http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/opinion/keller-the-leak-police.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120806
August 5, 2012
The Leak Police
By BILL KELLER
In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this newspaper famously published a number of stories regurgitating the Bush administration hype about Saddam Hussein’s supposed arsenal of mass destruction. A few journalists elsewhere — notably Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, then of the Knight Ridder newspapers — dug deeper, discovered contrary intelligence, and challenged the official line. Later, The Times also published some excellent work on how an administration eager to justify its decision to go to war cherry-picked the intelligence to make its case.
The Times has owned up to — and, we pray, learned from — the things we got wrong. But this is a good time to look a little harder at the journalists who got it right. How did they come up with the evidence to refute the version embraced by the president, by most officials in both parties and by a lot of the mainstream media?
They got it from government officials with access to classified information, who risked their jobs to confide the truth to journalists. Critics call these “leaks,” although such stories hardly ever spill out unbidden; they are painstakingly assembled by teasing out bits of information, triangulating, correcting, testing, confirming. I’d call them a public service.
Washington is currently going a little nuts on the subject of leaks. The Obama administration, which has, without really setting out to do so, already surpassed all previous administrations in its prosecution of leakers, has begun new investigations into disclosures by The Times, Newsweek, The Associated Press and others. Congress has mandated surveillance systems that make it easier to identify leakers and to prevent unauthorized downloads of classified material.
But that has not quieted the hysteria. Republicans are accusing the F.B.I. of insufficient zeal and demanding a special prosecutor. Democrats, typically worried about being perceived as soft on national security, have tried to out-deplore the Republicans. Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill the other day that, among other things, would forbid background briefings on intelligence matters by anyone except an agency’s director, deputy director or public-affairs spin doctors — thus cutting out the officers with firsthand knowledge and silencing those who question the party line. It should be dubbed the Keep Americans in the Dark Act. Feinstein already seems to be backpedaling a bit, after discovering that top intelligence officials think elements of her bill are ridiculous. (For one thing, it applies only to the spy agencies and does not touch the places that routinely consume classified intelligence material — the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, allied foreign governments or, perhaps the leakiest vessel in Washington, Congress itself.)
Is this latest outbreak of leak panic just another mood swing? Or is something else going on?
There is a plausible case that more secrets are spilling these days. In part that is because so much material is automatically, needlessly classified that officials tend not to take classification as seriously. I suspect another factor is the enthusiasm with which senior officials contribute their notes and self-serving recollections for behind-the-scenes books, setting a permissive example for those farther down the official ladder. (The top officials thus assure their place in history; it’s the juniors who get prosecuted.)
Some of the current wailing is just politics as usual, or what has become usual in the pit bull arena of the modern campaign. Mitt Romney, desperate for a way to turn President Obama’s takedown of Osama bin Laden into a liability, has professed to be shocked and outraged that a president or his circle might use classified information to burnish the image of the commander in chief. The Republican nominee-to-be points to stories about Obama’s handling of the Bin Laden raid, his oversight of a terrorist kill list and the administration’s cyberattacks on Iran as “contemptible” breaches of national security.
Romney certainly knows something about keeping secrets; there have been no leaks so far of his tax returns, the names of his big-money bundlers, the records of his work as governor and Olympics czar or, for that matter, his economic plan.
But his indignation, if it is not feigned, is a little naïve. One of the more insightful watchers of Washington culture had this to say on how things work in the world of information-as-power:
“Presidents make ‘secret’ decisions only to reveal them for the purposes of frightening an adversary nation, wooing a friendly electorate, protecting their reputations. The military services conduct ‘secret’ research in weaponry only to reveal it for the purpose of enhancing their budgets, appearing superior or inferior to a foreign army, gaining the vote of a congressman or the favor of a contractor. The Navy uses secret information to run down the weaponry of the Air Force. The Army passes on secret information to prove its superiority to the Marine Corps. High officials of the government reveal secrets in the search for support of their policies, or to help sabotage the plans and policies of rival departments. Middle-rank officials of government reveal secrets so as to attract the attention of their superiors or to lobby against the orders of those superiors.”
That was Max Frankel, then the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, in a 1971 deposition defending the paper’s publication of the secret Vietnam War history called the Pentagon Papers. Frankel acknowledged the self-serving nature of these transactions — on both sides — but concluded that this “cooperative, competitive, antagonistic and arcane relationship,” as he called it, was essential to the working of democracy. Without this trafficking in secrets, he said, “there could be no adequate diplomatic, military and political reporting of the kind our people take for granted, either abroad or in Washington, and there could be no mature system of communication between the government and the people.”
I’m prepared to believe that unauthorized disclosure to the press of classified information has occasionally had dire consequences, though clear-cut examples of that are scarce. More often, what “leaks” have done is inform Americans about what is being done in their name — the good (successful targeting of militants, cyberdisruption of Iran’s nuclear program) and the not so good (warrantless eavesdropping, torture). Raise a hand if you’d really prefer not to know those things.
Some of the instances that seem at first glance to be irresponsible breaches of security turn out, on closer study, to be something else. Recently, The Times, along with several other news organizations, disclosed that the United States had successfully planted a double agent in Al Qaeda in Yemen, and managed thereby to thwart the suicide bombing of an airliner. Outing a double agent is a death warrant. But in this case, reporters who worked the story sought and received assurances that the agent had finished his work and moved to safety. The Qaeda double-agent revelations may well have been good for American security: sowing some corrosive mistrust among the fanatics, and creating a potential hero for young Muslims disenchanted with jihad.
Over the decades, rival interests — the government’s legitimate responsibility to keep some things secret, the press’s constitutional freedom to ferret out information and report it — have coexisted through informal understandings. The government worked to protect secrets at the source but generally accepted that it had little recourse once they had escaped. Violators were reprimanded, but hardly ever charged under the Espionage Act. Reporters and editors were sometimes persuaded to withhold information if they were convinced it could put lives at risk.
Alexander Bickel, who was the chief counsel for The Times in the Pentagon Papers case, wrote that this accommodation “works well only when there is forbearance and continence on both sides. It threatens to break down when the adversaries turn into enemies, when they break diplomatic relations with each other, gird for and wage war. Such conditions threaten graver breakdowns yet, eroding the popular trust and confidence in both government and the press on which effective exercise of the function of both depends.”
Bickel’s argument, in a seminal book of legal philosophy called “The Morality of Consent,” assumes a respectful — if adversarial — relationship between, on one side, an establishment press and, on the other, a government that accepts the value of compromise in the conduct of public affairs. It’s arguable whether we have either of those today.
The notion of an establishment press is, to say the least, under siege. News comes from a dizzying number of directions. We know from the WikiLeaks case that among the legions of Internet aggregators and disseminators are at least a few who would feel no compunction about disclosing life-threatening information if they got their hands on it.
So far, though, the secrets that set Washington on edge still tend to come from reporters who have spent years developing relationships with sources, mainstream reporters like Landay and Strobel, or like David Sanger of The Times and Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek, who are prominent among the current targets of the leak police. They operate without security clearances or subpoena powers. They work, rather, with sources who may be scared, who probably know only part of the story, who may have their own agendas that need to be discovered and taken into account. Reporting secret information with confidence usually entails a multitude of sources, ideally backed by documentary evidence.
So, while the mainstream press might not enjoy the hegemony it held before the Internet, most of what the country knows about the secret activities of its government it knows thanks to news organizations that still take their responsibilities seriously: reporters who check to make sure that the double agent is safe before they publish the story. (WikiLeaks, which has built a reputation on one tremendous leak, is still the exception that proves the rule.)
Unfortunately, these are not days of — in Bickel’s phrase — “forbearance and continence.” We live in a time of zero-sum politics, where trust is scarce and compromise is perilous, and where the hamster-wheel news cycle puts no special value on reflection.
In a saner Washington, a reasonable effort to control truly harmful leaks might be balanced by an equally serious effort to roll back excessive classification, so that we could have a more informed debate about drones and cyberwarfare and kill lists. In that Washington, we could worry a little less about where the stories came from, and a little more about what’s in them.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Monday, August 6, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
79 House Democrats Vote To Keep Afghanistan War Going On Even Longer
http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2012/05/18/79-house-democrats-vote-pro-war/
A politically independent journal of the campaigns and legislation of the United States Congress.
79 House Democrats Vote To Keep Afghanistan War Going On Even Longer
Posted on May 18 2012 by Congress Watcher
For quite some time now, the majority of Americans has supported an end to the war in Afghanistan. The war is almost eleven years old now, and the goal of defeating the Taliban is no closer now than it was during the first year of the war.
In order to deal with this problem, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee proposed an amendment to H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013. The Lee amendment, if passed, would have prohibited the military for spending any money in Afghanistan except for on non-combat humanitarian activities, and on activities leading to the withdrawal of American military forces from the country.
The amendment did not pass. In spite of the fact that most Americans want the U.S. military to leave Afghanistan, 303 members of the U.S. House voted against Lee’s amendment of military withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan. Only 113 representatives voted in favor.
A slim majority of House Democrats, 53%, voted for the amendment to end the war in Afghanistan. 42% joined the House Republicans to keep the Afghanistan war going on even longer, without any end in sight.
The names of these 79 pro-war congressional Democrats are:
Gary Ackerman, Jason Altmire, Robert Andrews, Joe Baca, John Barrow, Shelley Berkley, Howard Berman, Sanford Bishop, Timothy Bishop, Corrine Brown, G.K. Butterfield, Russ Carnahan, John Carney, Kathy Castor, Ben Chandler, Jim Clyburn, Gerald Connolly, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, Joe Courtney, Mark Critz, Henry Cuellar, Susan Davis, Ted Deutch, Norman Dicks, John Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Joe Donnelly, Eliot Engel, John Garamendi, Charles Gonzalez, Al Green, Gene Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Kathy Hochul, Steny Hoyer, Steve Israel, Hank Johnson, Dale Kildee, Ron Kind, Larry Kissell, James Langevin, Rick Larsen, Sander Levin, Dan Lipinski, Nita Lowey, Ben Luján, Stephen Lynch, Jim Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Carolyn McCarthy, Betty McCollum, Mike McIntyre, Jerry McNerney, Brad Miller, Gary Miller, Nancy Pelosi, Ed Perlmutter, Gary Peters, Collin Peterson, David Price, Silvestre Reyes, Laura Richmond, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Adam Schiff, Allyson Schwartz, David Scott, Terri Sewell, Brad Sherman, Heath Shuler, Adam Smith, Betty Sutton, Christopher Van Hollen, and Timothy Walz.
Tags: adam schiff, Adam Smith, afghanistan, Al Green, Allyson Schwartz, barbara lee, ben chandler, ben lujan, betty mccollum, betty sutton, Brad Miller, Brad Sherman, carolyn mccarthy, Charles Gonzalez, Christopher Van Hollen, Collin Peterson, Corrine Brown, dale kildee, dan lipinski, David Price, David Scott, democrats, dutch ruppersberger, Ed Perlmutter, eliot engel, G.K. Butterfield, gary ackerman, gary miller, gary peters, Gene Green, gerald connolly, hank johnson, Heath Shuler, Henry Cuellar, Howard Berman, James Langevin, jason altmire, jerry mcnerney, jim clyburn, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, jim matheson, Joe Baca, joe courtney, joe donnelly, John Barrow, john carney, John Dingell, john garamendi, John Sarbanes, Kathy Castor, kathy hochul, Kevin McCarthy, larry kissell, Laura Richmond, Lloyd Doggett, Lucille Roybal-Allard, mark critz, Mike McIntyre, Nancy Pelosi, Nita Lowey, Norman Dicks, Rick Larsen, Robert Andrews, ron kind, Ruben Hinojosa, russ carnahan, sander levin, Sanford Bishop, Shelley Berkley, Silvestre Reyes, spending, Steny Hoyer, stephen lynch, Steve Israel, Susan Davis, ted deutch, terri sewell, timothy bishop, Timothy Walz, war
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
A politically independent journal of the campaigns and legislation of the United States Congress.
