Unanimous conformity in the Senate
For the warfare state, it doesn’t get any better than 99 to 0.
Every living senator voted Wednesday to approve Gen. David Petraeus as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Call it the unanimity of lemmings -- except the senators and their families aren’t the ones who’ll keep plunging into the sea.
No, the killing and suffering and dying will be left to others: American soldiers who, for the most part, had scant economic opportunities in civilian life. And Afghans trapped between terrible poverty and escalating violence.
The senatorial conformity, of course, won’t lack for rationales. It rarely does.
An easy default position is that the president has the right to select his top military officers. (Then why is Senate confirmation required?) Or: This is a pivotal time for the war in Afghanistan. (All the more reason for senators to take responsibility instead of serving as a rubber stamp for the White House.)
Every living senator voted Wednesday to approve Gen. David Petraeus as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Call it the unanimity of lemmings -- except the senators and their families aren’t the ones who’ll keep plunging into the sea.
No, the killing and suffering and dying will be left to others: American soldiers who, for the most part, had scant economic opportunities in civilian life. And Afghans trapped between terrible poverty and escalating violence.
The senatorial conformity, of course, won’t lack for rationales. It rarely does.
An easy default position is that the president has the right to select his top military officers. (Then why is Senate confirmation required?) Or: This is a pivotal time for the war in Afghanistan. (All the more reason for senators to take responsibility instead of serving as a rubber stamp for the White House.)
Can "emergency" new nuke loans be stopped despite cover of war?
Amidst a grassroots uproar over funding for the military, the nuclear power industry has again forced $9 billion in loan guarantees onto an "emergency" war appropriations bill for Afghanistan and Iraq.
Citizen opposition helped delay a similar vote scheduled last month. Now green energy advocates are again asked to call Congress immediately.
The move comes as part of a larger push for federal funding for a "new generation" of reactors.
Because independent investors won’t fund them, the reactor industry has spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress and the White House for taxpayer money.
This $9 billion is for two new reactors proposed for the South Texas site, on the Gulf of Mexico, and another at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.
Continued operations of the two reactors now at South Texas are threatened by oil gushing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Calvert Cliffs is just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.
Citizen opposition helped delay a similar vote scheduled last month. Now green energy advocates are again asked to call Congress immediately.
The move comes as part of a larger push for federal funding for a "new generation" of reactors.
Because independent investors won’t fund them, the reactor industry has spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress and the White House for taxpayer money.
This $9 billion is for two new reactors proposed for the South Texas site, on the Gulf of Mexico, and another at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.
Continued operations of the two reactors now at South Texas are threatened by oil gushing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Calvert Cliffs is just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.
Senator Carl Levin Fiddling With War While Detroit Burns
General Petreaus is being confirmed today as the new commander of the war in Afghanistan. His confirmation hearing in Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, chaired by Senator Carl Levin, was noteworthy only because of the Senators’ refusal to ask critical questions about the 9-year-old war that has claimed the lives of over 1,000 soldiers and countless Afghans. The only debate in the hearing centered on whether there should be a timeline of July 2011 to begin the drawdown of US forces, or whether our commitment should be open-ended. Questioning the war itself, as the majority of Americans now do, was only done by the CODEPINK activists in the audience, who were constantly threatened with arrest as they held up signs saying “New General, Old Graveyard”, “Obama’s Vietnam” or simply “No More War!”
Leon Panetta is lying about Iran's nuclear 'weapons'
Leon Panetta is resorting to lies to justify war against Iran. This statement in particular is misleading on several levels:
"Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta told ABC's 'This Week' television program that the agency thinks Iran has enough low-enriched uranium now for two weapons, but that Tehran would have to further enrich the material first."
Notice, folks, I am NOT a magician, have nothing up my sleeves, have no espionage credentials, nothing except Wikipedia.
But I know this: that without highly-enriched uranium (i.e., 85% or greater U-235 content), it is not possible to have a nuclear weapon capable of missile delivery.
