Saturday, July 26, 2008

Other Items

Raging Granny groups across North America have taken up the cause of US war resisters seeking refuge in Canada. From San Francisco to the Canadian capital of Ottawa, members of this international women's organization continue to petition Prime Minister Stephen Harper to respect the sentiment of the majority of Canadian citizens and "Let War Resisters Stay". This week San Francisco Grannies revved up their letter writing campaign while their sisters in Ottawa polled pedestrians in that city's busy Byward Market.

Zach noted the above from R. Robertson's "Raging Grannies from SF to Ottawa Rally Around War Resisters" (Indybay IMC) and Zach points out, "It's good to know they have a few pet causes these days besides their main one of pimping for Barack." In fairness, it appears to have been only the Brooklyn chapter that sold their souls, integrity and whatever was left of a good name in order to give a "peace" illusion to Barack. Zach offers a sing-along, "The old red mare just ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be . . ." And wonders, "Too much?" No, Zach, they deserve that and a great deal more. Peace groups should focus on peace, certainly not on providing cover to War Hawk presidential candidates.

Ric Lupher files "Peace Activists Rally In Support Of Robin Long" for Colorado's KKTV (link has text and video) on US war resister Robin Long who was extradited from Canada to the US and now awaits word on what happens next. Iraq Veterans Against the War's is quoted stating of recruitment, "There's a huge propaganda smear across the country to get young men to join the military."

In the I'm-sure-it's-just-a-rumor area, whispers (this isn't in the report, I'm referring to the grapevine) continue that Robin will be court-martialed and that it will take place during the DNC convention. The convention will be held in Denver. The whispers maintain that the court-martial will take place at Fort Carson in Colorado. I'm not saying it's true, I'm saying it's what's being currently whispered.

If you read various reports today, you'll see that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack senses his High Flying Adore tour is being greeted with a backlash and repeatedly states that he may take a dip in the next round of polling as a result of it. His remarks, however, could also be seen as a way to lower expectations so that even a small bump could then be hailed as "victory." Presumped Republican presidential nominee John McCain notes Barack's travelogue in his radio address (link has only audio, no text at this point), "This week the presidential contest was a long-distance affair, with my opponent touring various continents and arriving yesterday in Paris. With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too."

Princess Tiny Meat? Ava and I used that to refer to Barack sometime ago. Ty tried to include a question on that in roundtables and mailbags at Third but there was never time. Wally and Cedric use the term today. So for those wondering, I'm sure -- like most good slang -- it came from the gay culture. It entered the straight culture mercilessly in the 90s when a TV 'star' with two TV shows under his belt (if not much else) fancied himself as a 'ladies' man' but the grapevine responded "nothing much to brag about." He has no career today but, for that brief moment when he was known, he was known as Princess Tiny Meat. Either while near the end of his second show or right after he was fired, an online gossip columnist even picked up on the grapevine and ran a photo of 'star' in a very tight pair of jeans to reveal that there was no engine under the hood.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has many campaign events this weekend. Yvonne Wenger (Post and Courier) reports on a South Carolina event yesterday:

Nader said it would take a "massive grassroots movement" for him to secure the presidency but that wasn't to say the fight doesn't have meaning.
"If you don't resist the situation gets worse," Nader said. "The alternative is surrender."
Nader said he wants to draw in young people who will push the progressive agenda in the future. Also, he said, he wants to convince the mainstream candidates -- Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama -- to see his perspective on issues such as a living wage.
"The stands McCain and Obama have taken again and again do not have the support of the majority of American people," Nader said.


Ralph Nader will be in Austin, Texas Sunday evening. (He'll be in Houston earlier that day.) From David Shieh's "Nader prepares to campaign in Austin" (Austin American-Statesman):


American-Statesman: So why are you running for the presidency?
Ralph Nader: Strong labor laws facilitating unions, strong consumer protections, environmental, foreign, military policy -- all these are not being addressed in a way that a majority of people in this country want them addressed. The majority of people in this country want single-payer health insurance. They want a living wage. They want to get out of Iraq. They want a lot of things that we stand for, and the other side -- (Sens. John) McCain and (Barack) Obama -- are either against it or ignore it. They don't want to talk about it.
What do you think of the energy policies that Texas politicians have proposed? The competitors in this year's Senate race -- Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston and Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn -- both support bringing lower gas prices to Texans by expanding off-shore drilling.
That's nonsense. It's like this. Let's take an analogy with water. You're in your kitchen, and you're filling a basin of water. Unfortunately, there are five holes in the basin, and so someone says to you, "We got to go out and drill another well in our backyard because we don't have enough water in that basin." Someone else says, "Why don't you plug the holes?" Energy conservation is the fastest, shortest, cheapest, most environmentally benign solution to our problems. We waste well over two-thirds of our energy, and a barrel of oil you save is a barrel of oil you don't have to drill for.
What issues will you focus on when you come to Texas?
One I'm really going to emphasize is the piecemeal destruction of the civil justice system. The corporate lobbyists have gotten through the Legislature and have even amended the Texas constitution a few years back, severely restricting the ability of wrongfully-injured people to have their full day in Texas court before judge and jury -- to get full damages for medical malpractice or toxic contamination.
What do you say to people who blame you for bringing George W. Bush into office in the 2000 presidential election?
That's a politically bigoted statement against third-party independent candidates. They would never say "Bush stole votes from Gore" or "Gore stole votes from Bush." They always use those words and spoiler words to refer to smaller candidates, which is why I say it's political bigotry.



Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate. Austin Cassidy's Independent Political Report notes that she is now "an official write-in candidate" in North Carolina. A drive-by whined that Austin Cassidy is a conservative and is linked to "so you can promote Cynthia McKinney." I'll assume "you" means me because the community is behind Ralph Nader. (I haven't stated whom I'm voting for in November -- or if I'll vote.) Whatever Austin Cassidy is or isn't, his site has provided coverage of all the campaigns. Were we an election site, we would as well. Were we a gas-bag site, we'd be like The Nation, The Progressive and all the others in Panhandle Media: Barack Love 24-7 -- dropped only for non-stop hisses at John McCain. The Ralph Nader focus was decided by the community in a vote. Nader would have been covered here regardless because of what was done to him in 2004. I don't enjoy the pack mentality of our so-called "alternative" media or the silences from Real Media. If you go into the archives for this site, you'll find it was made very clear in 2004 that if Nader ran in 2008, he would be covered here. The amount of coverage is dicated by (a) the silence from other outlets and (b) the fact that all voting in Gina and Krista's poll stated in April that if Hillary did not get the nomination, they would be supporting Nader. That included people who were already supporting Nader as well as Democratic members who saw through the illusions of Barack. McKinney could have split the vote in the community but, by that time, had already allowed a lifelong misogynist's articles to be posted at her campaign site. Her declaration that victory was 5% of the national vote only added to the pull-back from McKinney but it was the misognist that did her campaign in for the community. (And "Don't call me Latina!" Clemente's decision to try to speak for Lations -- to mispeak for them -- only hardened the opinion against the McKinney-Clemente ticket. It's rather cute to hear her billed now as "Puerto Rican born" when, no, she was not born in Puerto Rico. She was born in the Bronx. But it's the campaign realizing how serious a barrier Clemente is to Latino voters and trying their best to overcome it. Most likely, they can't. It's a decade long of remarks that Latinos see as insults and a rejection. It's not just that she chose to self-identify Black, it's that expressing her self-identification repeatedly also included non-stop jabs and insults to Latinos.) I don't know that Cassidy's is a right-wing site. It may be. What I do know is that when someone e-mails something from it (on McKinney), it's not full of snark and and attacks on McKinney. If Cassidy is right-wing, that's really sad for the left-wing because he is managing to offer an election site that does a better job of balance than anything from our left institutions. His site has been linked to for McKinney coverage and will continue to be linked to from time to time for that coverage. Anymore whining in e-mails about it from non-community members will most likely result in my putting it on the permalinks to the left. Repeating, regardless of his political identification or affilation, he's doing a better job covering the election -- covering the candidates -- than any of our allegedly left institutions.