79 House Democrats Vote To Keep Afghanistan War Going On Even Longer
Posted on May 18 2012 by Congress Watcher
For quite some time now, the majority of Americans has supported an end to the war in Afghanistan. The war is almost eleven years old now, and the goal of defeating the Taliban is no closer now than it was during the first year of the war.
In order to deal with this problem, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee proposed an amendment to H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013. The Lee amendment, if passed, would have prohibited the military for spending any money in Afghanistan except for on non-combat humanitarian activities, and on activities leading to the withdrawal of American military forces from the country.
The amendment did not pass. In spite of the fact that most Americans want the U.S. military to leave Afghanistan, 303 members of the U.S. House voted against Lee’s amendment of military withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan. Only 113 representatives voted in favor.
A slim majority of House Democrats, 53%, voted for the amendment to end the war in Afghanistan. 42% joined the House Republicans to keep the Afghanistan war going on even longer, without any end in sight.
The names of these 79 pro-war congressional Democrats are:
Gary Ackerman, Jason Altmire, Robert Andrews, Joe Baca, John Barrow, Shelley Berkley, Howard Berman, Sanford Bishop, Timothy Bishop, Corrine Brown, G.K. Butterfield, Russ Carnahan, John Carney, Kathy Castor, Ben Chandler, Jim Clyburn, Gerald Connolly, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, Joe Courtney, Mark Critz, Henry Cuellar, Susan Davis, Ted Deutch, Norman Dicks, John Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Joe Donnelly, Eliot Engel, John Garamendi, Charles Gonzalez, Al Green, Gene Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Kathy Hochul, Steny Hoyer, Steve Israel, Hank Johnson, Dale Kildee, Ron Kind, Larry Kissell, James Langevin, Rick Larsen, Sander Levin, Dan Lipinski, Nita Lowey, Ben Luján, Stephen Lynch, Jim Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Carolyn McCarthy, Betty McCollum, Mike McIntyre, Jerry McNerney, Brad Miller, Gary Miller, Nancy Pelosi, Ed Perlmutter, Gary Peters, Collin Peterson, David Price, Silvestre Reyes, Laura Richmond, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Adam Schiff, Allyson Schwartz, David Scott, Terri Sewell, Brad Sherman, Heath Shuler, Adam Smith, Betty Sutton, Christopher Van Hollen, and Timothy Walz.
Tags: adam schiff, Adam Smith, afghanistan, Al Green, Allyson Schwartz, barbara lee, ben chandler, ben lujan, betty mccollum, betty sutton, Brad Miller, Brad Sherman, carolyn mccarthy, Charles Gonzalez, Christopher Van Hollen, Collin Peterson, Corrine Brown, dale kildee, dan lipinski, David Price, David Scott, democrats, dutch ruppersberger, Ed Perlmutter, eliot engel, G.K. Butterfield, gary ackerman, gary miller, gary peters, Gene Green, gerald connolly, hank johnson, Heath Shuler, Henry Cuellar, Howard Berman, James Langevin, jason altmire, jerry mcnerney, jim clyburn, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, jim matheson, Joe Baca, joe courtney, joe donnelly, John Barrow, john carney, John Dingell, john garamendi, John Sarbanes, Kathy Castor, kathy hochul, Kevin McCarthy, larry kissell, Laura Richmond, Lloyd Doggett, Lucille Roybal-Allard, mark critz, Mike McIntyre, Nancy Pelosi, Nita Lowey, Norman Dicks, Rick Larsen, Robert Andrews, ron kind, Ruben Hinojosa, russ carnahan, sander levin, Sanford Bishop, Shelley Berkley, Silvestre Reyes, spending, Steny Hoyer, stephen lynch, Steve Israel, Susan Davis, ted deutch, terri sewell, timothy bishop, Timothy Walz, war
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
How Mitt Romney Got Rich Destroying American Jobs and Promoting Sweatshop Capitalism
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
AlterNet [1] / By Paul Davidson [2]
How Mitt Romney Got Rich Destroying American Jobs and Promoting Sweatshop Capitalism
August 1, 2012
Right now, a man whose predatory career has claimed the jobs of countless Americans is trying to wrap himself in the flag and call himself a “job creator” and “wealth creator.”
Does he mean miserable jobs in Chinese factories? Wealth for the 1 percent? Apparently that’s exactly what he means.
Republicans claim that Mitt Romney's entrepreneurial activities at Bain Capital have been good for Americans. The truth is that Romney has spent his career offshoring and outsourcing American production processes -- and associated jobs -- to countries like China where human labor is valued in the market at a very low wage rate.
Mitt Romney’s tenure as Bain’s CEO has long linked him to offshoring and outsourcing. Even today, although he is no longer in that position, Romney still makes a nice profit on undertakings done long after he left the day-to-day management of the firm.
The usual justifying claim is that offshoring and outsourcing are methods where the American entrepreneur finds the lowest labor cost of production for specific goods and services. Conservatives argue that even if there are additional shipping costs, the entrepreneur can provide goods and services at a lower price to American markets than if the product were produced at home. According to this line of thinking, American consumers are said to be winners because they can buy more for each of their dollars of income. (Never mind that those folks whose jobs were shipped overseas will not have much income to buy much of anything.)
In reality, there is nothing just in such practices. They run counter to American values and are detrimental to a decent society.
Bain’s engagement in outsourcing under Romney’s leadership can be traced back to at least 1993, when the firm bought into a company called Corporate Software Inc. CSI provided a range of services for hi-tech companies such as Microsoft. One service you’ll be familiar with if you have ever had a computer glitch is the outsourcing of customer support, often through call centers. At first, CSI employed U.S. workers to provide these services, but by the mid-1990s CSI was establishing call centers in other countries.
Then CSI merged with another enterprise to form Stream International Inc. Stream immediately became active in the growing field of overseas calls centers. According to SEC reports filings, Bain was active in running Stream, providing “general executive and management services.”
Bain has gone on with a host of additional offshoring activities since Romney left day-to-day operations. Romney’s enormous wealth is partly derived from a golden handshake package he received when he left the management, which included a share of profits.
In 2006, for example, Bain created the Sensata enterprise, which manufactures sensors and controls for major U.S. automobile companies. Recently, Sensata Technologies has announced plans to close a U.S. plant and outsource 170 jobs to China. Even more astonishing is that Sensata’s U.S. employees are training their Chinese replacements, who have been flown to the U.S. plant by the firm’s management.
As a major investor in Sensata, Romney could gain from any outsourcing move that is likely to cut costs and increase the company's profits. It is reported that Romney owns at least $7.8 million in eight Bain funds that collectively hold 51 percent of Sensata's shares.
Recently, conservative writers in the mass media have lauded Romney’s role in destroying American production and jobs. Libertarian Charles Murray, for example, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “Mitt Romney’s resume at Bain should be a slam dunk. He has been a successful capitalist….Capitalism … gives people a chance to get rich by creating value and reaping the rewards.”
Slam dunk? Maybe for the super-wealthy. The rest of America just got plain slammed.
David Brooks, in a New York Times piece, "More Capitalism Please," suggests that what this country needs to get out of our current economic funk is for more Romney-style entrepreneurs to pursue additional off shoring and outsourcing high profit opportunities to provide cheap goods (and high profits) to the U.S. market. Brooks apparently does not recognize, or comprehend, the difference between an unrestrained -- and inhumane -- capitalist system and a civilized capitalist economic society that America has been developing since Roosevelt's New Deal.
What if China built a shoe factory in California that was operated in the same way that factories are run at home? Here’s what it would look like:
(1) Children under 14 would work with their elders more than 60 hours a week.
(2) There would be no occupational safety standards for workers.
(3) The wage would be much less than the U.S. minimum wage.
(4) Workers would not have social security or pension benefits.
(5) The factory would have free-rein to pollute the surrounding environment.
If such a company were built, then the laws of the U.S. would shut it down, thereby preventing the factory from selling any shoes in American markets. Nevertheless, under the banner of “more capitalism please,” Brooks argues that the Americans (especially managers of large corporations?) gain from having open access to cheaper goods from offshoring and outsourcing production to such grotesque factory conditions. He seems to forget entirely why the U.S. outlawed sweatshops and child labor, and introduced social security laws. Hint: it wasn’t to enrich predatory capitalists at the expense of ordinary Americans.
The plea for more Romney-style capitalism would have us abandon our civilized social beliefs in treating all American workers with dignity. If we permitted American entrepreneurs to produce under the same uncivilized and unhealthy factory conditions as those practiced in China, their factories might very well sell cheaper products. But Brooks "more capitalism” is really a rallying cry for more sweatshop jobs, more child labor and more impoverishing of American workers so that offshoring and outsourcing entrepreneurs can make more millions and keep their incomes in offshore banks and out of the hands of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
It is true that if we would enforce the legal prohibitions on foreign production that prevent American firms from using sweatshops, child labor and other harmful practices to sell products and services in American markets, then the prices at Walmart and other retail firms might rise somewhat. But that surely is a small price to pay to make sure that Americans and their neighbors have decent paying jobs in a safe environment and their children are enjoying their childhoods in school, rather than working from dawn to dusk in a production process environment.
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-mitt-romney-got-rich-destroying-american-jobs-and-promoting-sweatshop-capitalism
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/paul-davidson
[3] http://www.alternet.org/tags/america
[4] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bain-company
[5] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bain-capital-0
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ceo
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/csi
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/california
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/capitalism
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/charles-murray
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/china-turkey-relations
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-expansion
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-founded
[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-reorganization
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/david-brooks
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-economics
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/libertarians-0
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/merger-0
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/microsoft-0
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/mitt-romney
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/new-york-times
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/offshoring
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/outsourcing
[25] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career
[26] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pratt-romney-family-0
[27] http://www.alternet.org/tags/quotation
[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/romney-0
[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/roosevelt-0
[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sensata-technologies
[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/stream-international-inc
[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sweatshop
[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/factory-0
[34] http://www.alternet.org/tags/us-internal-revenue-service
[35] http://www.alternet.org/tags/us-securities-and-exchange-commission
[36] http://www.alternet.org/tags/usd
[37] http://www.alternet.org/tags/united-states
[38] http://www.alternet.org/tags/wall-street-journal
[39] http://www.alternet.org/tags/cheaper-products
[40] http://www.alternet.org/tags/entrepreneur
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
AlterNet [1] / By Paul Davidson [2]
How Mitt Romney Got Rich Destroying American Jobs and Promoting Sweatshop Capitalism
August 1, 2012
Right now, a man whose predatory career has claimed the jobs of countless Americans is trying to wrap himself in the flag and call himself a “job creator” and “wealth creator.”
Does he mean miserable jobs in Chinese factories? Wealth for the 1 percent? Apparently that’s exactly what he means.
Republicans claim that Mitt Romney's entrepreneurial activities at Bain Capital have been good for Americans. The truth is that Romney has spent his career offshoring and outsourcing American production processes -- and associated jobs -- to countries like China where human labor is valued in the market at a very low wage rate.
