee meeting was canceled because of the stolen Democratic political-strategy memo, and no other date scheduled, all that Sen. Rockefeller said was that he was "really disappointed" with the Republican action. "Whose advantage is it to derail asking the tough questions on prewar intelligence and the use and misuse of it?" he asked. [Iddybud 11/10/03]

"Really disappointed" was surely not dramatic or forceful enough, in light of the circumstances. Back in 2003, I truly felt that America was asleep at the wheel. If our political leaders could not have led by firm example, we could not expect the average American to have understood - or to be outraged by what was happening.

What Senator Rockefeller agreed to back in 2003 should be amended to fit the political atmosphere of today. This is no time to appeal to anyone to stick with a Gentleman's agreement. We Americans have been bruised - abused - screwed - by our leaders. Our trust is shattered. Times have changed. Those 200 dead American troops I mentioned in my 2003 excerpt above are now over 10 times the count. The majority of the public is convinced that there has been a serious misleading by the Bush administration. We know too much to turn back and hide our heads in the sand. If Republicans continue to stonewall a complete and bipartisan investigation, Americans will not trust them enough to vote for them in 2006 or 2008. That's what it all boils down to.

See Dick Lie

See Dick Lie

What did I tell you?
I KNEW something was fishy when I posted "Dick Cheney Denies Joe Wilson Three Times" on 9-14-03.
Take a look at this.

We now know, courtesy of the 22-page Libby indictment, that Cheney wasn't being truthful. Cheney did see the report; he knew full well who Wilson was. He also knew that the CIA arranged for Wilson to travel to Niger, and he personally sought out information about Wilson's trip to Niger, was briefed about the fact-finding mission, and even obtained classified information about Plame's covert CIA status. He also came to know one other important nugget: that Plame may have recommended her husband for the trip.

True Prophets?

True Prophets?

Do a Google search today on "true prophets".
Out of 4,150,000 hits, "iddybud" is the first hit you'll come across. Go figure. ;)

The Environment and Biblical Obligations

The Environment and Biblical Obligations



Progressive politics and spirituality go hand in hand. A quote from a NYT article by Michael Janofsky:

"We believe that we have a rightful responsibility for what the Bible itself challenges. Working the land and caring for it go hand in hand. That's why I think, and say unapologetically, that we ought to be able to bring to the debate a new voice."

- Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs, National Association of Evangelicals

Iraq in the News

Iraq in the News

Khalilzad Left Hanging by Pentagon's Mistakes in Iraq

Jackson Diehl [WaPo] believes that sticking to the wrong course in Iraq without adequate planning or strategy has made the job of Bagdhad envoy Zalmay Khalilzad extremely tough:

Almost orphaned by a president who limits his public discussion of Iraq to brave democrats and evil terrorists, the ambassador [Zalmay Khalilzad] has worked with enormous energy to channel the complex and increasingly violent struggle for power among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds into elections and negotiations. The mistakes of the past 2 1/2 years have made his job much harder: Iraqis are far more polarized along ethnic lines than they were in 2003, and the insurgency is deeply entrenched, thanks to the Pentagon's slowness in taking it seriously.

A Horrible Way To Die

In an article by Steve Fainaru in the WaPo, a soldier named Aaron drives home a point that few of us make here in the States. Soldiers know they are dying - not for America - but for Iraq - and if you imagine they are any less confused than you or me about the cause in which we are engaged, then I think you are wrong. What makes me very sad is to understand that these loyal young men and women - our children, fathers, sisters, mothers in Iraq - do what they have agreed to do, and in the end, they do it for the love and respect they have for one another as team members and blood brothers. It makes me want to scream all the louder: Send them home!

"Dying for Iraq is a horrible way to die," said Spec. Aaron Novak, 25, of Billings, Mont. "But to die for your buddies, that's the way I look at it. Iraq is going to be here a long time after we're gone."