I don't care for Newsweek (to put it mildly). It's been linked to here twice in nearly four years and both times were hard sells before I would link to it. I've been hard sold (by a friend at Newsweek) again so we'll link to it one more time. Cynthia McKinney has a Q & A and from that:

What kind of strategy are you employing for the campaign?
There are currently about 200 members of the Green Party who are elected officials. These are mostly local elections. The Green Party does not yet have representation on the federal level, but it's quite a successful "minor" party. With 5 percent of the electorate, it can move from minor party status to major party status [and qualify the Green Party for federal funds]. So our goal is to get onto as many ballots as we can, since then achieving a 5 percent goal becomes possible. When I got to Washington D.C., I realized that public policy was made around the table. The 5 percent puts another seat at the table.
Tell me about your prospects for getting this 5 percent, since polls are showing that all the third parties combined are only at about 1 percent. That's a pretty big gap.

Yes, we have our work cut out for us. But I think the fact that Congress has failed to stop funding the war and is aiding and abetting in the illegal spying against American citizens, combined with the fact that we don't have a livable wage, don't have single-payer health care system, are not subsidizing higher education as we should be, have not seen a cogent energy policy come through Congress, are seeing people losing their homes in a record foreclosure mortgage crisis -- and predatory lending has not been tamed -- the Bush tax cuts have not been rolled back, then we certainly can't trust those who created the problems to solve them.
A lot of those issues sound similar to the Democratic Party platform.

I don't think that assessment is accurate. The Democrats stand for what we've been given now. While many Democratic activists may want a single-payer health care system, neither one of the final two Democratic candidates who were able to garner so many delegate votes were supportive of a single-payer health care system. They have also taken impeachment off the table.
There are quite a few prominent third-party candidates running this year, including your former fellow Congressman from Georgia, Bob Barr, over at the Libertarian Party. Is he basically the conservative version of you?

The only thing I would say about Bob is that it's interesting that Georgia is so well-represented in the non-major party lineup. Of course, I worked in the Congress for a long time with Bob Barr and, in fact, members of the Libertarian Party have reached out to me on several occasions this year and I expect there will be more mutual reaching.
So you might actually be working together on some issues?

I didn't say that.
What does mutual reaching mean then?

It means that where there is the possibility of having discussions, then I wouldn't turn down discussions. There's nothing afoot, if that's what you mean. I would take it issue by issue, and see what the future brings.
Of course, there's the perennial third-party candidate question: What do you make of arguments that you'll pull votes away from the Democrats, thereby ushering into office a Republican who shares even fewer of your views?

That's not grounded in the facts. As the film "American Blackout" points out very well, there were numerous instruments used in the 2000 and 2004 elections to disfranchise voters. Voter caging and voter ID laws exist to disfranchise voters. The question I believe Newsweek ought to be asking is how can we ensure that people who have the right to vote also have the opportunity to vote. And after their vote is cast, how can we ensure their votes are counted. How can an environment that does not ensure election integrity ensure us that the will of the voter is reflected in the announced outcome?

For those trying to read 'tea leaves,' Cynthia is of the left and we'll try to note her campaign at least once a week. The community doesn't give a ___ about Clemente (for reasons outlined above) so we'll ignore her. But I do like Cynthia personally and we'll note her campaign at least once a week. That's not "Vote for Cynthia!" I don't care who you vote for and I'm not advocating that you vote for any presidential candidate (or that you vote). (If you are in Jason West's congressional district in Chicago, I would advocate that you vote for him. He's the Green Party candidate in the race and he is a member of IVAW. I'm not aware of any other candidate that I've endorsed and were it not for his strong positions and the fact that he really does need attention and awareness for his race, I wouldn't be endorsing him.) But you should be aware, if you're in the US, who is running and what they're attempting to do. Barack is more than covered by the media. So much so that John McCain can actually start campaigning as the outsider if he wants to: "Barack's the choice of the media!" (I'm sure McCain would say "liberal media." Which, of course, I would disagree with. "Big money media" I wouldn't disagree with.)

There are presidential candidates: Bob Barr, Cynthia and Ralph. (That's listed in alephabetical order by first name.) The other two are "presumed" candidates at this point, not having yet secured the official nomination from their party. But they're not covered. If they're not getting coverage now when they are the only ones who are actual candidates, imagine how much worse it will be in the fall? They should be noted in some form here because they are the only ones calling for an end to the illegal war. (Reducing US forces by approximately 90,000 -- leaving 50,000 behind for who knows how many years -- is not calling for a withdrawal.) UPI quotes Barr stating:

American troops in Iraq would be at risk. U.S. citizens would be targeted for terrorist acts. Tehran could retaliate against Israel. Oil shipments would be disrupted, causing energy prices to soar even higher. Allied states in the Persian Gulf would be vulnerable to attack. Chances for democratic change in Iran would be set back.

From Tom Searls' "Third-party presidential candidates' workers stump in state" (Charleston Gazette):

While supporters of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader turned in petitions Friday that could enable him to gain ballot access in the Mountain State in November, workers for two other candidates continued to collect signatures around the state.
Libertarian nominee Bob Barr's supporters set up a booth at Charleston's Rib Fest on Friday, in an effort to get the required 15,118 valid signatures of registered voters by Aug. 1, the last day to submit them.
"We'll go to the very end, working from morning to night," vowed Andrew Davis, a spokesman for the campaign's West Virginia project.

So far, they are well behind Nader's effort and are trailing the Constitution Party's push to get its nominee, Chuck Baldwin, on the state ballot.

I do know Barr and disagree with him on many issues. He is a candidate who believes in ending the illegal war and he's the nominee for the Libertarian Party. He's a serious candidate. Noting that is not attempting to solicit votes for him.

Barr, Nader and McKinney are all against the illegal war and can be covered here. I won't waste my limited time trying to cover Baldwin (offensive for many reasons including his positions on immigration and abortion) because we're a site opposed to the illegal war. That said, Baldwin should be invited to the debates. All candidates should be. But some candidates shoot themselves in the foot. McKinney long ago gave anyone wanting to shut out any candidate that wasn't Dem or Republican by declaring victory was 5% of the vote. In a media environment hostile to anyone not of the two-major parties (and a 'committee' of Democrats and Republicans who control who is invited to the debates), the threshold could be reduced to (which would qualify as an expansion this year) those actually running to become president. By her own remarks, she is not running to become president and if she's denied participation in the debates, we won't spend a lot of time here fretting over that. All other candidates -- unless they've stated they're only running for a percentage -- should be invited.