Mitt Romney’s tenure as Bain’s CEO has long linked him to offshoring and outsourcing. Even today, although he is no longer in that position, Romney still makes a nice profit on undertakings done long after he left the day-to-day management of the firm.
The usual justifying claim is that offshoring and outsourcing are methods where the American entrepreneur finds the lowest labor cost of production for specific goods and services. Conservatives argue that even if there are additional shipping costs, the entrepreneur can provide goods and services at a lower price to American markets than if the product were produced at home. According to this line of thinking, American consumers are said to be winners because they can buy more for each of their dollars of income. (Never mind that those folks whose jobs were shipped overseas will not have much income to buy much of anything.)
In reality, there is nothing just in such practices. They run counter to American values and are detrimental to a decent society.
Bain’s engagement in outsourcing under Romney’s leadership can be traced back to at least 1993, when the firm bought into a company called Corporate Software Inc. CSI provided a range of services for hi-tech companies such as Microsoft. One service you’ll be familiar with if you have ever had a computer glitch is the outsourcing of customer support, often through call centers. At first, CSI employed U.S. workers to provide these services, but by the mid-1990s CSI was establishing call centers in other countries.
Then CSI merged with another enterprise to form Stream International Inc. Stream immediately became active in the growing field of overseas calls centers. According to SEC reports filings, Bain was active in running Stream, providing “general executive and management services.”
Bain has gone on with a host of additional offshoring activities since Romney left day-to-day operations. Romney’s enormous wealth is partly derived from a golden handshake package he received when he left the management, which included a share of profits.
In 2006, for example, Bain created the Sensata enterprise, which manufactures sensors and controls for major U.S. automobile companies. Recently, Sensata Technologies has announced plans to close a U.S. plant and outsource 170 jobs to China. Even more astonishing is that Sensata’s U.S. employees are training their Chinese replacements, who have been flown to the U.S. plant by the firm’s management.
As a major investor in Sensata, Romney could gain from any outsourcing move that is likely to cut costs and increase the company's profits. It is reported that Romney owns at least $7.8 million in eight Bain funds that collectively hold 51 percent of Sensata's shares.
Recently, conservative writers in the mass media have lauded Romney’s role in destroying American production and jobs. Libertarian Charles Murray, for example, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “Mitt Romney’s resume at Bain should be a slam dunk. He has been a successful capitalist….Capitalism … gives people a chance to get rich by creating value and reaping the rewards.”
Slam dunk? Maybe for the super-wealthy. The rest of America just got plain slammed.
David Brooks, in a New York Times piece, "More Capitalism Please," suggests that what this country needs to get out of our current economic funk is for more Romney-style entrepreneurs to pursue additional off shoring and outsourcing high profit opportunities to provide cheap goods (and high profits) to the U.S. market. Brooks apparently does not recognize, or comprehend, the difference between an unrestrained -- and inhumane -- capitalist system and a civilized capitalist economic society that America has been developing since Roosevelt's New Deal.
What if China built a shoe factory in California that was operated in the same way that factories are run at home? Here’s what it would look like:
(1) Children under 14 would work with their elders more than 60 hours a week.
(2) There would be no occupational safety standards for workers.
(3) The wage would be much less than the U.S. minimum wage.
(4) Workers would not have social security or pension benefits.
(5) The factory would have free-rein to pollute the surrounding environment.
If such a company were built, then the laws of the U.S. would shut it down, thereby preventing the factory from selling any shoes in American markets. Nevertheless, under the banner of “more capitalism please,” Brooks argues that the Americans (especially managers of large corporations?) gain from having open access to cheaper goods from offshoring and outsourcing production to such grotesque factory conditions. He seems to forget entirely why the U.S. outlawed sweatshops and child labor, and introduced social security laws. Hint: it wasn’t to enrich predatory capitalists at the expense of ordinary Americans.
The plea for more Romney-style capitalism would have us abandon our civilized social beliefs in treating all American workers with dignity. If we permitted American entrepreneurs to produce under the same uncivilized and unhealthy factory conditions as those practiced in China, their factories might very well sell cheaper products. But Brooks "more capitalism” is really a rallying cry for more sweatshop jobs, more child labor and more impoverishing of American workers so that offshoring and outsourcing entrepreneurs can make more millions and keep their incomes in offshore banks and out of the hands of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
It is true that if we would enforce the legal prohibitions on foreign production that prevent American firms from using sweatshops, child labor and other harmful practices to sell products and services in American markets, then the prices at Walmart and other retail firms might rise somewhat. But that surely is a small price to pay to make sure that Americans and their neighbors have decent paying jobs in a safe environment and their children are enjoying their childhoods in school, rather than working from dawn to dusk in a production process environment.
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-mitt-romney-got-rich-destroying-american-jobs-and-promoting-sweatshop-capitalism
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/paul-davidson
[3] http://www.alternet.org/tags/america
[4] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bain-company
[5] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bain-capital-0
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ceo
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/csi
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/california
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/capitalism
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/charles-murray
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/china-turkey-relations
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-expansion
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-founded
[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-reorganization
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/david-brooks
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-economics
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/libertarians-0
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/merger-0
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/microsoft-0
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/mitt-romney
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/new-york-times
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/offshoring
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/outsourcing
[25] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career
[26] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pratt-romney-family-0
[27] http://www.alternet.org/tags/quotation
[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/romney-0
[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/roosevelt-0
[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sensata-technologies
[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/stream-international-inc
[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sweatshop
[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/factory-0
[34] http://www.alternet.org/tags/us-internal-revenue-service
[35] http://www.alternet.org/tags/us-securities-and-exchange-commission
[36] http://www.alternet.org/tags/usd
[37] http://www.alternet.org/tags/united-states
[38] http://www.alternet.org/tags/wall-street-journal
[39] http://www.alternet.org/tags/cheaper-products
[40] http://www.alternet.org/tags/entrepreneur
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 2
27] Artisan Jewelry Making – Aug. 5
28] Bridges for Peace – Aug. 5
29] Dream Act March – Aug. 5
30] Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 5
31] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Aug. 5
32] Race & Education – Aug. 5
33] Commemorate Hiroshima & Fukushima – Aug. 5
34] Faith & Resistance Retreat – Aug. 5 & 6
35] Free Farm benefit – Aug. 5
36] Film SALO – Aug. 5
37] Pentagon Vigil – Aug. 6
38] Remember Hiroshima at Lockheed – Aug. 6
39] Unity March – Aug. 6
40] Baltimore’s Hiroshima/Fukushima Commemoration – Aug. 6
41] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Aug. 6 – Aug. 9
-------
27] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. On Sun., Aug. 5, the topic is “Artisan Jewelry Making,” and the presentation will be by Dianne Hirsch. She will discuss and demonstrate the creative process she uses when making the jewelry she sells in her business Dos Gatos Artisan Jewelry. Dianne, a BES member, is also a member of the Gem Cutters Guild of Baltimore. For the past two and a half years, she has been showing her jewelry, designed from sterling silver, vermeil, brass, copper, and semi-precious gems. Call 410-581-2322 or visit www.baltimoreethicalsociety.org.
28] – Maryland Bridges for Peace welcomes you to stand for peace Sundays from noon (or thereabouts) to 1 PM on the Spa Creek Bridge in Annapolis. Contact Lucy at 410-263-7271 or mdbridgesforpeace@toadmail.com. Signs are not allowed to be on a stick or pole. If there is interest, people will be standing on the Stoney Creek Bridge on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena [410-437-5379 or magicalgodmom@aol.com]. Go to http://BridgePeace.blogspot.com/.
29] – There’s a Maryland Dream Act March on Sun., Aug. 5 at noon in Downtown Silver Spring (beside the movie theater). March to Wheaton on Georgia Avenue. At the end of the march, join the Salvadoran Festival for MD DREAM presentations, music, & food!
The march is for justice, fairness, for a college education for all MD Students. TRANSPORTATION will be PROVIDED: get a bus at 11:30 AM at CASAs MCC, 8151 15th Ave., Hyattsville MD. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/442882125751415/.
30] – Join an Annapolis canvass for marriage equality on Sundays from 2 to 4 PM at the UUCA Parking Lot, 333 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401. RSVP at manley@mdfme.org.
31] – Every Sunday, 4 to 5 PM, there is a Quaker Peace Vigil at Independence Mall, N. side of Market between 5th and 6th Sts., Philadelphia. Call 215-421-5811.
32] – A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race ) is happening on Sun., Aug. 5 from – 5 to 7 PM at Busboys and Poets, 14th St. & V St. NW. A.C.T.O.R. partners with Teaching For Change to host an in-depth discussion about Race & Education. The panel of featured presenters will discuss the importance of teacher training, curriculum development, resource distribution and discrepancies in managing student behavior. Education has long been considered a great equalizer in American society - join in the discussion as they explore this theory as well as the facts surrounding race and education. Go to http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/a.c.t.o.r.-a-continuing-talk-on-race6.
33] – This 67th anniversary of the atomic bombings, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area is pleased to welcome Mr. Yoshio Sato, 81, and Ms. Kuniko Kimura, 72, both survivors of Hiroshima. Despite their advancing age and physical infirmities, Ms. Kimura and Mr. Sato are here to tell us about the horrors they experienced in the profound hope that nuclear weapons are abolished before they can be used again. The H/N Peace Committee also presents eye witness accounts of the effect of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster.
Stand against the continuing madness of what the Hiroshima child saw on August 6th sixty-seven years ago. On Sun., Aug. 5 at 6:30 PM, be at the Hiroshima Commemoration at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. There will be a moment of silence at 7:15 PM, Hibakusha testimony, a Fukushima update by Ms. Akemi Maeshima, a school nurse, and Ms. Hiromi Abe, a former resident of the disaster area, whose family and friends still live there, and children’s activities. Call 703-822-3485.
34] – On Sun., Aug. 5, gather @ 6:30 PM for the Faith and Resistance Retreat to Commemorate the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at Stephen and the Incarnation Church, 1525 Newton St. NW, WDC 20010. At 7 PM meet in the sanctuary for a theme reflection, action preparation, video of the aftermath of the atomic bombings and prayer. Pick-up food will be offered.
Then on Mon., Aug. 6, anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and the feast of the Transfiguration, there will be a nonviolent witness at the Pentagon at 7 AM. Then at noon, participants will be at the Udvar Hazy Museum where the Enola Gay is displayed.
Join in an August 6 and 9 Faith and Resistance Retreat to Commemorate the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945, the U.S. ushered in the Nuclear Age by using nuclear weapons against the Japanese. 67 years later, we seek to remember the pain, repent the sin and reclaim the future in a Faith and Resistance Retreat. The retreat theme is taken from Matthew's Gospel: ‘Why do you harbor such evil in your hearts?' (Matthew 9:4) In the prayer and reflection together, and in our nonviolent public witness, seek to remove the evil in our own hearts and confront and resist the evil that has lead the U.S. to become a nuclear empire. Contact Jonah House at 410-233-6238 or disarmnow@verizon.net.
35] – The Baltimore Free Farm presents The Fabulous Flea Market Band, Liz and the Lost Boys, and more for a benefit event on Sun., Aug. 5 at 7 PM at the Free Farm, 3510 Ash St. The suggested donation is from $5 to $10. Baltimore Free Farm, a local collective and network of community activists, may not believe in shipping food items all the way across the world for consumption, but they do believe in importing music. Go to http://baltimorefreefarm.org.