At Press Conference, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Rockefeller
Calls For Thorough, Credible, and Prompt Phase II Report
“We owe the American people a full and honest accountability of the intelligence that was used to make the case for going to war.”



Senator Carl Levin (D-MI):

Newly Declassified Information Indicates Bush Administration's Use of Pre-War Intelligence Was Misleading

Edwards Updates at Science and Politics

Edwards Updates at Science and Politics

At Science and Politics: A roundup of recent news about Senator John Edwards.

French Riots - Could it Happen Here?

"People are under pressure, they feel the anger of no jobs and no chance to improve their lives until finally -- boom! -- it just explodes."

_____ ______
"Just allow us the dignity of good jobs and a chance to make better lives. Then the French will have nothing to fear from 'dangerous Muslims'."

________________________________


The French Riots -
Could it Happen Here?
If we create a new federal vision that will fully value and support moderate American Muslims, welcome new Arab-world immigrants, and make policy to support the poorest in our society and in the world, we'll decrease the chances that it will ever happen here.


- UK prime minister Tony Blair is having second thoughts about the anti-terror law he'd proposed, which would allow for detaining suspects for up to 90 days without trial. In a liberal society, he is coming to understand that the Tories will never stand for it. Compromise or negotiation will be in necessary in a liberal society, even though Blair favors the rule. Perhaps the riots in France are causing everyone in Europe to have second thoughts about how to govern in societies with large (and often poor) Muslim populations. [BBC News]

A radical new antiterrorism package unveiled by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy giving the French government the right to deport residents summarily and to strip some Muslims who are deemed "radical" of their naturalized French citizenship is a "zero tolerance" policy which many say will politically play into the hands of militants and strip freedom further away from consideration in the French rule of law. Analysts warn that a western approach which lumps together all forms of Islamism and brands them "radical" or "hostile" could strengthen the appeal of extremists. [source: BBC News]

Mark my words. This new trend of Westen governments summarily stripping people of their citizenship and smothering their freedom of speech is going to reinforce an already-growing image of Western elitism in the Middle Eastern world that will weaken the war of Western ideas and strengthen the cause of extremists.

__________

The Price of Ignoring Pleas for Social Justice:
Idolizing the Wrong Heroes

Let's look at today's Boston Globe:

- What do Osama bin Laden and Rodney King have in common? They are both heros of a young man in France - the son of poor Algerian immigrants -

"One because he gives pride back to the Muslims," the young man asserted as he and a trio of friends stood near the charred ruins of a carpet shop. "The other because he was just a poor man, a 'nobody man' of color, but he caused a great city to burn."

So - this is how terrorism plays out in a permissive society which prides itself so much on equality that it doesn't keep statistics that separate one race or religion from another. Unheeded and silenced cries for social justice snowball into a burning mass of chaos. You haven't seen that level of violence and destruction happening here in America. Why not?

France's failure to ensure the social mobility of ethnic minorities is a likely contributor to their current troubles. The growing appeal of radical Islam is another major contributor. America is not immune from either of these factors - especially with the economic and foreign policies promoted by the current presidential administration and the Republican leadership that has blindly supported those policies. We've made big cultural strides - backwards - for the past five years. We're inviting what we see happening in France today, but it's not too late to find our vision and to once again show this world how to lead - instead of following them down the path of sure failure.


Equality without social justice is meaningless
What about America?

America's population of immigrants from the Arab and Muslim world can be seen as a matter of class and economic status more than Muslim culture. We've heard the message about The Two Americas - what about the glaring problem of the two Middle Easts? Poor Muslims are harder to find in America - and there are reasons which we don't often think about. We've tended to see Muslim immigrants succeeding here in America, often surpassing the economic status of the average American. The transient poor of the Muslim world have drifted toward European cities - and in France's case, they have been virtually ignored in the odd name of equality. Equality without social justice is meaningless.