It's one thing to acknowledge -- as Nader has -- that your run may be a longshot (Abe Lincoln's run was a longshot, and he won), it's another to define ultimate 'victory' as 5% of the votes. When you do that, you've given everyone an opportunity to exclude you from the debates and from coverage.

Since yesterday morning, the following community websites have updated:

Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Cedric's Cedric's Big Mix;
Kat's Kat's Korner;
Betty's Thomas Friedman is a Great Man;
Mike's Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz;
Wally's The Daily Jot;
Trina's Trina's Kitchen;
Ruth's Ruth's Report;
and Marcia's SICKOFITRADLZ

From Team Nader, Lynda notes:



Help Fuel Ralph’s Tour of the South and West

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Help Fuel Ralph’s Tour of the South and West .

We need gas money.

Why?

Starting today, Ralph Nader is on the road again.

This time campaigning through the South and then out West.

Over the next two weeks, Ralph will be in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Utah and up and down California.

His VP, Matt Gonazalez, will be joining Ralph on the campaign trail starting in Texas.

Check out the schedule below.

If you are in the neighborhood, come on out to hear and meet Ralph and Matt.

With both Obama and McCain saber rattling over Iran, the Nader/Gonzalez message of peace through justice is now more important than ever.

If your friends or relatives in the neighborhood, give them a shout and let them know.

But right now, we need gas money to fuel Ralph's South and West Coast Tour.

We've rented a car.

Gas prices are high.

And Ralph is on the move.

So, please donate whatever you can now to fill up our tank.

You can give up to $4,600.

But $500, $100, $50 - whatever you can donate is what we need.

Help us fill 'er up.

So we can get 'er done.

Onward.

The Nader Team

Ralph Nader's Tour of the South and West

Friday July 25, 2008 5:30 p.m.
Athens, Georgia

Nader for President 2008 Rally
University of Georgia, Georgia Center- “Masters Hall”
1127 South Lumpkin St. Athens, GA 30602
Contribution- $10/ $5 student
(404) 446-7093 or events@votenader.org

Friday July 25, 2008 8 p.m.
Atlanta, Georgia

Evening with Ralph
Suggested Contribution $100 min
RSVP (202) 471-5833

Saturday July 26, 2008, 6 p.m.
Jackson, Mississippi

Book Signing/ Speech
Lemuria Bookstore
202 Banner Hall- I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206
(601) 842-6769 or events@votenader.org

Saturday July 26, 2008 8:00 p.m.
Jackson, Mississippi

Evening with Ralph Nader
RSVP (202) 471-5833
Suggested Contribution $50

Sunday July 27, 2008 2:00 p.m.
Houston, Texas

Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Hilton University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Suite 207, Houston, TX77204
Contribution- $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Sunday July 27, 2008 7:30 p.m.
Austin, Texas

Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Trinity United Methodist Church
600 East 50th St. Austin, TX 78751
Contribution $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Thursday July 31, 2008 7:30pm
Salt Lake City, Utah

Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Rocky Anderson
Libby Gardner Concert Hall
1375 E President Circle, Salt Lake UT
Contribution-$10/ $5 students
(801) 916-6307 or ashley@votenader.rog

Saturday, August 2, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Davis, California

Nader for President 2008 Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Varsity Theater
616 Second Street
Davis, CA 95616
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org


Sunday August 3, 1:30 p.m.
Sebastopol, California

Nader for President Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Sebastopol Community Center
390 Morris St., Sebastopol, California 95472
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

August 3, 2008, 4:30pm
Healdsburg, California

Nader for President Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Copperfield's books
104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, California 95448
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org


August 3, 7:30 p.m.
Kentfield, California

Nader for President 2008 Speech in Marin
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
College of Marin- Olney Hall
835 College Ave., Kentfield, California
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
More Info: (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org

PS: We invite your comments to the blog.

Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.

Contribute.



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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

Iraq

We're going to note US Senator Patty Murray's Senate floor remarks in full. They were delivered Tuesday (and the link contains audio as well as text). This is her "Military and VA Must Address Rising Number of Suicides by Troops and Veterans:"

Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to raise awareness about one of the most heartbreaking and alarming consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the five years since we invaded Iraq, we have seen a disturbing increase in the number of young men and women who return home struggling with the psychological impacts of war -- and then take their own lives. About 1,000 war veterans being treated by the VA attempt suicide each month. And it is a problem affecting communities across this country.
Earlier this month, we lost a young man in my home state of Washington just hours after he sought care at the Spokane VA hospital. He was the sixth veteran in that community to take his own life this year. Now, the Spokane VA is investigating all six of those cases. I have also spoken to Secretary Peake. He has assured me that his team is also on the ground, taking a hard look to see what went wrong and what they can learn from the situation.
But, Mr. President, while I appreciate the work Secretary Peake and the Spokane VA are doing, the fact is that this is a serious problem across the country. Every suicide is a tragedy. Those young men and women are someone's son or daughter, best friend, spouse, or even a parent. Our hearts go out to all of their families and friends. And their deaths are an urgent reminder that we must keep our eye on the ball. We owe it to all of our service members and veterans to demand that the VA and the Department of Defense make it a national priority to bring these numbers down.
VA is Taking Steps by Promoting Prevention Hotline
Mr. President, I want to acknowledge that the VA is taking steps to reach out to veterans and their families to let them know that help is available. This week, the VA is rolling out a public service campaign here in Washington, D.C. As part of a three-month long pilot program, the VA will run a series of ads on TV, and in buses, trains, and on the subway. The ads will highlight the VA’s 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, 1-800-273-TALK, and help assure veterans that it's OK to ask for help.
I applaud the VA for this effort because it's a good step. We absolutely must get the word out to our veterans -- and their families. If this helps prevent even one tragedy, then it's more than worth it. I hope that the Defense Department will also publicize this number among its active duty troops so that when they leave the service they will already be aware of it.
But, Mr. President, this is only a step. An ad campaign is only as good as the resources that are there when our service members seek help. And if we are truly going to make a difference, we need a bigger effort. We must do more to reach out, break down the barriers to seeking mental health care, and back up those efforts with enough resources to ensure that when a veteran goes into the hospital asking for help, the VA can offer the best care possible.
VA and DoD Must Do More Outreach
And so, Mr. President, while I applaud the idea of publicizing the suicide prevention hotline -- I believe the military and the VA must reach out long before our young men and women pick up the phone and call for help. And that will take creativity and leadership.
Mr. President, the VA and the Defense Department can't keep doing things the way they've always done them -- because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't like any we have ever fought. Our all-volunteer force has been on the ground in those two countries for longer than we fought in World War II. Troops get very little down time. And many of them are serving on their third, fourth, or even fifth deployments. The stress takes a toll on everyone. And for many, it gets worse when they come home to the pressures of everyday life -- to financial strain or family problems. That's especially true for members of the National Guard and Reserves. Unlike active duty troops -- who return from battle to a military base and a support network -- many Guard and Reserve members go home to family pressures and civilian jobs.
Mr. President, the military and the VA must update their resources and outreach efforts to match the challenges our troops face when they return. And that safety net has to be in place before they ever leave the military. That means we must have creative programs that help service members transition from the battlefield to the home front. It means providing family and financial counseling to any service member who needs it. And it means developing a way for the military or VA to follow up with service members -- especially those who already have asked for help with psychological wounds.
VA and DoD Must End the Stigma Against Seeking Care
But, Mr. President, we also must encourage our service members and veterans to seek care when they need it by breaking down the barriers that prevent them from asking for help. The VA and the Defense Department must take strong steps to change the military culture so that service members no longer fear that seeking care will be viewed as a sign of weakness -- or one that will hurt their career.
Even more important, service members and veterans must be convinced that if they ask for help, doctors and staff will take them seriously and provide the care they need. I have heard too many tragic stories about veterans who have gone to the VA in distress -- only to face a doctor who underestimated their symptoms and sent them home to a tragic ending.
Mr. President, when someone with a history of depression, PTSD, or other psychological wounds walks into the VA and says they are suicidal, it should set off alarm bells. We can't convince veterans or service members to get care if they think they will be met with lectures and closed doors. That is unacceptable. At the very least, we must ensure that staff at military and VA medical centers have the training to recognize and treat someone who is in real distress.
VA and DoD Must Back Up Efforts With Resources
Finally, Mr. President, we must provide the resources to back up all of these efforts -- starting with making sure that the suicide prevention hotline is staffed with enough trained professionals who can provide real help to someone in need. I hope that will be the case. Unfortunately, this Administration has failed for eight long years to make good on its promises and provide the resources needed to carry them out.
Time and again, it has taken leaks and scandals to get the Administration to own up to major problems at the VA -- from inadequate budgets to rising suicide rates. And its response to rising costs has been to underfund research and cut off services to some veterans. Mr. President, we must do better than that.
Service members and veterans need more than an 800 number to call. They need psychiatrists and psychologists who understand the horrors of war and the stresses our troops feel. We also need to make sure that we have the facilities and systems set up to accommodate the troops who will be entering the VA system in the next decade. We must fast-track research into the signature injuries of the war, such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so that we understand how to diagnose and treat these conditions. And we need to speed up efforts that will enable the DoD and VA to share records so that fewer service members slip through the cracks as they transition from active duty to veteran status. Now is the time to invest in research and infrastructure. We can't afford to wait.
This is About Saving Lives
Mr. President, many of us are familiar with the story of Joseph Dwyer, a young Army medic made famous in a photo taken during the first week of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the photo, Joseph is running toward safety with an injured Iraqi child in his arms. It's an epic image of bravery and compassion. But when he came home, Joseph struggled to fit back into civilian life. He suffered from PTSD and, tragically, earlier this year, he died of what police are treating as an accidental drug overdose.
The photo of Joseph Dwyer captured the incredible work our troops are doing everyday. But, sadly, Joseph's story is also an example of what far too many of our veterans face when they return home. The photo of Joseph was taken during the first week of this war. More than five years later, we should have the resources in place to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones. But we don't.
Mr. President, I want to ask my colleagues to put themselves in the shoes of a parent -- or a spouse -- who has lost a child, or a husband, or a wife to suicide. I want them to think of all the questions they might be asking. We might not be able to provide all of the answers -- but we should at least be able to say that we’re doing everything we can to address the problems.
We know there are many, many dedicated, hardworking VA employees, who spend countless hours providing our vets with the best treatment. But we also must recognize that the system is still unprepared for the influx of veterans coming home. According to a RAND study, 1 in 4 veterans will struggle with PTSD. It is the duty of the VA and of a grateful nation to be prepared to care for their unique wounds. And in order to do that, we need strong leadership and attention to detail in Washington, D.C. -- Spokane, Washington -- and everywhere in between.
At the end of the day, this isn't about bureaucracy or protecting turf, it's about saving lives. While I'm glad that the Administration plans to increase its outreach, a pilot program is only a small step. We must make it a national priority to address this tragedy.
The Administration must back up its efforts by reaching out to service members, veterans, and their families, breaking down the barriers that prevent service members and veterans from seeking and getting mental health care, and providing adequate resources.
No matter how you feel about this war, our troops are heroes. They have done everything we’ve asked of them -- and more. And it's time our commitment measured up to theirs.


We quoted from the above in yesterday's snapshot and a number of e-mails came in glad that Murray had made the statements she did. Reading over the e-mails today, it's obvious that there's a problem not being pin-pointed. CounterPunch, The Progressive, et al will (and does) gladly rerun the comments of various male members in Congress. Outside of Barbara Lee (whom they praise more than quote), they pretty much ignore the women. Some males, like Russ Feingold, are worthy of posting in full and praising but others are not. They don't have much to say and their voting record says even less. Murray was among the women elected to the Senate in 1992, following the justifiable outrage over the treatment of Anita Hill and underscoring how male the Senate then was. If we're really honest, Barbara Lee gets her shout-outs on the Aretha factor (if that's confusing, hold on) and all other women get ignored for the same old reasons. Barbara Lee has a better voting record than at least 96% of the members of Congress (Lee is in the House) and I'm not attempting to insult her. I am noting that, as with music 'history,' only some get included. The 'gods' are a male list. Aretha's tacked on for 'color' and to indicate that the gatekeepers (White males) have (or think they do) a little soul. There can be only one Aretha which is why Maxine Waters and others receive so little coverage. And women are reduced which is why a Patty Murray or a Cass Eliott, Dusty Springfield, et al, gets written out of their respective histories. That same erasing of the women continues to this day and you can use Murray or any other woman in the US Congress and see that. Gotta' keep the 'boys club' male -- always.

In today's New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise's "Oil Exports From Northern Iraq Rise Sharply" reports that the (US) Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction asserts "that oil exports . . . rose more than tenfold over the past year" via the pipeline exporting oil to Turkey from northern Iraq. Fourth paragraph tells that US forces patrol the pipeline. Maybe that's one of the non-combat duties Barack has in mind for keeping approximately 50,000 US service members in Iraq after his non-promised, 16-month 'withdrawal'? In her final paragraph, Tavernise reports:

Also on Friday, the American military acknowledged that it unintentionally killed the son of an editor for an American-financed newspaper in the northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday. The military said soldiers had been fired at from a taxi and shot back, hitting Arkan al-Naiemi, 14, in the taxi.

That's the shooting noted in Thursday's snapshot. Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that some of Saturday's violence included 4 Baghdad roadside bombing with at least eleven people wounded, a Baghdad shooting in which one "Awakening" Council member was wounded,a Kirkuk shooting in which 1 police officer was killed and one more was wounded (also notes a Friday shooting in Kirkuk that claimed the life of 1 "14 year-old kid") and 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
mcclatchy newspapers
the new york times
sabrina tavernise
iraq

Friday, July 25, 2008

Iraq snapshot

Friday, July 25, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue,  Congressional hearings, BonusGate and more.