36] – See Paolo Pasolini's SALO on Sun., Aug. 5 at 7 PM at the Peace House, 1233 12th St. NW. Join Occupy Peace House for a night! The movie is based on the Marquis de Sade's “120 Days of Sodom.” This movie adaptation is based in Fascist Italy, and retains the novel's attacks on the ministers of government and religion, laying bare the hypocrisy of institutions of control. Not a movie for those of weak stomach, it has been banned in many countries, finally seeing the light off day again in a Criterion Collection release. Due to graphic violence and disturbing imagery, you must be 18+. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/261072990671736/.
37] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop. The next vigil is Mon., Aug. 6, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Call 202-882-9649.
38] – The Brandywine Peace Community will gather on Mon., Aug. 6 at noon to Remember and Resist...Hiroshima Day Peace Demonstration & Nonviolent Resistance at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia/Valley Forge, PA (230 Mall Boulevard 19406, Mall & Goddard Blvds., behind the King of Prussia Mall). Lockheed Martin, the world's largest war profiteer, is the U.S.'s chief nuclear weapons contractor and among the top manufacturers of drone warfare technology.
Call Brandywine at 610-544-1818 to face arrest for resisting the injustice and criminality of Lockheed Martin. On site meeting for those doing so at 11 AM. For nonviolence discipline, go to http://www.brandywinepeace.com/nonviolence.html.
39] – On Mon., Aug. 6 at 3 PM, join a UNITY MARCH – STOP POLICE BRUTALITY & ABUSE! JOBS & REC CENTERS NOW! Gather at the Shot Tower, 801 E. Fayette St., Baltimore 21201. March to City Hall toTell the Mayor and City Council – Get abusive police out of our communities! Community Control Now! Jobs for All! Keep all of the recreation centers and fire stations open – Say no to privatization. This is organized by the Baltimore Peoples Assembly. Call 410-500-2168.
40] – For the 28th year, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will remember the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 & 9, 1945, which killed more than 200,000 people. Other organizations involved in the commemorations are Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Crabshell Alliance and Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore. The HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION is on Mon., Aug. 6 at 5 PM at 34th & N. Charles Sts. Demonstrate against Johns Hopkins University’s weapons contracts, including research on killer drones, commemorate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and remember the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
At 6 PM, there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St. At 7 PM, Hibakusha from Hiroshima, Mr. Yoshio Sato, 81 years old, bombed just over a half mile from the epicenter, and Ms. Kuniko Kimura, 72 years old, bombed one mile from the epicenter will speak about the atomic bombing. Ms. Hiromi Abe will provide details about the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima. Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
41] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 7 PM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org. The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.
To be continued.
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
28] Bridges for Peace – Aug. 5
29] Dream Act March – Aug. 5
30] Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 5
31] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Aug. 5
32] Race & Education – Aug. 5
33] Commemorate Hiroshima & Fukushima – Aug. 5
34] Faith & Resistance Retreat – Aug. 5 & 6
35] Free Farm benefit – Aug. 5
36] Film SALO – Aug. 5
37] Pentagon Vigil – Aug. 6
38] Remember Hiroshima at Lockheed – Aug. 6
39] Unity March – Aug. 6
40] Baltimore’s Hiroshima/Fukushima Commemoration – Aug. 6
41] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Aug. 6 – Aug. 9
-------
27] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. On Sun., Aug. 5, the topic is “Artisan Jewelry Making,” and the presentation will be by Dianne Hirsch. She will discuss and demonstrate the creative process she uses when making the jewelry she sells in her business Dos Gatos Artisan Jewelry. Dianne, a BES member, is also a member of the Gem Cutters Guild of Baltimore. For the past two and a half years, she has been showing her jewelry, designed from sterling silver, vermeil, brass, copper, and semi-precious gems. Call 410-581-2322 or visit www.baltimoreethicalsociety.org.
28] – Maryland Bridges for Peace welcomes you to stand for peace Sundays from noon (or thereabouts) to 1 PM on the Spa Creek Bridge in Annapolis. Contact Lucy at 410-263-7271 or mdbridgesforpeace@toadmail.com. Signs are not allowed to be on a stick or pole. If there is interest, people will be standing on the Stoney Creek Bridge on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena [410-437-5379 or magicalgodmom@aol.com]. Go to http://BridgePeace.blogspot.com/.
29] – There’s a Maryland Dream Act March on Sun., Aug. 5 at noon in Downtown Silver Spring (beside the movie theater). March to Wheaton on Georgia Avenue. At the end of the march, join the Salvadoran Festival for MD DREAM presentations, music, & food!
The march is for justice, fairness, for a college education for all MD Students. TRANSPORTATION will be PROVIDED: get a bus at 11:30 AM at CASAs MCC, 8151 15th Ave., Hyattsville MD. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/442882125751415/.
30] – Join an Annapolis canvass for marriage equality on Sundays from 2 to 4 PM at the UUCA Parking Lot, 333 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401. RSVP at manley@mdfme.org.
31] – Every Sunday, 4 to 5 PM, there is a Quaker Peace Vigil at Independence Mall, N. side of Market between 5th and 6th Sts., Philadelphia. Call 215-421-5811.
32] – A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race ) is happening on Sun., Aug. 5 from – 5 to 7 PM at Busboys and Poets, 14th St. & V St. NW. A.C.T.O.R. partners with Teaching For Change to host an in-depth discussion about Race & Education. The panel of featured presenters will discuss the importance of teacher training, curriculum development, resource distribution and discrepancies in managing student behavior. Education has long been considered a great equalizer in American society - join in the discussion as they explore this theory as well as the facts surrounding race and education. Go to http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/a.c.t.o.r.-a-continuing-talk-on-race6.
33] – This 67th anniversary of the atomic bombings, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area is pleased to welcome Mr. Yoshio Sato, 81, and Ms. Kuniko Kimura, 72, both survivors of Hiroshima. Despite their advancing age and physical infirmities, Ms. Kimura and Mr. Sato are here to tell us about the horrors they experienced in the profound hope that nuclear weapons are abolished before they can be used again. The H/N Peace Committee also presents eye witness accounts of the effect of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster.
Stand against the continuing madness of what the Hiroshima child saw on August 6th sixty-seven years ago. On Sun., Aug. 5 at 6:30 PM, be at the Hiroshima Commemoration at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. There will be a moment of silence at 7:15 PM, Hibakusha testimony, a Fukushima update by Ms. Akemi Maeshima, a school nurse, and Ms. Hiromi Abe, a former resident of the disaster area, whose family and friends still live there, and children’s activities. Call 703-822-3485.
34] – On Sun., Aug. 5, gather @ 6:30 PM for the Faith and Resistance Retreat to Commemorate the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at Stephen and the Incarnation Church, 1525 Newton St. NW, WDC 20010. At 7 PM meet in the sanctuary for a theme reflection, action preparation, video of the aftermath of the atomic bombings and prayer. Pick-up food will be offered.
Then on Mon., Aug. 6, anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and the feast of the Transfiguration, there will be a nonviolent witness at the Pentagon at 7 AM. Then at noon, participants will be at the Udvar Hazy Museum where the Enola Gay is displayed.
Join in an August 6 and 9 Faith and Resistance Retreat to Commemorate the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945, the U.S. ushered in the Nuclear Age by using nuclear weapons against the Japanese. 67 years later, we seek to remember the pain, repent the sin and reclaim the future in a Faith and Resistance Retreat. The retreat theme is taken from Matthew's Gospel: ‘Why do you harbor such evil in your hearts?' (Matthew 9:4) In the prayer and reflection together, and in our nonviolent public witness, seek to remove the evil in our own hearts and confront and resist the evil that has lead the U.S. to become a nuclear empire. Contact Jonah House at 410-233-6238 or disarmnow@verizon.net.
35] – The Baltimore Free Farm presents The Fabulous Flea Market Band, Liz and the Lost Boys, and more for a benefit event on Sun., Aug. 5 at 7 PM at the Free Farm, 3510 Ash St. The suggested donation is from $5 to $10. Baltimore Free Farm, a local collective and network of community activists, may not believe in shipping food items all the way across the world for consumption, but they do believe in importing music. Go to http://baltimorefreefarm.org.
36] – See Paolo Pasolini's SALO on Sun., Aug. 5 at 7 PM at the Peace House, 1233 12th St. NW. Join Occupy Peace House for a night! The movie is based on the Marquis de Sade's “120 Days of Sodom.” This movie adaptation is based in Fascist Italy, and retains the novel's attacks on the ministers of government and religion, laying bare the hypocrisy of institutions of control. Not a movie for those of weak stomach, it has been banned in many countries, finally seeing the light off day again in a Criterion Collection release. Due to graphic violence and disturbing imagery, you must be 18+. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/261072990671736/.
37] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop. The next vigil is Mon., Aug. 6, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Call 202-882-9649.
38] – The Brandywine Peace Community will gather on Mon., Aug. 6 at noon to Remember and Resist...Hiroshima Day Peace Demonstration & Nonviolent Resistance at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia/Valley Forge, PA (230 Mall Boulevard 19406, Mall & Goddard Blvds., behind the King of Prussia Mall). Lockheed Martin, the world's largest war profiteer, is the U.S.'s chief nuclear weapons contractor and among the top manufacturers of drone warfare technology.
Call Brandywine at 610-544-1818 to face arrest for resisting the injustice and criminality of Lockheed Martin. On site meeting for those doing so at 11 AM. For nonviolence discipline, go to http://www.brandywinepeace.com/nonviolence.html.
39] – On Mon., Aug. 6 at 3 PM, join a UNITY MARCH – STOP POLICE BRUTALITY & ABUSE! JOBS & REC CENTERS NOW! Gather at the Shot Tower, 801 E. Fayette St., Baltimore 21201. March to City Hall toTell the Mayor and City Council – Get abusive police out of our communities! Community Control Now! Jobs for All! Keep all of the recreation centers and fire stations open – Say no to privatization. This is organized by the Baltimore Peoples Assembly. Call 410-500-2168.
40] – For the 28th year, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will remember the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 & 9, 1945, which killed more than 200,000 people. Other organizations involved in the commemorations are Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Crabshell Alliance and Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore. The HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION is on Mon., Aug. 6 at 5 PM at 34th & N. Charles Sts. Demonstrate against Johns Hopkins University’s weapons contracts, including research on killer drones, commemorate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and remember the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
At 6 PM, there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St. At 7 PM, Hibakusha from Hiroshima, Mr. Yoshio Sato, 81 years old, bombed just over a half mile from the epicenter, and Ms. Kuniko Kimura, 72 years old, bombed one mile from the epicenter will speak about the atomic bombing. Ms. Hiromi Abe will provide details about the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima. Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
41] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 7 PM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org. The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.
To be continued.
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Friday, August 3, 2012
Julian Assange is right to fear US prosecution
· http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/02/julian-assange-right-fear-prosecution
Julian Assange is right to fear US prosecution
There are clear signs that the US is on track to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder, which, as his US lawyer, I advise him to heed, despite the denials of the Obama administration
o Michael Ratner
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 08.50 EDT
As the drama unfolds over Julian Assange's bid for political asylum in Ecuador, a troubling irony has emerged: the besieged founder of WikiLeaks is seeking refuge in this small Andean nation because he fears persecution from the United States, a nation whose laws famously grant asylum to people in precisely Assange's situation. Indeed, the US has demonstrated its commitment to be a safe haven for those being persecuted for their political beliefs by recognising that journalists punished for expressing political opinions in places like China meet the criteria for asylum under the US's own laws.