One surprising conclusion drawn from data collected by the US Census Bureau in 2000 was that people of Arab descent living in the US are better educated and wealthier than the average American of non-Arab descent. See "Culture is not the Culprit in Arab Poverty" [Carnegie Endowment]

That immigrants generally do better than their compatriots back home is no surprise. What is far less common is for immigrants to out-perform the average population of their adopted home. This should prompt debates on issues such as the notion that cultural factors lie behind the Middle East 's widespread poverty...

....if cultural impediments are behind the Arab world's disappointing performance, what explains the success of people of Arab descent in America? One common perception is that Arabs who come to the US come from the wealthier Arab countries and are already better off. Another answer, of course, is that the US offers them better opportunities and institutions. Arabs in the US have ample opportunities to prosper and can rely on institutions to protect their civil and economic rights to do so.

Why there and not here?

Why are Arab immigrants in Europe worse off than those in the US? Why are leaders of Arab communities in France seeing social and racial tensions that have created a social and political time bomb? Moises Naim , editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, hits the nail on the head when he says:

Arab leaders should be ashamed when they see their emigrants prospering in the US while their own people are miserable. Europeans, too, should consider why their Arab immigrants lag so far behind those in America..... Americans need to ponder if the changes instituted after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 will make future generations of Arab immigrants look more like their disadvantaged European compatriots than like today's successful Arab-Americans.

Let's Value and Support our Muslim Communities Here in America
The Rhetoric of Fear, Political Abuse, and Mistrust Must End

Our moderate Muslim communities should be respected and our policies should support them and promote the immigration of more people from the Middle East - not less. If we believe in our ideas, then why not set policy to WIN the war of ideas?

We should appreciate and support the wonderful Muslim communities that exist in our country today, rather than seeing and hearing partisan right-wing pundits rhetorically beating on them and accusing them of failing to speak out against terror. They deserve our full support - not our fearful suspicion! They are Americans, like you and me.

A 2004 study by The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU)has provided an interesting profile of the active Muslim in the Detroit, MI area. See report here.

The average participant in a mosque is 34, is married with children, is well-educated, is an immigrant or born to immigrants, makes more than $75,000 a year, is either progressive (38 percent) or traditional (28 percent) in religious practice. The average Muslim is also politically conscious (68 percent registered to vote), a bit ethnocentric — there is some evidence of ethnic clustering around mosques — and is a political liberal (supports affirmative action, universal health care and tough environmental protection laws) but is socially conservative (worried about sexual promiscuity).

The community issues that mattered most to the respondents were
1. Education
2. Schools
3. Work
4. Unity
5. Spiritual growth.

Some believe that because America has given the Islamic community so much freedom that we have undoubtedly made it easier for them to "seduce U.S. citizens to join jihadist groups and seek to kill their countrymen." I think that is the talk of fearful people - or people using "fear" to usurp political influence or power. When did all communities of Muslim immigrants and their cultural integrity become suspect of evil? I believe that if we allowed 9/11 to destroy our faith in the goodness of our fellow man as well as the freedoms within our democratic social fabric, we are lost. When we err on the side of false imprisonment and blanket discrimination based on a person's ethnicity, we are lost.

Victor Davis Hanson has written a recent article for Front Page magazine and insisted that America's "elite commitment to multiculturalism also hamstrings us from taking the needed security steps."

For 30 years, our schools have pounded home the creed that all cultures are of equal merit[...]Millions of Americans consequently aren’t sure whether radical Islam is just another legitimate alternative to the dominant Western narrative.

I think Hanson's argument is ineffective. The answer is not to take away a student's ability to make critical judgement for themselves by dulling the reality of thought that exists in diverse cultures. That will only breed ignorance. There were root causes stemming from the culture from which the 9/11 plot originated - and it will never help us, as a society and a member of the international community, to ignore every single factor that led to the sad occurrence.