 

Starting with war resistance.  "When we arrived Al Assad, this was April or the beginning of May 2003," declared Camilo Mejia, "and this is the very beginning of the occupation and this is when we were being told that we had to keep people on sleep deprivation, to psychological torture; the orders came from way up top.  Actually the people who were in charge of running these camps were ghost agents, you know, working for the US government.  And when the Abu Ghraib scandal came out they tried to tell the American public that, you know, this was an isolated event that had only began in November or December of 2003.  And that it was the result of a few people, you know, who one day woke up and, you know, they were evil, when -- in reality, you know from -- from my experience, I can tell you that this was actually something that was coming from the very top and that happened from the very beginning and that it was not isolated to Abu Ghraib but that was happening elsewhere in Iraq from the very beginning of the occupation."  Mejia was speaking on PBS two weekends ago and he continued, "Well in the military, we have what is called spooks.  And these are people who are highly trained in counterinsurgency.  They're highly trained in linguistics and interrogation and weapons systems and things like that.  And they don't wear name tags.  They don't wear Unit ID badges or anything like that.  They . . . [use] pseudonyms and you know they don't respond to anybody in uniform.  They -- they basically take their orders from -- from the very top.  And they're -- they're untraceable and -- and obviously, you know, they can conduct themselves with absolute impunity.  These were people who were giving the commands when we were there -- not our commanders, not the people who belonged to any unit, you know, but basically people with top secret clearance and, you know, who would never be held accountable for any of the things that happened."

 

The PBS program was Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal  and Ava and I wrote about that appearance two weeks ago.  (And have heard the complaints re: streaming, transcripts, DVDs, et al and we will be noting that in Sunday's TV commentary. But anyone using that link will quickly realize that they can't watch online.) When we noted it previously, we focused on Camilo's rejection of the illegal war.  Camilo tell his story in Road to Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia and he is also the chair of  Iraq Veterans Against the War.  In terms of his place in the resistance of the Iraq War, he was the first Iraq War veteran to publicy oppose the illegal war.  As noted earlier this week, "The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass., will be hosting a series of training sessions and workshops at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association to be held from Wednesday, June 24 to Sunday, June 29, at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida."  Mejia will be a speaker on June 25th as well as on June 28th.  More information can be found here."

 

Though Meija never went Canada during his resisting while in the military, he has been a very vocal supporter and has joined many in calling on the Canadian government to grant safe harbor to US war resisters in Canada.  To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca").  Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote.  Now they've started a new letter you can use online hereThe War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.  Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

 

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
 
On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing entitled "VA's Response to the Needs of Returning Guard and Reserve Members" and the most interesting exchange took place at the end of the second panel in the last thirty minutes.  The second panel was made up of Dr. Joseph Scotti (West Virginia University), Col Bradley Livinsgton (Director of the Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Montana National Guard), Lt Col John Boyd (Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Vermont Army National Guard), Sgt Roy Meredith (Team Leader Maryland Army National Guard) and Maj Cynthia Ramussen (RN, MSN, CANP Combat Stress Officer Sexual Assualt Response Coordinator 88th Regional Readiness Command).
 
Senator Jay Rockefeller:  My first question would appear to be hostile but it's not.  Why is it that everybody, but Dr. Scotti, had to say "I'm speaking personally not on behalf of the Reserve, the Guard or the Department of Defense?  I really want to know that.  Does that mean that they're afraid that you might tell the truth?  Does that mean that they are embarrassed by what you might say because their culture is "everything always works and it always works right"?  I'd like to know why you have to say that?
 
Col Bradley Livingston: Sir I might be able to address that because my testimony --
 
Sen Jay Rockefeller: You can't correct it because you said it --
 
Col Bradley Livingston: (Overlapping) Correct --
 
Sen Jay Rockefeller: you can explain it.
 
Col Bradley Livingston: Okay, I can explain it then. My testimony had not been vetted through DoD and so I --
 
Sen Jay Rockefeller: Well Isn't that a very good thing?
 
Col Bradley Livingston: Sir, . . . I was instructed that my testimony had to have that statement put on it, sir.
 
At "I was instucted," everyone burst into laughter including Livingston.
 
Sen Jay Rockefeller: You see, I can understand that I'm -- I've got so many questions, I don't even know where to begin.  I can understand that if you're from the Department of Transportation.  If you come back from the kind of experiences that you've all come back from your testimony, Major Rasmussen, probably was the best I've ever heard here and I've been on this committee for 24 years. I -- it just -- it just breeds a sense of suspicion.  Not at you but in them.  They got to be "right."  You didn't vet it with them. Therefore, you're dangerous. You're telling the truth, you're telling the truth like few people ever do before this committee.  One of the -- one of the problems in fact is that when -- when the VA and other people come before this committee we know that everything they've said has been vetted.  So there's no real reason for us to listen particularly careful to them because we know that it's not necessarily what they think.  You're telling us what you think.  And therefore, you're real.  You really help us. This is superb help to us just at the time that the whole care of veterans has become -- along with global warming -- one of the two top issues for the entire Congress because it's like we've suddenly rediscovered you.  Our own guilt, our own mistake, regardless of political party or anything else going back over many years.  And there are reasons for that but I won't go into them.   It annoys me that you have to say that because it implies that if you didn't, you'd get in trouble.  And that makes me angry.
 
We'll come back to the second panel but Les Blumenthal (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on the first panel when the committee learned that the VA "failed to send benefit packages to nearly 37,000 National Guard and Reserve members" who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which had Senator Patty Murray pointing out, "While the VA has targeted outreach programs in place to help service members, we still miss far too many veterans who need help and aren't aware of the services and benefits they have earned."   You may remember Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldier Investigation in March.  From the March 17th snapshot:
 
The panel on The Crisis in Veterans' Healthcare followed.  Adrienne Kinee spoke on that panel and a correction to Friday's snapshot: Kinne did not state that, "The best preventative healthcare . . . for our soldiers in uniform is to not use them to fight illegal wars"; she stated, "The best prevantative healthcare . . . for our soldiers in uniform is to not use them to fight illegal occupations in the first place." Kinne testified about serving in the military, discharging in 1998 and then enlisting again and discharging during the Iraq War.  The differences she saw were immense.  The first time she left the US military, she found a great deal of help and resources, people helped her with her paperwork, they advised her of her benefits and assisted her in a smoother transition to civilian life.  By contrast, when she discharged during the Iraq War, she was provided no help, no assistance and something as simple as having a physical would require that she live on a base for four to six more weeks before the military would discharge her.  There was no attempt made to explain the benefits available to veterans. 
 
For any who missed Iraq Veterans Against the War  Winter Soldier Investigation -- which was broadcast live at IVAW's site, at War Comes Home, at KPFK, at the Pacifica Radio homepage and at KPFA -- you can find archives at IVAW, War Comes Home and -- via KPFA --  here for Friday, here for Saturday, here for Sunday. Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz anchored Pacifica's live coverage. 
 
But the point is, Congress keeps getting the same song and dance and the first panel was indicative of that.  It's a problem Senator Murray has noted.  On Tuesday (link has text and video), she took to the Senate floor to address the issue of the suicide rates of troops and veterans:
 
Earlier this month, we lost a young man in my home state of Washington just hours after he sought care at the Spokane VA hospital.  He was the sixth veteran in that community to take his own life this year.  Now, the Spokane VA is investigating all six of those cases.  I have also spoken to Secretary Peake.  He has assured me that his team is also on the ground, taking a hard look to see what went wrong and what they can learn from the situation. 
[. . .]
More than five years later, we should have the resources to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones.  But we don't.  It is the duty of the VA and of a grateful nation to be prepared to care for their unique wounds.  And in order to do that, we need strong leadership and attention to detail in Washington, D.C., Spokane, Washington, and everywhere in between.  At the end of the day, this isn't about bureaucracy or protecting turf, it's about saving lives.  We must make it a national priority to address this tragedy.
 