The journalistic function and legacy of WikiLeaks cannot be disputed. The site has published 251,287 leaked US diplomatic cables and military documents that revealed the inner workings – warts and all – of US foreign policy. These publications illuminated state-sponsored human rights abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposed a secret war in Yemen, and revealed the Obama administration's interference with independent efforts to prosecute Bush officials for torture and other war crimes.
So why is Assange so concerned? Are his fears of persecution due to his political beliefs and expression reasonable?
There are several unambiguous signs that the US is on track to prosecute Assange for his work as a journalist. A grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, empanelled to investigate violations of the Espionage Act – a statute that by its very nature targets speech – has subpoenaed Twitter feeds regarding Assange and WikiLeaks. An FBI agent, testifying at whistleblower Bradley Manning's trial, said that "founders, owners and managers" of WikiLeaks are being investigated. And then there is Assange's 42,135-page FBI file – a compilation of curious heft if the government is "not interested" in investigating its subject.
In this context, Assange's fears of extradition to and persecution in the US, and therefore his plea for asylum, are eminently reasonable.
What's more, Assange is rightly concerned about how he will be treated if he is extradited to the US. One need only consider how the US treated Bradley Manning, the army private who allegedly leaked the cables to WikiLeaks to see why. Manning spent close to a year in pre-trial solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, and then eight months under conditions designed to pressure him into providing evidence to incriminate Assange. During this time, Manning was stripped of his clothing and made to stand nude for inspection. Thousands of people, including scores of legal scholars and the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, have condemned Manning's treatment as inhumane, and state that it may constitute torture. There is no reason for Assange to expect he will be treated any better.
Most disturbingly, the US government is more concerned with investigating a journalist and publisher than the high-level government officials whose alleged war crimes and misdeeds Assange and his cohorts brought to light. Why? To send a message to others who might dare to expose government misconduct, who believe that transparency, exposing abuses, and dissembling hypocrisy strengthen democracy – and who act on those beliefs. In short, the US is intent on persecuting a crusading journalist and publisher for his political expression.
These are the circumstances under which Ecuador is considering whether it will grant Assange the asylum he is entitled to under law. If it does, and should the UK or the US retaliate against Ecuador, that would be a violation of the law. Granting asylum is a peaceful and humanitarian act and cannot be regarded with hostility.
The US claims to lead the world in freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the role these play as the foundations of democratic government. These freedoms do not die when governments feel threatened or are embarrassed by the publication of information. As Justices Stewart and White famously said, "the only effective restraint upon executive policy and power in the areas of national defence and international affairs may lie in an enlightened citizenry – in an informed and critical public opinion which alone can here protect the values of democratic government".
Indeed, it is precisely those who challenge the powerful, including government, who most require the protection afforded by fundamental free speech rights. If our current administration chooses to abandon them, it may fall to Ecuador to uphold the best of American principles.
• This article was amended on July 2 to remove a quote from Jeffrey Bleich, the US ambassador to Australia, which was used in the wrong context.
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The rights groups that lost the plot on Ecuador and Julian Assange
· © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
US Drone Attacks in Pakistan Violate Sovereignty, Weakening Democracy: Diplomat
Published on Friday, August 3, 2012 by Common Dreams
US Drone Attacks in Pakistan Violate Sovereignty, Weakening Democracy: Diplomat
Ambassador Wajid Shamsul Hasan says US prefers to deal with dictators, not democratic institutions
- Common Dreams staff
In an interview with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, one of Islamabad’s most senior diplomats says that ongoing CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas are weakening democracy, and risk pushing people towards, not away from, extremist groups.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan says the use of drones by the US is weakening democracy and pushing people towards extremist groups. (Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images) As High Commissioner to London, Wajid Shamsul Hasan is one of Pakistan’s top ambassadors. Now four years into his second stint in the post, Ambassador Hasan argues that US drone strikes risk significantly weakening Pakistan’s democratic institutions and that the US prefers dealing 'one man' and not 'democratic institutions' when it comes to such matters.
"What has been the whole outcome of these drone attacks is that you have directly or indirectly contributed to destabilising or undermining the democratic government. Because people really make fun of the democratic government – when you pass a resolution against drone attacks in the parliament and nothing happens. The Americans don't listen to you, and they continue to violate your territory," he said.
Despite repeated government requests and eve-growing public protest, he says, the Pakistanis are too weak to halt the US superpower. "We cannot take on the only superpower, which is all-powerful in the world at the moment. You can't take them on. We are a small country, we are ill-equipped," he said.
Mr Hasan was also scathing about what he sees as the US’s weak commitment towards democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also implies there are those in the US government who would still prefer to be dealing with a dictator:
"They talk in miles in support of democracy, but they move in inches. They say, 'We are fully for democracy, we want democracy, we support the Arab Spring, we are opposed to military interference in Egypt.' All of these things are very good. They are music to my ears. But when it comes to real politics they are different. [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton has really supported democracy. But she is one person. There are so many pillars of power in the United States, and they act differently."
"The United States if you look at Pakistan’s 65 year history," Hasan said, "has always preferred to deal with one man rather than with institutions. They would never like a matter to go to the parliament, to be debated there, for issues to be accountable to the parliament and the people, they don’t want that, they want one man."
Source URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/03
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
US Drone Attacks in Pakistan Violate Sovereignty, Weakening Democracy: Diplomat
Ambassador Wajid Shamsul Hasan says US prefers to deal with dictators, not democratic institutions
- Common Dreams staff
In an interview with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, one of Islamabad’s most senior diplomats says that ongoing CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas are weakening democracy, and risk pushing people towards, not away from, extremist groups.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan says the use of drones by the US is weakening democracy and pushing people towards extremist groups. (Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images) As High Commissioner to London, Wajid Shamsul Hasan is one of Pakistan’s top ambassadors. Now four years into his second stint in the post, Ambassador Hasan argues that US drone strikes risk significantly weakening Pakistan’s democratic institutions and that the US prefers dealing 'one man' and not 'democratic institutions' when it comes to such matters.
"What has been the whole outcome of these drone attacks is that you have directly or indirectly contributed to destabilising or undermining the democratic government. Because people really make fun of the democratic government – when you pass a resolution against drone attacks in the parliament and nothing happens. The Americans don't listen to you, and they continue to violate your territory," he said.
Despite repeated government requests and eve-growing public protest, he says, the Pakistanis are too weak to halt the US superpower. "We cannot take on the only superpower, which is all-powerful in the world at the moment. You can't take them on. We are a small country, we are ill-equipped," he said.
Mr Hasan was also scathing about what he sees as the US’s weak commitment towards democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also implies there are those in the US government who would still prefer to be dealing with a dictator:
"They talk in miles in support of democracy, but they move in inches. They say, 'We are fully for democracy, we want democracy, we support the Arab Spring, we are opposed to military interference in Egypt.' All of these things are very good. They are music to my ears. But when it comes to real politics they are different. [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton has really supported democracy. But she is one person. There are so many pillars of power in the United States, and they act differently."
"The United States if you look at Pakistan’s 65 year history," Hasan said, "has always preferred to deal with one man rather than with institutions. They would never like a matter to go to the parliament, to be debated there, for issues to be accountable to the parliament and the people, they don’t want that, they want one man."
Source URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/03
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1
Baltimore Activist Alert Aug. 3 – Aug. 10, 2012
"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.
The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.
Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.
Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org.
1] Books, buttons and stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA
5] Help out the Green Party
6] Jerusalem Fund Gallery Photography Exhibit through Aug. 16
7] White House vigil – Aug. 3
8] WIB Inner Harbor vigil – Aug. 3
9] WIB Roland Park vigil – Aug. 3
10] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Aug. 3
11] WIB Frederick vigil – Aug. 3
12] Silent peace vigil – Aug. 3
13] Film THE FORGOTTEN BOMB – Aug. 3
14] Sounds of Hope – Aug. 3
15] URINETOWN – Aug. 3 & 4
16] Play LETHAL INJECTION – Aug. 3, 4 & 5
17] Ballroom dancing – Aug. 3
18] Fundraiser against profiling -- Aug. 3
19] Olney peace vigil – Aug. 4
20] Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 4
21] West Chester, PA demo – Aug. 4
22] Silent vigil at Capitol – Aug. 4
23] Young Adult Conference – Aug. 4
24] Silent Death Walk – Aug. 4
25] Film CHOCOLATE CITY – Aug. 4
26] "Between Two Worlds: The American Jewish Culture Wars" – Aug. 4
-----
1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.
2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.
3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.
To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.
THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.
4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.
Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net.
5] – Bill Barry [wbarrymd@hotmail.com] is asking for your help in keeping the Maryland Green Party on the ballot line. The Maryland Green Party still needs signatures on petitions. Can you help out? He has the petitions, and would like to know if you can get ten signatures from registered voters. He will get you the petitions.
6] – The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Photography Exhibit continues through Sun., Aug. 19 at 2425 Virginia Ave. NW. More than a romantic idea, Palestinians' cultivation of their land contains the seeds of resistance. Walk the fields through Vivien Sansour's photographs, experience the relationship of farmer to land, see how old ways of planting and harvesting, of cooking old recipes, form a historical continuum, the fruits of their labors feeding the body and the soul of Palestine today.
Vivien will combine stunning large format images of Palestinian farmland with portraits of individual farmers. In addition, she will debut a film on the traditional method of making apricot jam, and include photographic recipe cards. Call 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org
7] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at Lafayette Park facing the White House. Join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and friends. Contact Art Laffin: artlaffin@hotmail.com.
8] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Women in Black, Baltimore, host a vigil at Pratt and Light Sts. in the Inner Harbor. Peace signs will be available. See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.
9] – There is also a noon vigil on Aug. 3 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St. Call 410-467-9114.
10] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.
11] – WIB holds a silent vigil mourning all violence, the first Friday of the month. The next vigil is Aug. 3 from noon to 12:30 PM, War Memorial Park, intersection of W. 2nd & N. Bentz Sts. in Frederick. Please dress in black; no additional signs. Call 301-834-7581 or email wibfrederick@mizmail.com.
12] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Aug. 3 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.
13] – On Fri., Aug. 3 at 7 PM, see THE FORGOTTEN BOMB as part of the Peace Center of Delaware County First-Friday Large Screen Free Film Series, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA. The doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments. Call 610-544-1818 or go to www.delcopeacecenter.org.
The documentary film (2010, 135 mins.) is, at its core, a globe-trotting search to find out, two decades after the Cold War, what nuclear weapons still mean to us today, and why we need to re-think their very existence so as to do away with them for good. Film features former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Gar Alperovitz and Jonathan Schell, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Father John Dear, Japanese bomb survivors, and many others.
14] – On Fridays, 7 to 10:30 PM at the Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC 20009, hear Sounds of Hope is Good Music, Good Food, for a Good Cause! Go to www.reverbnation.com/venue/soundsofhope. Contact Mary Shapiro, Sounds of Hope Producer at soundsofhopebooking@gmail.com or 202-294-2906.
15] – The Slayton House Conservatory Camp performs “Urinetown,” a post-Apocalyptic musical satire about a company with a monopoly on public toilets. See it Fri., Aug. 3 & Sat., Aug. 4. The show on Friday starts at 7 PM, and the performance on Saturday is at 3 PM. The performances are at the Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green, and admission is $10, but students and seniors pay $8.
