The Shifting Strategies of Empire
Remarks at the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Conference:
President Obama this week declared the war on Iraq to be an honorable success that has given us a brighter future. Are you fired up? Ready to go?
Eric Holder this month explained that it's legal for a president to kill anyone anywhere, or to imprison them, or to spy on them. I started to get upset about this, but then I remembered that Holder is a Democrat. That made me feel much better.
Leon Panetta told Congress this month that a president can launch a war without Congress and without the United Nations and without any legal restrictions, that a NATO decision to go to war makes a war legal, that a decision by an ad hoc coalition to go to war makes a war legal, and that in fact there's no way for a war launched by a U.S. president not to be legal. At first this sounded like a dangerous doctrine, until I remembered that the president is not a Republican, and no Republican is going to be president for at least several months. So, there's nothing to worry about.
President Obama this week declared the war on Iraq to be an honorable success that has given us a brighter future. Are you fired up? Ready to go?
Eric Holder this month explained that it's legal for a president to kill anyone anywhere, or to imprison them, or to spy on them. I started to get upset about this, but then I remembered that Holder is a Democrat. That made me feel much better.
Leon Panetta told Congress this month that a president can launch a war without Congress and without the United Nations and without any legal restrictions, that a NATO decision to go to war makes a war legal, that a decision by an ad hoc coalition to go to war makes a war legal, and that in fact there's no way for a war launched by a U.S. president not to be legal. At first this sounded like a dangerous doctrine, until I remembered that the president is not a Republican, and no Republican is going to be president for at least several months. So, there's nothing to worry about.
Young women and healthcare coverage
On March 23, protestors gathered in Cleveland to protest the Affordable Care Act’s mandate of contraception coverage, which brings nearly unprecedented reform to women’s healthcare. For young women in America, the ACA’s preventative-related policies are crucial for the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle.
The transition out of high school or college leaves many young women teetering on the edge of limited healthcare or no healthcare at all. Thanks to the ACA, young people can stay covered on their parents’ policy until the age of 26. Young women are now freer to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, non-traditional jobs, volunteer work or further education without having to worry about how or where they can get basic health care.
The transition out of high school or college leaves many young women teetering on the edge of limited healthcare or no healthcare at all. Thanks to the ACA, young people can stay covered on their parents’ policy until the age of 26. Young women are now freer to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, non-traditional jobs, volunteer work or further education without having to worry about how or where they can get basic health care.
The Supremes: What on Earth are they thinking?
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has, this week, been considering various aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While political pundits and court watchers have been holding forth on what this all means, the ability to discern anything from the oral arguments is nearly impossible.
The first day of arguments centered on the whether or not cases brought against the PPACA should even be heard in light of a law called the Anti-Injunction Act. The basic concept under this statute is that a person who has petitioned for relief (brought a lawsuit), must be able to demonstrate actual harm in order to have standing to bring the case. In the case of the PPACA no one has had to pay a penalty for not purchasing healthcare insurance so far. In fact, under the PPACA, this won’t happen until at least 2015 when folks who don’t or can’t purchase insurance will have the penalty enforced by the IRS.
The first day of arguments centered on the whether or not cases brought against the PPACA should even be heard in light of a law called the Anti-Injunction Act. The basic concept under this statute is that a person who has petitioned for relief (brought a lawsuit), must be able to demonstrate actual harm in order to have standing to bring the case. In the case of the PPACA no one has had to pay a penalty for not purchasing healthcare insurance so far. In fact, under the PPACA, this won’t happen until at least 2015 when folks who don’t or can’t purchase insurance will have the penalty enforced by the IRS.
The Bad Apple
So it turns out that mass-murder suspect Robert Bales once used a bad word in a Facebook conversation.
This is one of the more bizarre details of his life that has come breathlessly to light in the media, along with his big smile, arrest record and disastrous financial dealings. The word was “hadji” (misspelled “hagi”), which is the racial slur of choice among U.S. troops to denigrate Iraqis; and stories where I have read about his use of it fixate on it judgmentally, as though to suggest it might explain something: the tiny flaw that reveals a propensity for massacring children.
Something had to be wrong with him, right? As always, the mainstream media’s unquestioning assumption is that the atrocity is the work of an individual nut . . . a flawed patriot, a bad apple. Oh so quietly ignored is the possibility that there’s something wrong with the military system and culture that produced him.
This is one of the more bizarre details of his life that has come breathlessly to light in the media, along with his big smile, arrest record and disastrous financial dealings. The word was “hadji” (misspelled “hagi”), which is the racial slur of choice among U.S. troops to denigrate Iraqis; and stories where I have read about his use of it fixate on it judgmentally, as though to suggest it might explain something: the tiny flaw that reveals a propensity for massacring children.
Something had to be wrong with him, right? As always, the mainstream media’s unquestioning assumption is that the atrocity is the work of an individual nut . . . a flawed patriot, a bad apple. Oh so quietly ignored is the possibility that there’s something wrong with the military system and culture that produced him.