1-800-873-TALK is the VA's suicide prevention hotline, 24 hours.  That was Tuesday.  Back to Wednesday.  "The military is a culture of its own," Maj Cynthia Rasmussen explained in her opening testimony.  (Click here for prepared remarks but that's nothing like what she delivered in her stated opening remarks.)  Sen Rockefeller would single her out for praise and we'll note a portion of her opening testimony (again, it will not match up with the prepared remarks submitted prior to the hearing).
 
 
Maj Cynthia Rasmussen: Multiple competing tasks when a service member gets home cause confusion.  We don't know how to think that way.  We know how to be mission oriented.  We receive an op order it tells us who, what, when, where, why and how -- basically.  We don't get op orders when we get home five days after when we take the uniform off.  Owen Rice -- who is a Hennepin County sherrif deputy  in Hennepin County Jail has been to Iraq, Traumatic Brain Injury in Iraq -- says, "Ma'am it's like this: One person talks in the military and everyone else listens; when you get home: everyone talks, everyone listens and nobody hears."  What I hear from soldiers across the country -- service members across the country: "Ma'am, it's too chaotic here.  Please send me back where I know how to survive, I know how to function, I know how to do that." [. . .]  Emotions and anger.  In war, we control our emotions.  Obviously, you would not want your warrior having their emotions out in the open anywhere.  Plus we cannot accomplish a mission if we have different emotions going on.  We numb out. Anger is useful.  Anger is not only useful, anger is an awesome emotion.  We want anger, we like anger we encourage it.  Because it's the fight/flight response.  It makes your body, your mind and everything about you be the best that you can be and accomplish the mission you need to accomplish.  We encourage it, we live that way, we like to live that way.  But guess what?  When you take the uniform off, that anger that you've learned in practice and felt good about does not go away.  It looks like this: Not talking about your emotions and being angry in war is a strength.  It only leads to you can't talk about your emtions at home which is considered a weakness.  We look insensitive to others when we get home.  It's not that we're insensitive, it's that we have not practiced those emotions for a long time.  Emotions take practice.  We have a decreased ability to read other's emotions -- not because we don't care, not because we're cold hearted warriors, but because we haven't practiced that for a long time.    This can lead to increased irritability and defensiveness  because if you're spouse, you're mom, dad or someone accuses you of not caring anymore and not showing emotions.  We're not going to say, 'Oh, yes, you're right thank you.  Thank you.  I'm sorry I was unable to articulate that.'  We're going to say, 'What are you talking about?  That's not true.'  We're going to get defensive -- as all of us would if someone siad that to us.  It leads to increased alcohol and drug use to cover up our emotions.  You know why?  Not because we're warriors and we learned to do that. It is more socially acceptable in our society to go to the bar and have a few drinks or to sit home and slam down a case of beer with your friends or buddies then it is to raise your hand and say "I need help.  I need medication.  I need to talk to someone" -- not just in the military but across the board.  In our program we work with all branches of the service and many VA and civilian organizations across the country.  Despite this amazing comprehensive program, service members and families are still falling through the cracks.  I had the honor and opportunity to speak to 150 Purple Heart National Service Officers at their training in Phoenix a few months ago.  I received this note, handwritten, put it in my pocket and went back to my hotel room.  And it read: "Ma'am, for the last three years I've been treated for PTSD by doctors, nurses and others that have no clue over what is being a soldier and have this feeling inside," this is a quote by the way, "I can't thank you enough for coming today.  In the last two hours, you have done what nobody could have done: You make me feel normal again.  That is a feeling that I thought I would never feel again since I was discharged from the army.  Thank you and God bless."  This was an Operation Iraqi vet from Puerto Rico, approximately 24-years-old.  One final point I want to make.  Not all issues with service members are about PTSD.  We need to deal with the combat stress, the operational stress, those things I just talked to that are normal habits for all service members.  When I spoke to the Purple Heart receipiants, a WWII vet raised his hand and started sobbing and said, "Where were you when I came home?"  I had a Korean wife say to me last weekend, Battle Creek VA, if you had been around 40 years ago I would not be divorced from my husband  who is a Korean vet because now I understand why we had all the problems we had.  This isn't PTSD.  This is a warrior taking his uniform off and trying to come home.  We have operational stress, we have grief issues, we have lost a year or more in whatever life it was we thought we were going to have.  We have depression, we have anger issues, we have PTSD, we have all king of issues.  Please, please, please stop just calling it PTSD, I want to be called a combat vet coming home with some issues.  Thank you.   
 
Wednesday's snapshot covered Tuesday's House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee hearing. Dana Milbank (Washington Post) covered it in depth (and was noted in that day's snapshot) Talk Radio News Service provided a summary of the main points and that was it from the press.  Today the New York Times makes that hearing their lead editorial (A18), entitled "Wounded Warriors, Empty Promises" and describes it as "the latest low moment for Army brass".  From the editorial:
 
Under skepitcal questioning during a hearing in February, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, told the subcomittee that "for all intents and pruposes, we are entirely staffed at the point we need to be staffed." He also said: "The Army's unwavering commitment and a key element of our warrior ethos is that we never leave a soldier behind on the battlefield -- or lost in a bureaucracy."  
That was thousands of wounded, neglected soldiers ago.  There are now about 12,500 soldiers assigned to the warrior transition units -- more than twice as many as a year ago.  The number is expected to reach 20,000 by this time next year.  
The nation's responsibility to care for the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan will extend for decades.  After Tuesday's hearing, we are left pondering the simple questions asked at the outset by Representative Susan Davis, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the military personnel subcommittee: Why did the Army fail to adequately staff its warrior transition units?  Why did it fail to predict the surge in demand?  And why did take visits from a Congressional subcommittee to prod the Army into recognizing and promising -- yet again -- to fix the problem?
 
 
Still on Congress and veterans, Edward Colimore (Philadelphia Inquirer) reported on a Congressional bill 'addressing' stop-loss. Stop-loss is the (illegal) policy by which Bully Boy has extended service members' length of service. The service contract has been completed but instead of moving towards discharge, Bully Boy is claiming a national emergency and extending service. If the Iraq War has caused a "national emergency" for the United States, you certainly can't tell it by the tiny trickle of reporting on the Iraq War. So Congress has decided to 'address' it. By writing a law making clear how unlawful the policy is? No, by tossing out a few dollars at the problem -- "an additional $1,500 a month of extnded duty . . . retroactive to October 2001". If this is step-one, it's needed. It's past due. But if this is the 'fix,' it's not repairing anything.  IVAW's Kristopher Goldsmith favors ending the illegal stop-loss and tells Colimore, "Instead of being a civilian again and starting my life, I was doing the polar opposite: putting on a unifoorm and returning to Iraq.  I had come back with pretty severe PTSD and depression and was having panic attacks."
 
It's Friday.  And Gidget's finishing up the World Salvation Tour so the press can't be bothered too much with Iraq.  In the limited reports from Iraq . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that left three police officers injured.
 
Shootings?
 