16] – In Michael Reimann's new play, LETHAL INJECTION, the audience plays the role of the jury in a case of two brothers accused of murdering an intruder in their Texas home. A conviction means death by lethal injection.
The play, part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, can be seen on weekends from Fri., Aug. 3 through Sun., Aug. 5. On Fridays and Saturdays, the performance begins at 8 PM. On Sunday, it starts at 2 PM at the Vagabond Players, 806 S. Broadway. Call 410-563-9135. Or go to http://vagabondplayers.org. Tickets are priced from $10-$12.
17] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Aug. 3. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
18] – Be at the Fundraising Against Racial Profiling on Fri., Aug. 3 at 8 PM at 1313 Delafield Pl. NW. On May 26, a bunch of friends had a BBQ in Rock Creek Park. They successfully grilled and consumed their food over several hours. THEN THE PARK POLICE showed up and aggressively targeted a man of color present at the time, demanding to "see your ID." Another friend, refusing to let this blatant act of racial profiling pass, spoke up. The two were quickly arrested and given trumped-up charges. A rapid-response mobilization got them both released that night, but the charges remained. Both friends have hired lawyers to defend themselves against this baseless police attack. TO STAND WITH THEM and help offset the significant legal fees they must pay, come to a dinner/party! Bring your donation$, and enjoy a Colombian-style DINNER, featuring arepas straight off the plane. Go to http://www.facebook.com/events/list.
19] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Aug. 4. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.
20] – Join the Frederick Canvass for Marriage Equality on Saturdays, 11 AM to 1 PM, corner of E. Patrick St. & N Market St., Frederick, MD 21701. RSVP at manley@mdfme.org.
21] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.
22] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Aug. 4. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.
23] – The Methodist Global Ministries Young Adult Conference takes place on Sat., Aug. 4 from noon to 1:30 PM at the Hilton Crystal City, 2399 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA. The co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus will give the keynote address. The purpose of this conference, entitled Celebrating Young Adults in Mission: Living Stones for Transformation, is to celebrate and encourage networking amongst persons who have served in Young Adult Mission Service programs sponsored by the United Methodist Church in the United States and around world. Secondly, is to host information sharing sessions that raise awareness on current partner work for justice and to impart new and seasoned tools and strategies to support alumni’s continued involvement in social action initiatives. Go to http://www.umcmission.org/Learn-About-Us/News-and-Stories/2012/April/celebratingyoungadults.
24] – On Sat., Aug. 4 from noon to 1 PM, First Saturday of the month, there will be a PHILADELPHIA CENTER CITY SILENT DEATH WALK. Gather at corner of 12th & Market Sts. Stop the Killing/End the Wars - Protest the U.S. Drone Attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen. Dress in black. RSVP to Marge Van Cleef at 267-763-1644.
25] – See the film "Chocolate City" on Sat., Aug. 4 from 1 to 4 PM at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Branch Library, 1630 7th St. NW. Join Maximize Good for the screening, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ellie Walton. Shot in 2003 as over 400 families fought against forced displacement from the Arthur Capper housing project in Washington, DC, “Chocolate City” is a call to action against nationwide gentrification and redevelopment programs. The film explores the impact of rapid gentrification in the area through the work of a local group of women working for justice in their neighborhood. Email info.maximizegood@gmail.com.
26] – On Sat., Aug. 4 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM, the Washington Metro DC chapter of Jewish Voices For Peace is sponsoring a film viewing at the Takoma Park Community Center, Azalea Room, 7500 Maple Ave., called "Between Two Worlds: The American Jewish Culture Wars." This movie is geared towards those who may be interested in learning about the changing dialogue taking place in the Jewish American community over Palestine/Israel. It is for Jews and non-Jews alike. The Facebook page for "Between Two Worlds" viewing can be found here: http://on.fb.me/M3MdPw. Email jvpdcmetro@gmail.com.
To be continued.
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.
The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.
Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.
Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org.
1] Books, buttons and stickers
2] Web site for info on federal legislation
3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists
4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA
5] Help out the Green Party
6] Jerusalem Fund Gallery Photography Exhibit through Aug. 16
7] White House vigil – Aug. 3
8] WIB Inner Harbor vigil – Aug. 3
9] WIB Roland Park vigil – Aug. 3
10] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Aug. 3
11] WIB Frederick vigil – Aug. 3
12] Silent peace vigil – Aug. 3
13] Film THE FORGOTTEN BOMB – Aug. 3
14] Sounds of Hope – Aug. 3
15] URINETOWN – Aug. 3 & 4
16] Play LETHAL INJECTION – Aug. 3, 4 & 5
17] Ballroom dancing – Aug. 3
18] Fundraiser against profiling -- Aug. 3
19] Olney peace vigil – Aug. 4
20] Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 4
21] West Chester, PA demo – Aug. 4
22] Silent vigil at Capitol – Aug. 4
23] Young Adult Conference – Aug. 4
24] Silent Death Walk – Aug. 4
25] Film CHOCOLATE CITY – Aug. 4
26] "Between Two Worlds: The American Jewish Culture Wars" – Aug. 4
-----
1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.
2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.
3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.
To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.
THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.
4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.
Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net.
5] – Bill Barry [wbarrymd@hotmail.com] is asking for your help in keeping the Maryland Green Party on the ballot line. The Maryland Green Party still needs signatures on petitions. Can you help out? He has the petitions, and would like to know if you can get ten signatures from registered voters. He will get you the petitions.
6] – The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Photography Exhibit continues through Sun., Aug. 19 at 2425 Virginia Ave. NW. More than a romantic idea, Palestinians' cultivation of their land contains the seeds of resistance. Walk the fields through Vivien Sansour's photographs, experience the relationship of farmer to land, see how old ways of planting and harvesting, of cooking old recipes, form a historical continuum, the fruits of their labors feeding the body and the soul of Palestine today.
Vivien will combine stunning large format images of Palestinian farmland with portraits of individual farmers. In addition, she will debut a film on the traditional method of making apricot jam, and include photographic recipe cards. Call 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org
7] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at Lafayette Park facing the White House. Join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and friends. Contact Art Laffin: artlaffin@hotmail.com.
8] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Women in Black, Baltimore, host a vigil at Pratt and Light Sts. in the Inner Harbor. Peace signs will be available. See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.
9] – There is also a noon vigil on Aug. 3 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St. Call 410-467-9114.
10] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.
11] – WIB holds a silent vigil mourning all violence, the first Friday of the month. The next vigil is Aug. 3 from noon to 12:30 PM, War Memorial Park, intersection of W. 2nd & N. Bentz Sts. in Frederick. Please dress in black; no additional signs. Call 301-834-7581 or email wibfrederick@mizmail.com.
12] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Aug. 3 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.
13] – On Fri., Aug. 3 at 7 PM, see THE FORGOTTEN BOMB as part of the Peace Center of Delaware County First-Friday Large Screen Free Film Series, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA. The doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments. Call 610-544-1818 or go to www.delcopeacecenter.org.
The documentary film (2010, 135 mins.) is, at its core, a globe-trotting search to find out, two decades after the Cold War, what nuclear weapons still mean to us today, and why we need to re-think their very existence so as to do away with them for good. Film features former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Gar Alperovitz and Jonathan Schell, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Father John Dear, Japanese bomb survivors, and many others.
14] – On Fridays, 7 to 10:30 PM at the Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC 20009, hear Sounds of Hope is Good Music, Good Food, for a Good Cause! Go to www.reverbnation.com/venue/soundsofhope. Contact Mary Shapiro, Sounds of Hope Producer at soundsofhopebooking@gmail.com or 202-294-2906.
15] – The Slayton House Conservatory Camp performs “Urinetown,” a post-Apocalyptic musical satire about a company with a monopoly on public toilets. See it Fri., Aug. 3 & Sat., Aug. 4. The show on Friday starts at 7 PM, and the performance on Saturday is at 3 PM. The performances are at the Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Green, and admission is $10, but students and seniors pay $8.
16] – In Michael Reimann's new play, LETHAL INJECTION, the audience plays the role of the jury in a case of two brothers accused of murdering an intruder in their Texas home. A conviction means death by lethal injection.
The play, part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, can be seen on weekends from Fri., Aug. 3 through Sun., Aug. 5. On Fridays and Saturdays, the performance begins at 8 PM. On Sunday, it starts at 2 PM at the Vagabond Players, 806 S. Broadway. Call 410-563-9135. Or go to http://vagabondplayers.org. Tickets are priced from $10-$12.
17] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Aug. 3. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
18] – Be at the Fundraising Against Racial Profiling on Fri., Aug. 3 at 8 PM at 1313 Delafield Pl. NW. On May 26, a bunch of friends had a BBQ in Rock Creek Park. They successfully grilled and consumed their food over several hours. THEN THE PARK POLICE showed up and aggressively targeted a man of color present at the time, demanding to "see your ID." Another friend, refusing to let this blatant act of racial profiling pass, spoke up. The two were quickly arrested and given trumped-up charges. A rapid-response mobilization got them both released that night, but the charges remained. Both friends have hired lawyers to defend themselves against this baseless police attack. TO STAND WITH THEM and help offset the significant legal fees they must pay, come to a dinner/party! Bring your donation$, and enjoy a Colombian-style DINNER, featuring arepas straight off the plane. Go to http://www.facebook.com/events/list.
19] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Aug. 4. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.
20] – Join the Frederick Canvass for Marriage Equality on Saturdays, 11 AM to 1 PM, corner of E. Patrick St. & N Market St., Frederick, MD 21701. RSVP at manley@mdfme.org.
21] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.
22] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Aug. 4. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.
23] – The Methodist Global Ministries Young Adult Conference takes place on Sat., Aug. 4 from noon to 1:30 PM at the Hilton Crystal City, 2399 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA. The co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus will give the keynote address. The purpose of this conference, entitled Celebrating Young Adults in Mission: Living Stones for Transformation, is to celebrate and encourage networking amongst persons who have served in Young Adult Mission Service programs sponsored by the United Methodist Church in the United States and around world. Secondly, is to host information sharing sessions that raise awareness on current partner work for justice and to impart new and seasoned tools and strategies to support alumni’s continued involvement in social action initiatives. Go to http://www.umcmission.org/Learn-About-Us/News-and-Stories/2012/April/celebratingyoungadults.
24] – On Sat., Aug. 4 from noon to 1 PM, First Saturday of the month, there will be a PHILADELPHIA CENTER CITY SILENT DEATH WALK. Gather at corner of 12th & Market Sts. Stop the Killing/End the Wars - Protest the U.S. Drone Attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen. Dress in black. RSVP to Marge Van Cleef at 267-763-1644.
25] – See the film "Chocolate City" on Sat., Aug. 4 from 1 to 4 PM at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Branch Library, 1630 7th St. NW. Join Maximize Good for the screening, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ellie Walton. Shot in 2003 as over 400 families fought against forced displacement from the Arthur Capper housing project in Washington, DC, “Chocolate City” is a call to action against nationwide gentrification and redevelopment programs. The film explores the impact of rapid gentrification in the area through the work of a local group of women working for justice in their neighborhood. Email info.maximizegood@gmail.com.
26] – On Sat., Aug. 4 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM, the Washington Metro DC chapter of Jewish Voices For Peace is sponsoring a film viewing at the Takoma Park Community Center, Azalea Room, 7500 Maple Ave., called "Between Two Worlds: The American Jewish Culture Wars." This movie is geared towards those who may be interested in learning about the changing dialogue taking place in the Jewish American community over Palestine/Israel. It is for Jews and non-Jews alike. The Facebook page for "Between Two Worlds" viewing can be found here: http://on.fb.me/M3MdPw. Email jvpdcmetro@gmail.com.