French public schools promote equality and secular thought, and look at what is still happening there! Islamic unrest has been relayed in a much different way in France this week than in America on 9/11. When a society ignores the calls from its own citizens for social justice, the resulting backlash from too many years of complacency is often shocking. It isn't Muslim culture that is the proximate cause of the strife in France - it's a social justice issue.

Islamic leaders and social commentators insist that the root causes of the violence in France are economic, not religious. In their hopelessness, those living in poverty and feeling that there is no escape are turning to dangerous ideas and desperate measures. People feel that they've been isolated in poor neighborhoods with inadequate schools and few opportunities. This sounds too close to today's America for comfort, especially with the foreign policy put into play by the Bush administration.

How long before the fever in Europe is spread to the streets here in American cities with poor Muslim immigrant communities like Lackawanna, NY or Lodi, CA where the poorer Muslim communities are looked at with little more than suspicion?

From a Lackawanna newspaper in 2002:

To be a Muslim teenager is to grapple with conflicting identities and cultures, to search for halal buffalo wings and modest clothing that still looks good. While the Yemeni community in Lackawanna supports its youth through an Islamic school, a soccer league and a community center, life beyond the First Ward - the city's shabbiest area housing its minority residents before a drive over a bridge yields a gentrifying downtown - can pose challenges.

"White people call them towelheads or ragheads," said Ron Jones, a black lifelong resident of the First Ward. "The bridge divides us. This is supposed to be a ghetto." [S. Mitra Kalita]

After 9/11, we became a fearful and closed society. If anyone so much as mentioned the root causes of violence in the months following 9/11, they were labeled as traitors. Artists are being labeled as terrorist sympathizers to this day if they dare to generate anything other than the fear of Muslims in their art. (Sound like McCarthy-era America?)

Poverty alone did not cause the planners of the attack to do harm to America that morning. Hatred and indifference to innocent life grew from many years of a cancer that grew in the Middle East. No one knows what causes cancer, but it silently grows and spreads, until it takes over the life support system. The poor and uneducated are easily co-opted for recruitment to terrorist ideas - and errant hero-worship - and civil unrest - perhaps violent and destructive unrest.

We can do better in America. We have done better - until the Bush administration and Republican leadership turned us into a weaker and fearful America, lashing out in vengeance and hiding our fear behind pre-emptive and unilateral attacks on a nation that never had a link to 9/11. It has unnecessarily taken thousands of lives.

We must see a new direction. We have lost our vision. When we look at France this week, we may gloat and feel vindicated by our society because it hasn't happened here. But, in other parts of the globe, our errant and wrong-minded federal government has completely failed to take constructive measures that would give promise or hope to the poorest and most uneducated of this world - and the extremists will continue to recruit them to lash back at the West in anger as long as we fail to do our part to send out a clear vision of hope and trust.


_____________

-A Firsthand View and Opinion

* Kevin Drum refers us to a blogger named Jerome with some firsthand knowledge of one of the neighborhoods where the riots are taking place. An excerpt from Jerome's post:

What's real is that social budgets for these cités (those that allow the associations to run sport activities, literacy classes and the like) have been cut in the past 3 years, because, as always, this is the easiest thing to do politically.

What is real is that local police forces have been reduced (in Clichy, where it all started, the police has 15 officers vs 35 in the past) and replaced by national police who do not know the neighborood and are pretty aggressive in their behavior - and especially in their overuse of ID controls which target only people of color.

What is real is that France made a choice 30 years ago to preserve the jobs of those already integrated, and made it difficult to join that core. Thus unemployment, or unstable employment (temping, short term contracts, internships) touches only those that are not yet in the system - the young and the immigrants, or those that are kicked out - the older and less educated blue collar workers in dying industries. So in neighboroods where you have a lot of young immigrants, the problems are excerbated.

____________

-Additional note: A leading Muslim group -- the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF) -- issued a fatwa or formal instruction urging Muslims not to take part in acts of violence.