Reuters notes that 1 Iraqi soldier was shot dead in Mosul.
 
Corpses?
 
Reuters notes that 1 corpse was discovered in Baghdad.
 
Turning to US presidential politics and starting with Gidget the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.  But don't tell his staff that.  Apparently, selecting his shade of lip gloss tires them out.  Which is why the Telegraph of London's Toby Harnden (at RealClearPolitics) explains that Jim Steinberg got huffy with the press and started talking about how when he worked for another president (Bill Clinton), he never had to go on record with the press -- only to have the press remind Steinberg that Barack was not president.  He's not even the nominee.  But don't confuse them.  Susan Rice -- lunatic and War Hawk -- was defending Barack Does Berlin and insisting he wasn't be political, "When the President of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."  Causing a reporter to shoot back, "But he is not President of the United States."  It's all so confusing for the Cult.  He's not even the nominee yet.  Cedric and Wally weighed in on Ms. Minelli's Cabaret last night.
 
Ralph Nader is a presidential candidate, not a 'presumptive' one, an actual candidate for president.  Stealing from Marcia yesterday, "Ruth (Ruth's Report) has been covering it, Kat [Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills) ] has been covering it, Elaine (Like Maria Said Paz) has been covering it, Rebecca (Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude ) has been covering it. C.I. (The Common Ills) has covered it over and over and Third Estate Sunday Review has covered it."  She had noted Mike in the previous paragraphs but he's covered BonusGate as well.  BonusGate, where at least 50 Democrats conspired to keep Ralph Nader off the state's ballot in the 2004 eleciton.  John L. Micek (The Morning Call) explains that Pennsylvania's AG Tom Corbett was "armed with a 74-page grand jury presentation two weeks ago, alleged that Democratic House employees worked to challenge the 51,273 signatures Nader and running mate Peter Camejo had gathered for access to the 2004 presidential ballot. A dozen former and current House Democratic lawmakers and employees face theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest charges, partly for their alleged role in derailing Nader's campaign."  Nader held a news conference on the issue yesterday.  Charles Thompson (The Patriot-News) reports "Nader wants relief from an $81,102 penalty for legal costs following court battles over his presidential nomination petition in 2004.  He said he will file a challenge with the state Supreme Court.  Nader said those damages should be dropped in light of criminal charges brought this month" and quotes Nader stating, "This was one of the most fraudulent and deceitful exercises ever perpetrated on Pennsylvania voters."  Amy Worden (Philadelphia Inquirer) quotes him stating, "According to the grand jury, millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, resources and state employees were illegally used for political campaign purposes -- including to remove the Nader-Camejo ticket from the ballot."  Alex Roarty (Politicker) reported yesterday, ""House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County), law firms and the country's 'corrupt' two-party system -- each were warned Wednesday by Ralph Nader that the ongoing 'Bonusgate' investigations will reveal their rampant political corruption."  Surprisingly, "Democracy" "Now" can't be bothered with this story.  While addressing all of that, Nader's still running a presidential campaign and Nader and Matt Gonzalez are on the move all weekend.  From Team Nader:
 

We need gas money.

Why?

Starting today, Ralph Nader is on the road again.

This time campaigning through the South and then out West.

Over the next two weeks, Ralph will be in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Utah and up and down California.

His VP, Matt Gonazalez, will be joining Ralph on the campaign trail starting in Texas.

Check out the schedule below.

If you are in the neighborhood, come on out to hear and meet Ralph and Matt.

With both Obama and McCain saber rattling over Iran, the Nader/Gonzalez message of peace through justice is now more important than ever.

If your friends or relatives in the neighborhood, give them a shout and let them know.

But right now, we need gas money to fuel Ralph's South and West Coast Tour.

We've rented a car.

Gas prices are high.

And Ralph is on the move.

So, please donate whatever you can now to fill up our tank.

You can give up to $4,600.

But $500, $100, $50 - whatever you can donate is what we need.

Help us fill 'er up.

So we can get 'er done.

Onward.

The Nader Team

Ralph Nader's Tour of the South and West

Friday July 25, 2008 5:30 p.m.
Athens, Georgia
Nader for President 2008 Rally
University of Georgia, Georgia Center- "Masters Hall"
1127 South Lumpkin St. Athens, GA 30602
Contribution- $10/ $5 student
(404) 446-7093 or
events@votenader.org

Friday July 25, 2008 8 p.m.
Atlanta, Georgia
Evening with Ralph
Suggested Contribution $100 min
RSVP (202) 471-5833

Saturday July 26, 2008, 6 p.m.
Jackson, Mississippi
Book Signing/ Speech
Lemuria Bookstore
202 Banner Hall- I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206
(601) 842-6769 or
events@votenader.org

Saturday July 26, 2008 8:00 p.m.
Jackson, Mississippi
Evening with Ralph Nader
RSVP (202) 471-5833
Suggested Contribution $50

Sunday July 27, 2008 2:00 p.m.
Houston, Texas
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Hilton University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Suite 207, Houston, TX77204
Contribution- $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or
events@votenader.org

Sunday July 27, 2008 7:30 p.m.
Austin, Texas
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Trinity United Methodist Church
600 East 50th St. Austin, TX 78751
Contribution $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or
events@votenader.org

Thursday July 31, 2008 7:30pm
Salt Lake City, Utah
Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Rocky Anderson
Libby Gardner Concert Hall
1375 E President Circle, Salt Lake UT
Contribution-$10/ $5 students
(801) 916-6307 or
ashley@votenader.rog

Saturday, August 2, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Davis, California
Nader for President 2008 Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Varsity Theater
616 Second Street
Davis, CA 95616
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or
events@votenader.org


Sunday August 3, 1:30 p.m.
Sebastopol, California
Nader for President Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Sebastopol Community Center
390 Morris St., Sebastopol, California 95472
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or
events@votenader.org

August 3, 2008, 4:30pm
Healdsburg, California
Nader for President Speech
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Copperfield's books
104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, California 95448
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(202) 471-5833 or
events@votenader.org


August 3, 7:30 p.m.
Kentfield, California
Nader for President 2008 Speech in Marin
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
College of Marin- Olney Hall
835 College Ave., Kentfield, California
Contribution: $10/ $5 students
More Info: (415) 897-6989 or
events@votenader.org

PS: We invite your comments to the blog.