To be continued.
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/world/middleeast/bahrain-criticized-for-torrent-of-tear-gas-use.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120801
August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
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Uncertainty Over Letter Underscores Delicate Ties
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August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
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Uncertainty Over Letter Underscores Delicate Ties
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August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
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Uncertainty Over Letter Underscores Delicate Ties
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August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
Close
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More in Middle East (5 of 37 articles)
Uncertainty Over Letter Underscores Delicate Ties
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August 1, 2012
Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
By RICK GLADSTONE
Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.
The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.
Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.
It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.
“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.”
Luma E. Bashmi, acting director of International Media Affairs at Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority, rejected the report’s assertions. “The government of Bahrain denies and condemns the use of lethal force or unlawful means in controlling demonstrations in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said in a statement. “Any means that have been exercised by security forces adhere to international standards of riot control. Suggestions that the use of tear gas in Bahrain is severely injurious or even lethal is simply not backed up by any research or proof.”
The report acknowledged that an official Bahraini commission of inquiry that was convened last year to investigate abuses of Shiite protesters was highly critical, finding that security forces had used excessive force, torture and forced confessions in the crackdown. The Bahraini authorities had promised improvements as a result.
Richard Sollom, the deputy director of the Physicians for Human Rights and an author of the report, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a House hearing in Washington on whether Bahrain has adhered to its promises, said that he had become cynical about official Bahraini pledges.
“What they’re very good at is rhetoric, not results,” he said in a telephone interview. “Literally, not much has changed.”
In the 100-year history of tear gas, Mr. Sollom said, “there is no other example where a country has continually assaulted its people with this toxic chemical.”
The report appeared likely to cause some awkwardness in the Obama administration, which has tempered its criticism of the Bahraini government’s repression even while acknowledging the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Bahrain, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf, is seen as a strategic bulwark against the influence of Iran.
Mr. Sollom, who has visited Bahrain three times, said that tear gas attacks occurred weekly in some Shiite neighborhoods, and that the lingering smell was so pervasive that some residents gave guests gas masks.
He also said the Bahrain government had not responded to the group’s request for a breakdown on the exact types of tear gas used by the police. Nor has it explained precisely how and where it is obtaining its tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they come from the United States, France and Brazil. Mr. Sollom noted that the United States had withheld licenses for tear gas exports to Bahrain, which suggests that any American tear gas products used there might have been stockpiled before the American restriction, or re-exported from other countries.
According to Bahrain Watch, an activist group that has chronicled the government’s weapons use, the police have recently begun using unmarked tear gas canisters, presumably to obscure the country of origin.
Tear gas is the generic term for a group of at least 15 riot-control chemicals that disable people by exposing their lungs, skin and eyes to irritants.
© 2011 The New York Times Company
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Infamous UC Davis 'Pepper Spray Cop' Finally Loses His Badge
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Infamous UC Davis 'Pepper Spray Cop' Finally Loses His Badge
Submitted by Kristen Gwynne on Wed, 2012-08-01 18:30
Headline:
Lieutenant John Pike, the infamous police officer who pepper sprayed seated student Occupy protesters at the UC Davis campus last November, has permanently turned in his badge, said [1] the university’s spokesman Barry Shiller late Tuesday.
Shiller told the Sacramento Bee [1] that Pike’s employment with the university terminated on July 31, 2012, but neither he nor university spokesperson Claudia Morain [2] could reveal whether he was fired or quit due to the university's privacy guidelines.
Since the unreasonable attack on November 18, Pike and his supervisor, campus police chief Annette Spicuzza, collected their six-figure salaries on a paid administrative leave [3] until Spicuzza resigned in April [3]. The Bee reported [1] that Pike’s 2010 salary was just over $110,000.
A 190-page April report by a University of Califorina task force said [4] the incident was an “objectively unreasonable” use of force. It also accused Lt. Pike of misusing his high-pressure pepper spray canister, which was not only an unauthorized weapon under campus police guidelines, but was also “designed to be used at a distance of at least six feet.”
The disturbing video shows Pike spraying his high-pressure canister directly onto the protesters faces who were sitting in silence. Dozens of memes (see below) have been created since, as well as students and protesters nationwide [5] demanding his resignation. “Justice has now been served,” said [5] a UC Davis student.
According to the Bee [1], the Yolo County District Attorney’s office is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed.
Officer Pike’s casual use of chemical agents became a popular meme:
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 14:20
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/infamous-uc-davis-pepper-spray-cop-finally-loses-his-badge
Links:
[1] http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/01/4679893/officer-at-center-of-pepper-spraying.html
[2] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-occupy-pepperspraybre8700xe-20120801,0,2463970.story
[3] http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/19/pepper-spray-cops-boss-calls-it-quits/
[4] http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/california-pepper-spray/index.html
[5] http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video/7565597-officer-at-center-of-uc-davis-pepper-spray-scandal-no-longer-on-force/
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/uc-davis
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/california
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/john-pike
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/annette-spicuzza
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/job
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/leave
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/paid
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/administration
[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pepper-spray-0
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/occupy-wall-street-0
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/occupy-0
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ows-1
[18] http://www.alternet.org
[19] http://www.alternet.org/author/angela-lee
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Infamous UC Davis 'Pepper Spray Cop' Finally Loses His Badge
Submitted by Kristen Gwynne on Wed, 2012-08-01 18:30
Headline:
Lieutenant John Pike, the infamous police officer who pepper sprayed seated student Occupy protesters at the UC Davis campus last November, has permanently turned in his badge, said [1] the university’s spokesman Barry Shiller late Tuesday.
Shiller told the Sacramento Bee [1] that Pike’s employment with the university terminated on July 31, 2012, but neither he nor university spokesperson Claudia Morain [2] could reveal whether he was fired or quit due to the university's privacy guidelines.
Since the unreasonable attack on November 18, Pike and his supervisor, campus police chief Annette Spicuzza, collected their six-figure salaries on a paid administrative leave [3] until Spicuzza resigned in April [3]. The Bee reported [1] that Pike’s 2010 salary was just over $110,000.
A 190-page April report by a University of Califorina task force said [4] the incident was an “objectively unreasonable” use of force. It also accused Lt. Pike of misusing his high-pressure pepper spray canister, which was not only an unauthorized weapon under campus police guidelines, but was also “designed to be used at a distance of at least six feet.”
The disturbing video shows Pike spraying his high-pressure canister directly onto the protesters faces who were sitting in silence. Dozens of memes (see below) have been created since, as well as students and protesters nationwide [5] demanding his resignation. “Justice has now been served,” said [5] a UC Davis student.
According to the Bee [1], the Yolo County District Attorney’s office is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed.
Officer Pike’s casual use of chemical agents became a popular meme:
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 14:20
________________________________________
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/infamous-uc-davis-pepper-spray-cop-finally-loses-his-badge
Links:
[1] http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/01/4679893/officer-at-center-of-pepper-spraying.html
[2] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-occupy-pepperspraybre8700xe-20120801,0,2463970.story
[3] http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/19/pepper-spray-cops-boss-calls-it-quits/
[4] http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/california-pepper-spray/index.html
[5] http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video/7565597-officer-at-center-of-uc-davis-pepper-spray-scandal-no-longer-on-force/
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/uc-davis
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/california
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/john-pike
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/annette-spicuzza
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/job
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/leave
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/paid
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/administration
[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pepper-spray-0
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/occupy-wall-street-0
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/occupy-0
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ows-1
[18] http://www.alternet.org
[19] http://www.alternet.org/author/angela-lee
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Is Israel fixing the intelligence to justify an attack on Iran?
Is Israel fixing the intelligence to justify an attack on Iran?
Netanyahu's rhetoric has eerie echoes of the run-up to the Iraq war
By Ray McGovern
July 30, 2012
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-israel-iran-20120730,0,5791324.story
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's strong
pro-Israel statements over the weekend, including his
endorsement of Jerusalem as Israel's capital (a reversal
of long-standing U.S. policy), increases the pressure on
President Barack Obama to prove that he is an equally
strong backer of Israel.
The key question is whether Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will
interpret the presidential campaign rhetoric as an open
invitation to provoke hostilities with Iran, in the
expectation that President Obama will feel forced to jump
in with both feet in support of our "ally" Israel. (Since
there is no mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and
Israel, "ally" actually is a misnomer -- at least in a
juridical sense.)
As we saw 10 years ago with respect to Iraq, if one
intends to whip up support for war, one needs to find a
casus belli -- however thin a pretext it might be. How
about juxtaposing "weapons of mass destruction" with
terrorism. That worked to prepare for war on Iraq, and
similar rhetorical groundwork for an attack on Iran is now
being laid in Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu broke all records for speed in blaming Iran
and Hezbollah for the recent terrorist attack that killed
five Israelis in Burgas, Bulgaria, and in vowing that
"Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror."
But what is the evidence on Iranian or Hezbollah
involvement? Bulgarian officials keep saying they have no
such evidence. More surprising still, government officials
in Washington and elsewhere keep warning against jumping
to conclusions.
So far the "evidence" against Iran consists primarily of
trust-me assertions by Mr. Netanyahu. On Fox News Sunday
on July 22, Mr. Netanyahu claimed Israel has "rock-solid
evidence" tying Iran to the attack in Bulgaria. The same
day onCBS's Face the Nation, Mr. Netanyahu said, "We have
unquestionable, fully substantiated intelligence that this
[terrorist attack] was done by Hezbollah backed by Iran,"
adding that Israel gives "specific details to ...
responsible governments and agencies."
Did the Israelis somehow forget to give "specific details"
to Bulgarian and U.S. officials?
At a joint news conference with White House
counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan in Sofia early last
week, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov admitted that
he was aware of no information concerning the terrorist or
those who dispatched him.
Mr. Brennan's July 25 talks with top Israeli officials, it
appears, were similarly unproductive. According to the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz on July 26: "A week after the
Burgas attacks, Israeli, Bulgarian, and U.S. [officials]
still have no leads regarding the identity of the suicide bomber."
These events took place against an historical backdrop
pregnant with relevance. July 23 was the 10th anniversary
of a meeting at 10 Downing Street, at which the head
British intelligence casually revealed the fraudulent
origins of the coming attack on Iraq.
The official minutes of that meeting were leaked to
London's Sunday Times, which ran them on its front page
May 1, 2005. No one has disputed their authenticity.
This is how the minutes record the core of the briefing by
Sir Richard Dearlove, the British intelligence chief, who
had just conferred with his U.S. counterpart, George
Tenet, at CIA headquarters on July 20, 2002, on what was
in store for Iraq:
"... Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush
wanted to remove Saddam, through military action,
justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons
of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and facts were
being fixed around the policy. ..."
The "fixing" of intelligence is bad enough. But note Mr.
Dearlove's explanation that war with Iraq was to be
"justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD."
Translation: We will claim Saddam has weapons of mass
destruction and that he might well give them to terrorists
-- unless he is stopped forthwith.
Mr. Netanyahu is now taking the same line on Iran. On Face
the Nation on July 22, he pointedly asked:
"Just imagine what the consequences would be if these
people [terrorists] and this regime [Iran] got a hold of
nuclear weapons. ... [We need to] make sure that the
world's most dangerous regime doesn't get the world's most
dangerous weapons."