NRC violates its own environmental protection mandate: 5 Commissioners reject renewables alternative at Davis-Besse atomic reactor
On the eve of the 33rd annual commemoration of the Three Mile Island meltdown, the five NRC Commissioners voted unanimously yesterday to reject an environmental coalition's contention that wind power and solar power could readily replace the 908 Megawatts-electric from Davis-Besse, instead of FirstEnergy's proposed 20 year license extension at the problem-plagued atomic reactor with a cracked concrete containment. The environmental coalition put out a media release, and plans to appeal to the federal courts at the first opportunity.
NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) presiding over the Davis-Besse license extension proceeding has ordered pre-hearing oral arguments about the latest, cracked concrete containment contention. The oral arguments will take place on Friday, May 18th, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Common Pleas Courtroom at the Ottawa County Courthouse, 315 Madison Street, Port Clinton, Ohio -- about ten miles from Davis-Besse.
Update on March 28, 2012 by admin
NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) presiding over the Davis-Besse license extension proceeding has ordered pre-hearing oral arguments about the latest, cracked concrete containment contention. The oral arguments will take place on Friday, May 18th, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Common Pleas Courtroom at the Ottawa County Courthouse, 315 Madison Street, Port Clinton, Ohio -- about ten miles from Davis-Besse.
Update on March 28, 2012 by admin
The National Occupation of Washington, DC Seeks to Lift Occupy to New Levels With Powerful Educational Programs
The National Occupation of Washington, DC which begins on March 30th and ends on April 30th will include protests, music and art but its anchor is education of the movement.
The major educational activities begin on April 2nd with the "Control the Corporation" conference at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. The conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law was designed for the Occupy and will include how people can work toward controlling corporations impact on elections, slow privatization, create better paying jobs and mobilize for the future. The full schedule is below or here. Please register in advance here to help planning for food and space.
The major educational activities begin on April 2nd with the "Control the Corporation" conference at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. The conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law was designed for the Occupy and will include how people can work toward controlling corporations impact on elections, slow privatization, create better paying jobs and mobilize for the future. The full schedule is below or here. Please register in advance here to help planning for food and space.
Why George Zimmerman must be arrested and tried for the murder of Trayvon Martin
The death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin one month ago in Sanford, Fl has all the earmarks of the 1964 Mississippi murders of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner... right down to an inept local police department that, while not involved in the actual crime, as County Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Rainey and Cecil Price respectively had been forty-eight years ago, has failed to effectively investigate and arrest the killer. At best, it's an egregious dereliction of duty, and at worst it's a chilling example of the rampant racism that still exists in America today.
In many regions of the country there's been little material change regarding racial intolerance since Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were beaten and shot to death. In 2012, despite the presence of Lebron James, DisneyWorld and Northeast retirees, Florida is as much the bigoted deep South as 1964 Mississippi. Which is why both the Martin and Mississippi cases required intervention and investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. So much for progress.
In many regions of the country there's been little material change regarding racial intolerance since Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were beaten and shot to death. In 2012, despite the presence of Lebron James, DisneyWorld and Northeast retirees, Florida is as much the bigoted deep South as 1964 Mississippi. Which is why both the Martin and Mississippi cases required intervention and investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. So much for progress.
Book Review: Conversations with Cronkite
Conversations with Cronkite
Walter Cronkite and Don Carleton
Don Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
It is hard to believe in 2012, when anybody with a cell phone camera or access to the web is a reporter, that there was a time when journalism was a well respected field, and that one journalist in particular was for decades referred to as “the most trusted man in America.” My American history students especially scoff at this; after all, they have been reared in the era of the twenty-four-hour news cycle–remember when people thought Ted Turner was crazy to think that anyone would be interested in news at all hours of the day and night?–and instant news, the delivery of which more often than not ignores facts, lacks context and has all the subtlety of an M-16 being used to kill a fly.
Walter Cronkite and Don Carleton
Don Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
It is hard to believe in 2012, when anybody with a cell phone camera or access to the web is a reporter, that there was a time when journalism was a well respected field, and that one journalist in particular was for decades referred to as “the most trusted man in America.” My American history students especially scoff at this; after all, they have been reared in the era of the twenty-four-hour news cycle–remember when people thought Ted Turner was crazy to think that anyone would be interested in news at all hours of the day and night?–and instant news, the delivery of which more often than not ignores facts, lacks context and has all the subtlety of an M-16 being used to kill a fly.
Elections: What are they good for?
I think two opposing trends have been at work in U.S. history. One is that of allowing more people to vote. This is an ongoing struggle, of course, but in some significant sense we've allowed poor people and women and non-white people and young people to vote.
The other trend, which has really developed more recently, is that we've made voting less and less meaningful. Of course it was never as meaningful as many people imagine. But we've legalized bribery, we've banished third parties and independents, we've gerrymandered most Congressional districts into meaningless general elections and left one party or the other to exercise great influence over any primary. Rarely does any incumbent lose, and rarely does a candidate without the most money win.
The other trend, which has really developed more recently, is that we've made voting less and less meaningful. Of course it was never as meaningful as many people imagine. But we've legalized bribery, we've banished third parties and independents, we've gerrymandered most Congressional districts into meaningless general elections and left one party or the other to exercise great influence over any primary. Rarely does any incumbent lose, and rarely does a candidate without the most money win.