 
NOW on PBS (begins airing tonight in most markets) sits down with John Edwards to discuss the troubles facing families across the country, some struggle to make it in single parent homes, for example. Bill Moyers Journal explores torture (among other topics) and Jane Mayer is a guest. BMJ's Michael Winship files an editorial on torture, "The Company We Keep:"
 
The administration remains in denial. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told the House Judiciary Committee, "I don't know of any acts of torture that have been committed by individuals in developing information," he said. "So I would not certainly make an assumption. I would attribute the absence of an attack [since 9/11] at least in part, because there have been specific attacks that have been disrupted, to the excellent work and the dedication and commitment of people whose lives are dedicated to defending the country. Interrogators have used enhanced interrogation techniques but they haven't used torture."
Grim hairsplitting. This week, as the result of a Freedom of Information Act suit, the ACLU received a heavily redacted copy of an infamous August 2, 2002 memo, signed by then-head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel Jay Bybee and written with his subordinate, the equally infamous John Yoo. "An individual must have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," it reads. "… The absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture… We have further found that if a defendant acts with the good faith belief that his actions will not cause such suffering, he has not acted with specific intent." 
Jameel Jaffer, head of the ACLU's national security project told Spencer Ackerman of The Washington Independent, "Imagine that in an ordinary criminal prosecution a bank robber tortures a bank manager to get the combination to a vault. He argues that the torture was not to inflict pain, but to get the combination. Every torturer has a reason other than to cause pain. If you're going to let people off the hook for an intention other than to cause pain, you're not going to be able to prosecute anyone for torture." 
Deborah Pearlstein, a constitutional scholar and human rights lawyer who has spent time at Guantanamo monitoring conditions there, testified to Congress that, "As of 2006, there had been more than 330 cases in which U.S. military and civilian personnel have, incredibly, alleged to have abused or killed detainees. This figure is based almost entirely on the U.S. government's own documentation. These cases involved more than 600 U.S. personnel and more than 460 detainees held at U.S. facilities throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. They included some l00-plus detainees who died in U.S. custody, including 34 whose deaths the Defense Department reports as homicides. At least eight of these detainees were, by any definition of the term, tortured to death."
 
More is online at Bill Moyers Journal where you can watch, listen or read (transcripts) and BMJ never forgets to serve all communities and remembers public television's key word is "public."  On Washington Week, Gwen and the Gas Bags jaw over the non-news. Helene Cooper (New York Times) is the only one qualified to address the international scene so expect a lot of snorts, bromides and tidbits from the rest.
 
 

 iraq

camilo mejia


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While serving in Iraq several years ago, Thomas James Hermann had what he called an awakening.
Hermann, a Barre farm worker, spent 16 months in the country after signing up for the Army soon after the March 2003 invasion. At the time, it was a war he supported. That perspective quickly changed.
"I began to have a lot of empathy for the people of Iraq and that really opened my eyes," said the Iraq war veteran on Thursday at the Old Labor Hall in Barre. "I saw that there are more than just two sides to every situation."
Hermann is now challenging U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont's freshman Democrat, who he says has fallen far short of his campaign promises in 2006 to rein in the politics of President Bush's administration and end the five-year-old war in Iraq.
The 29-year-old is running as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party and is the only major party candidate challenging Welch this year in the general election after the state's Republican Party failed to put forward a candidate.

The above is from Daniel Barlow's "Veteran of Iraq war challenges Welch for seat" (The Barre Montpelier Times Argus) and Hermann doesn't appear to have a website yet. Staying with the topic of veterans, Les Blumenthal (McClatchy Newspapers) reports on *Wednesday's* Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing:

The Department of Veterans Affairs failed to send benefit packages to nearly 37,000 National Guard and Reserve members who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan because it mistakenly thought they were ineligible.
Several senators raised the discovery Wednesday, detailed in a report by the VA's Office of Inspector General, as the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on whether Guard and Reserve members are being adequately informed of the benefits that are available to them.
"While the VA has targeted outreach programs in place to help service members, we still miss far too many veterans who need help and aren't aware of the services and benefits they have earned," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the committee.
Murray and others have long criticized the VA and the Defense Department as not doing enough to ensure that the more than 488,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves who've been mobilized and deployed are notified of and receive the benefits they're entitled to.

Turning to US politics, we'll again note this from Team Nader:

Nader Releases Letter to Conyers on Impeachment Hearing

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM

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News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

NADER RELEASES LETTER TO CONYERS ON IMPEACHMENT HEARING

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008----Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today sent the following letter to U.S. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers on the hearings about presidential misconduct scheduled for Friday, July 25.

July 23, 2008

Chairman John Conyers
House Judiciary Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Conyers:

For years I have been urging you to initiate a resolution of impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for chronic, repeated violations of our Constitution and the many "high crimes and misdemeanors" they commit day after day. These two men are the worst recidivist impeachable occupiers of the Presidency and Vice Presidency in American history.

Since assuming power over both Houses, the Democratic leadership declared impeachment to be "off the table."

During our 2004 Nader/Camejo independent campaign for the Presidency, we invited the American people to sign on in support of our demand for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Many thousands of citizens signed.

We have had several conversations and two meetings where impeachment was discussed. On March 24, 2008, I wrote you a letter describing the various options open to you as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (see enclosed.)

A few days ago, it was reported that your Committee will hold hearings this Friday July 25, 2008 on Congressman Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment referred to your jurisdiction.

You have invited four members of the House to testify including, of course, Congressman Kucinich and several observers of the subject, including the inestimable former mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson, Bruce Fein and John Dean. The Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr is also on the witness list, but I am not.

This is not the first time that I have been excluded from testifying on subjects both of us have been concerned about and have discussed. Remember your invitation to testify at your unofficial public hearing right after the 2004 elections regarding "irregularities" in Ohio? Within two days, your chief of staff, Perry Applebaum, persuaded you to disinvite me.

Applebaum has been a problem with my appearing before a Committee Chairman whom I have known, admired and worked with for nearly forty years. He has performed his exclusionary behavior on other occasions. It is time to make this public and to ascertain why he prevails again and again with his superior either not to invite or to deny requests to testify regarding subjects well within my knowledge, experience, and forthrightness.



Sincerely,

Ralph Nader


Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 34103
Washington, D.C. 20043

For more information on the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign, see: VoteNader.org



-End-

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The hearing takes place today; however, Conyers and others think they can use the Congress for their own partisan gain. They think they can decide who is the "good" Democrat (Barack's really taken over the party!) and it's appalling.

The Nader team has many events beginning today and extending over the weekend:

Friday July 25th, 12pm
Lunch w/ Ralph Nader
Columbia, SC


RSVP (202) 471-5833
Suggested Contribution $50
Map it
Friday July 25th, 5:30pm
Nader for President 2008 Rally
Athens, GA
University of Georgia, Georgia Center- "Masters Hall"
1127 South Lumpkin St. Athens, GA 30602
Contribution- $10/ $5 student
(404) 446-7093 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Friday July 25th, 8pm
Evening with Ralph
Atlanta, GA


Suggested Contribution $100 min
RSVP (202) 471-5833
Map it
Sat. July 26th, 6pm
Book Signing/ Speech
Jackson, MS
Lemuria Bookstore
202 Banner Hall- I-55 North Jackson, MS 39206

(601) 842-6769 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Sat. July 26th, 8:00pm
Evening with Ralph Nader
Jackson, MS


RSVP (202) 471-5833
Suggested Contribution $50
Map it
Sun. July 27th, 2pm
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Houston, TX
Hilton University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Suite 207, Houston, TX77204
Contribution- $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Sun. July 27th, 7:30pm
Ralph Nader w/ Matt Gonzalez
Austin, TX
Trinity United Methodist Church
600 East 50th St. Austin, TX 78751
Contribution $10/$5 student
(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Map it

NOW on PBS (begins airing tonight in most markets) sits down with John Edwards to discuss the troubles facing families across the country, some struggle to make it in single parent homes, for example. Bill Moyers Journal explores torture (among other topics). On Washington Week, Gwen and the Gas Bags jaw over the non-news. Helene Cooper (New York Times) is the only one qualified to address the international scene so expect a lot of snorts, bromides and tidbits from the rest.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.