Never mind the elusive evidence on the perpetrators of the
attack in Bulgaria. Never mind that Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta posed the direct question to himself on Face the
Nation on January 8 and then answered it: "Are they [the
Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No." Never
mind that 10 days later Israeli Defense Minister Ehud
Barack said essentially the same thing during an interview
on Israeli Army Radio.
The likelihood of hostilities with Iran before the
presidential election in November is increasing. Beware of
"fixed" intelligence.
-------------
Ray McGovern is a retired 27-year veteran of CIA's analysis division whose responsibilities included
preparing and delivering the president's daily brief. His email is rrmcgovern@gmail.com.
Netanyahu's rhetoric has eerie echoes of the run-up to the Iraq war
By Ray McGovern
July 30, 2012
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-israel-iran-20120730,0,5791324.story
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's strong
pro-Israel statements over the weekend, including his
endorsement of Jerusalem as Israel's capital (a reversal
of long-standing U.S. policy), increases the pressure on
President Barack Obama to prove that he is an equally
strong backer of Israel.
The key question is whether Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak will
interpret the presidential campaign rhetoric as an open
invitation to provoke hostilities with Iran, in the
expectation that President Obama will feel forced to jump
in with both feet in support of our "ally" Israel. (Since
there is no mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and
Israel, "ally" actually is a misnomer -- at least in a
juridical sense.)
As we saw 10 years ago with respect to Iraq, if one
intends to whip up support for war, one needs to find a
casus belli -- however thin a pretext it might be. How
about juxtaposing "weapons of mass destruction" with
terrorism. That worked to prepare for war on Iraq, and
similar rhetorical groundwork for an attack on Iran is now
being laid in Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu broke all records for speed in blaming Iran
and Hezbollah for the recent terrorist attack that killed
five Israelis in Burgas, Bulgaria, and in vowing that
"Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror."
But what is the evidence on Iranian or Hezbollah
involvement? Bulgarian officials keep saying they have no
such evidence. More surprising still, government officials
in Washington and elsewhere keep warning against jumping
to conclusions.
So far the "evidence" against Iran consists primarily of
trust-me assertions by Mr. Netanyahu. On Fox News Sunday
on July 22, Mr. Netanyahu claimed Israel has "rock-solid
evidence" tying Iran to the attack in Bulgaria. The same
day onCBS's Face the Nation, Mr. Netanyahu said, "We have
unquestionable, fully substantiated intelligence that this
[terrorist attack] was done by Hezbollah backed by Iran,"
adding that Israel gives "specific details to ...
responsible governments and agencies."
Did the Israelis somehow forget to give "specific details"
to Bulgarian and U.S. officials?
At a joint news conference with White House
counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan in Sofia early last
week, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov admitted that
he was aware of no information concerning the terrorist or
those who dispatched him.
Mr. Brennan's July 25 talks with top Israeli officials, it
appears, were similarly unproductive. According to the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz on July 26: "A week after the
Burgas attacks, Israeli, Bulgarian, and U.S. [officials]
still have no leads regarding the identity of the suicide bomber."
These events took place against an historical backdrop
pregnant with relevance. July 23 was the 10th anniversary
of a meeting at 10 Downing Street, at which the head
British intelligence casually revealed the fraudulent
origins of the coming attack on Iraq.
The official minutes of that meeting were leaked to
London's Sunday Times, which ran them on its front page
May 1, 2005. No one has disputed their authenticity.
This is how the minutes record the core of the briefing by
Sir Richard Dearlove, the British intelligence chief, who
had just conferred with his U.S. counterpart, George
Tenet, at CIA headquarters on July 20, 2002, on what was
in store for Iraq:
"... Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush
wanted to remove Saddam, through military action,
justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons
of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and facts were
being fixed around the policy. ..."
The "fixing" of intelligence is bad enough. But note Mr.
Dearlove's explanation that war with Iraq was to be
"justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD."
Translation: We will claim Saddam has weapons of mass
destruction and that he might well give them to terrorists
-- unless he is stopped forthwith.
Mr. Netanyahu is now taking the same line on Iran. On Face
the Nation on July 22, he pointedly asked:
"Just imagine what the consequences would be if these
people [terrorists] and this regime [Iran] got a hold of
nuclear weapons. ... [We need to] make sure that the
world's most dangerous regime doesn't get the world's most
dangerous weapons."
Never mind the elusive evidence on the perpetrators of the
attack in Bulgaria. Never mind that Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta posed the direct question to himself on Face the
Nation on January 8 and then answered it: "Are they [the
Iranians] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No." Never
mind that 10 days later Israeli Defense Minister Ehud
Barack said essentially the same thing during an interview
on Israeli Army Radio.
The likelihood of hostilities with Iran before the
presidential election in November is increasing. Beware of
"fixed" intelligence.
-------------
Ray McGovern is a retired 27-year veteran of CIA's analysis division whose responsibilities included
preparing and delivering the president's daily brief. His email is rrmcgovern@gmail.com.
Peace Vigil Aug. 2/Scientists Tell Senate Panel: Climate Change Is Here and Disaster Costs Will Be Huge
The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will host an End the Wars vigil on Thurs., Aug. 2 from 5 to 6:30 PM in Mount Vernon at Centre & Charles Sts. The Pledge gathers in Mount Vernon on the first Thursday of the month to protest U.S. wars. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
Published on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by Common Dreams
Scientists Tell Senate Panel: Climate Change Is Here and Disaster Costs Will Be Huge
- Common Dreams staff
Climate scientists who appeared Wednesday morning before a Senate committee hearing on climate change and extreme weather impacts had stark warnings for the lawmakers: climate change is here, climate change is man-made, and climate change is going to cost us big time.
Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, a prominent climate sceptic, told the committe: 'The global warming movement has collapsed.' (Photograph: Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty) Dr. James McCarthy, professor at Harvard University and lead author of several climate impact studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other international papers, told the committee that there is "widespread agreement among specialists who devote their careers" to monitoring key indicators of global warming.
He acknowledged that, of course, climates fluctuate on a yearly basis, but that the mounting evidence of a warming world was changing the baseline of those fluctuations.
"In the future," he said, as greenhouse gases continue to increase, natural events like El Nino cycles, "Will wreak even more havoc as they break old records for warm and wet conditions across much of the globe, because they will be occurring upon a higher baseline of warming."
His IPCC colleague and climate scientist at Stanford University Dr. Christopher Fields, said that these events will have an increasingly strong impact on communities.
"Understanding the role of climate change in the risk of extremes is one of the most active areas of climate science," he said. "As a result of rapid progress over the last few years, it is now feasible to quantify the way that climate change alters the risk of certain events or series of events."
Giving examples, and citing studies to back them up, he continued:
"Climate change at least doubled the risk of the European heat wave of 2003, a high-impact extreme that led to tens of thousands of premature deaths, especially among the elderly or infirm. On the other hand, there is no evidence that climate change played a role in the serious flooding in Thailand in 2011. The primary causal agent there was altered land management. For the 2011 Texas drought, La Niña (cold water in the eastern Pacific) played a role, but recent research by David Rupp and colleagues concludes that, in a La Niña period, extreme heat is now 20 times more likely than in the 1960s."
"There is no doubt that climate has changed," Fields said. "There is also no doubt that a changing climate changes the risks of extremes, including extremes that can lead to disaster."
Despite the evidence presented, however, Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma was unwavering in his denial of the scientific communities findings. In his prepared opening remarks, Inhofe said: "The global warming movement has completely collapsed."
What drove the collapse, he argued, "was that the science of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was finally exposed" and said the IPCC was "a political body, not a scientific body."
Also in attendance, however, was Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who earlier this week gave Senator Inhofe a scathing rebuke from the Senate floor on his climate science denialism. "The bottom line," Sanders said on Monday, "is that when Senator Inhofe says global warming is a hoax, he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of climate scientists."
“For better or worse, when Sen. Inhofe speaks, the Republican Party follows," Sanders declared. "And when the Republican Party follows, it is impossible to get real work done in the Congress."
According to The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg, Sanders continued his assault on Inhofe's denialism at Wednesday's hearing, "asking the scientists on the panel for their opinions on some of Inhofe's more notorious assertions – that climate change is a hoax, that the planet is actually in a state of cooling, and that such environmental concerns were a conspiracy by the UN, Al Gore, and Hollywood."
The scientists, reported Goldenberg, did not support Inhofe's claims.
# # #
Source URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/01-4
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
Published on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 by Common Dreams
Scientists Tell Senate Panel: Climate Change Is Here and Disaster Costs Will Be Huge
- Common Dreams staff
Climate scientists who appeared Wednesday morning before a Senate committee hearing on climate change and extreme weather impacts had stark warnings for the lawmakers: climate change is here, climate change is man-made, and climate change is going to cost us big time.
Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, a prominent climate sceptic, told the committe: 'The global warming movement has collapsed.' (Photograph: Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty) Dr. James McCarthy, professor at Harvard University and lead author of several climate impact studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other international papers, told the committee that there is "widespread agreement among specialists who devote their careers" to monitoring key indicators of global warming.
He acknowledged that, of course, climates fluctuate on a yearly basis, but that the mounting evidence of a warming world was changing the baseline of those fluctuations.
"In the future," he said, as greenhouse gases continue to increase, natural events like El Nino cycles, "Will wreak even more havoc as they break old records for warm and wet conditions across much of the globe, because they will be occurring upon a higher baseline of warming."
His IPCC colleague and climate scientist at Stanford University Dr. Christopher Fields, said that these events will have an increasingly strong impact on communities.
"Understanding the role of climate change in the risk of extremes is one of the most active areas of climate science," he said. "As a result of rapid progress over the last few years, it is now feasible to quantify the way that climate change alters the risk of certain events or series of events."
Giving examples, and citing studies to back them up, he continued:
"Climate change at least doubled the risk of the European heat wave of 2003, a high-impact extreme that led to tens of thousands of premature deaths, especially among the elderly or infirm. On the other hand, there is no evidence that climate change played a role in the serious flooding in Thailand in 2011. The primary causal agent there was altered land management. For the 2011 Texas drought, La Niña (cold water in the eastern Pacific) played a role, but recent research by David Rupp and colleagues concludes that, in a La Niña period, extreme heat is now 20 times more likely than in the 1960s."
"There is no doubt that climate has changed," Fields said. "There is also no doubt that a changing climate changes the risks of extremes, including extremes that can lead to disaster."
Despite the evidence presented, however, Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma was unwavering in his denial of the scientific communities findings. In his prepared opening remarks, Inhofe said: "The global warming movement has completely collapsed."
What drove the collapse, he argued, "was that the science of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was finally exposed" and said the IPCC was "a political body, not a scientific body."
Also in attendance, however, was Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who earlier this week gave Senator Inhofe a scathing rebuke from the Senate floor on his climate science denialism. "The bottom line," Sanders said on Monday, "is that when Senator Inhofe says global warming is a hoax, he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of climate scientists."
“For better or worse, when Sen. Inhofe speaks, the Republican Party follows," Sanders declared. "And when the Republican Party follows, it is impossible to get real work done in the Congress."
According to The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg, Sanders continued his assault on Inhofe's denialism at Wednesday's hearing, "asking the scientists on the panel for their opinions on some of Inhofe's more notorious assertions – that climate change is a hoax, that the planet is actually in a state of cooling, and that such environmental concerns were a conspiracy by the UN, Al Gore, and Hollywood."
The scientists, reported Goldenberg, did not support Inhofe's claims.
# # #
Source URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/08/01-4
Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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