-For columnist Mark Steyn, it's all Black and White and Gloat and Hatespeak. If you can't go in like imperial stormtroopers and bomb cities and round up and detain all the dark-colored men without cause or trial; if you can't unilaterally wipe out a nation's regime in the name of democracy, you're just not cool in Steyn's book. In this blogger's opinion, he comes off sounding like a Euro-bashing horse's ass with plenty of political complaints and no solutions.

-See Why France Is Burning by Doug Ireland.

Paris Riots

Cars for Homes

Cars for Homes
A Habitat for Humanity program

Your car donation can help Habitat for Humanity build homes in partnership with families in need of decent, affordable shelter within the local community and around the world.

Donate a car, truck, boat, RV or other vehicle to Habitat's Cars for Homes vehicle donation program by calling 1-877-277-4344 or visiting www.carsforhomes.org

It's quick and easy and with your help, more low income families can have a decent place to call home, and the hope of a better life.

*Tip of the hat to Geoff at Word of blog
Bloggers: You can support the Cars for Homes Program by going here.

GOP "Values-Void" Left Behind in Hurricanes' Aftermath

GOP "Values-Void" Left Behind in Hurricanes' Aftermath

Bush crony/then-active FEMA appointee Michael Brown preened in his e-mails as New Orleans suffered.

- - What has happened to our commonly shared value of empathy - simple care, respect, and concern for others?


It took President Bush over two months to appoint an overseer for the Gulf Coast hurricane recovery efforts. Barbara Major, co-chairman of NOLA mayor Ray Nagin's commission said, "Y'all in the federal government need to come up with some continuity about what y'all are doing. There seems to be a real lack of coordination."

- - What has happened to our commonly shared value of acting quickly and effectively for the common welfare?


The Davis-Bacon act was suspended, then lifted when the Bush administration knew they couldn't politically win. One Republican-leaning editorial in the Charleston (WV) Gazette (reposted at FortWayne.com) said: "Thanks to a coalition of Democrats and a clutch of wishy-washy Republicans, taxpayers will pay millions of dollars more for the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina than they should." They call it "inflated wages." Workers call it fair pay for a tough job that's been well-done.

- - What has happened to our commonly shared value of expecting to recieve fair pay for a fair day's hard work?


New Orleans is seeking federal aid and new loans to ride out a $204 million budget shortfall caused by the expected loss of all property tax revenue in the short term. At the same time, Louisiana is slapped with a bill for a whopping $3.7 billion that the U.S. government says is its share of hurricane relief...using the excuse that simply because Federal law requires it. Think about that - the worst storm in U.S. history - and a Federal law is not examined for its fairness, in this extremely unusual situation.

--What has happened to our commonly shared values of trust, integrity, and common sense?


Immigrants Rights activist Emile Schepers writes that "A good many immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, from outside the [New Orleans] area are being hired by contractors to work in the cleanup. Various sources report that day labor agencies around the country can’t keep up with the demand for contingent cheap labor in New Orleans and the Gulf, while people washed out of the Ninth Ward still do not know what is going to become of them. And, no doubt, labor laws, including overtime and health and safety regulations, are being flouted by unscrupulous contractors."

"The only way we can recover is with living wage jobs that go to Louisiana workers first. We are not just rebuilding Louisiana, we are rebuilding lives,” said Sibal Holt, president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO at a recent rally of about 1000 for jobs, living wages, affordable housing and public services for south Louisiana. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and the Rev. Al Sharpton were in attendance.


-- What has happened to our commonly shared values of community-building, compassion, and fair opportunity?

Too many leaders in today's Republican party are revealing, by their policies-in-action, that there a a void of common traditional values shared by most Americans. This "values-void" is betraying the empty rhetoric we've heard for the past five years. The devastating hurricanes, especially Katrina, proved that the Bush agenda is emptied out of nearly all of its values, and America is left visionless.

A change must surely come.

Tikkun Features NSP Founding Conference

Tikkun Features NSP Founding Conference

For Spiritual Progressives, the November/December issue of Tikkun magazine is priceless. Last July's founding conference for the Network of Spiritual Progressives in Berkeley, California is featured. The morning after the conference, Jim Wallis, writer of the book "God's Politics," and Rabbi Michael Lerner took questions and responded.

A second conference, called "Reviving the American Spiritual Left--Conference May 17-20 2006 Plus: Creation of a Network of Spiritual Progressives" - will take up where the first conference left off. It's scheduled for May 17-20, 2006 in Washington, D.C.

This is an extremely popular movement which has generated so much interest that hundreds of people had to be turned away from the first conference, so be sure to register early for the D.C. conference.

In February, 2006, HarperSanFrancisco will publish Rabbi Lerner's new book "The Left Hand of God" which presents a full vision of the ideas behind The Network of Spiritual Progressives.

Elizabeth Edwards Writing Memoir

Elizabeth Edwards Writing Memoir

"Throughout my life, community has held me up, lending quiet strength and steady hope. I want now to tell the story of how all the communities, great and small, that make up America have the power to enrich, nourish, and support us when we are in need."

- Mrs. Edwards, from a statement issued through Broadway Books

WaPo, Oct 27

I'm glad that Mrs. Edwards has decided to make our communities the focus of her book. The community is the heart of politics - and all that politics should be about. Our children's values are shaped primarily at home, but they are also shaped, inevitably, by all people within the respective communities in which they live.

On December 9th, Elizabeth Edwards will give the keynote speech at the WIMG (Women in Municipal Government) Luncheon, National League of Cities' 2005 Congress of Cities & Exposition, in Charlotte, NC. The schedule of events is here.

David Brooks Blows Flimsy Air of Conspiracy

David Brooks Blows Flimsy Air of Conspiracy

David Brooks uses satire in his column today in order to to make light of Harry Reid's demand for a prompt investigation into the White House abuse of intelligence leading up to the Iraq war. I found it to be insulting to our intelligence. It's a no-brainer that a general belief existed, prior to the war, that Iraq still may have had stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions and some believed they had the capacity to restart its production program in the wink of an eye. Yet, the voices of those who had very important views to the contrary were silenced, attacked, and/or buried in the back pages of mainstream newspapers while outright lies were plastered on the front news pages.

Reducing the matter to a conspiracy theory is intellectually dishonest. The public opinion, in a Zogby poll from last June, revealed that a large majority of Democrats (59%) said that they agreed that the President should be impeached if he lied about Iraq. Among President Bush’s fellow Republicans, a full one-in-four (25%) indicated that they would favor impeaching the President under these circumstances. 43% of Independent voters said that they'd favor impeachment if Bush lied.

In the very latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 55% of the American people now believe Bush misled the country in taking us to war.

The public's trust has been materially shaken by this. I think anyone who's publically supported Bush on his myriad rationales for the Iraq war should be eating humble pie right now - not mocking those who want to look into the bottom of the rationale bag to root out the rotted goods for once and for all.

Our nation has been weakened by the perception that our President and his administration lied to the public. I would think the Republicans would welcome this investigation, if they believe the President will be exonerated and that trust can be restored.

I think David Brooks can do better than this. I don't see his flight of fancy as serving our national interest in a constructive manner.

Scott McClellan: The Million Dollar Question

Scott McClellan: The Million Dollar Question

Here's a new question for contestants on the television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire:

After the Joseph Wilson/Valerie Plame Wilson incident, White House press secretary Scott McClellan's reputation is:


a. Sterling
b. Questionable
c. Down the crapper
d. Unable to comment while investigation continues

Crystal Balls and Karl Rove

Crystal Balls and Karl Rove



Iddybud gazes into her crystal ball - she sees an Oval Office - wait -wait - there's someone missing - - why........Karl Rove is nowhere to be found!

*Could be he's out groveling, wormlike, for forgiveness.