Remember "Fat Man" and "Little Boy," the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear bombs? Fat Man weighed 10,200 lbs. - over 5 tons - and was so large that modifications had to be made to the largest bomber of the day in order to deliver it.
The same was true of Little Boy - which weighed 8,800 lbs. (4.4 tons).
"Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta told ABC's 'This Week' television program that the agency thinks Iran has enough low-enriched uranium now for two weapons, but that Tehran would have to further enrich the material first."
Notice, folks, I am NOT a magician, have nothing up my sleeves, have no espionage credentials, nothing except Wikipedia.
But I know this: that without highly-enriched uranium (i.e., 85% or greater U-235 content), it is not possible to have a nuclear weapon capable of missile delivery.
Remember "Fat Man" and "Little Boy," the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear bombs? Fat Man weighed 10,200 lbs. - over 5 tons - and was so large that modifications had to be made to the largest bomber of the day in order to deliver it.
The same was true of Little Boy - which weighed 8,800 lbs. (4.4 tons).
Obama Misses the Afghan Exit Ramp
Has it occurred to President Barack Obama that Gen. Stanley McChrystal might actually have wanted to be fired -- and thus rescued from the current March of Folly in Afghanistan, a mess much of his own making?
McChrystal leaves behind a long trail of broken promises and unfulfilled expectations. For example, there is no real security, at least during the night, in the area of Marja, which McChrystal devoted enormous resources to pacify this spring. Remember his boast that he would then bring to Marja a "government-in-a-box" and thereby offer an object lesson regarding what was in store for those pesky Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city?
It is now clear that there will be no offensive against Kandahar anytime soon. For the 500,000 people in Kandahar, this is surely a good thing, but it is a huge embarrassment for McChrystal and his former boss, now his successor, the never nonplussed Gen. David Petraeus.
When McChrystal and his undisciplined senior aides let aRolling Stonereporter know what they really thought of the "intimidated" Obama and most of his national security team, Obama and his advisers took the bait.
McChrystal leaves behind a long trail of broken promises and unfulfilled expectations. For example, there is no real security, at least during the night, in the area of Marja, which McChrystal devoted enormous resources to pacify this spring. Remember his boast that he would then bring to Marja a "government-in-a-box" and thereby offer an object lesson regarding what was in store for those pesky Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city?
It is now clear that there will be no offensive against Kandahar anytime soon. For the 500,000 people in Kandahar, this is surely a good thing, but it is a huge embarrassment for McChrystal and his former boss, now his successor, the never nonplussed Gen. David Petraeus.
When McChrystal and his undisciplined senior aides let aRolling Stonereporter know what they really thought of the "intimidated" Obama and most of his national security team, Obama and his advisers took the bait.
Obama and Insubordination: Is He Truman or Mr. Milquetoast?
Journalist Michael Hastings has given Rolling Stone magazine a graphic account of the arrogance, disarray and ineptitude that distinguish what passes for President Barack Obama's policy on Afghanistan. For those of us with some gray in our hair, the fiasco is infuriatingly reminiscent of Vietnam.
In blowing off steam to Hastings, NATO/U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his top aides seem to have decided that, at this low point in the Afghanistan quagmire, political offense is the best defense for a military strategy sinking from waist to neck deep. In interviews with Hastings, McChrystal and his team direct mockery at many senior-level officials of the Obama administration. For instance, one of McChrystal's aides refers to Obama's national security adviser James L. Jones as a "clown."
In blowing off steam to Hastings, NATO/U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his top aides seem to have decided that, at this low point in the Afghanistan quagmire, political offense is the best defense for a military strategy sinking from waist to neck deep. In interviews with Hastings, McChrystal and his team direct mockery at many senior-level officials of the Obama administration. For instance, one of McChrystal's aides refers to Obama's national security adviser James L. Jones as a "clown."
From great man to great screwup: Behind the McChrystal uproar
When the wheels are coming off, it doesn’t do much good to change the driver.
Whatever the name of the commanding general in Afghanistan, the U.S. war effort will continue its carnage and futility.
Between the lines, some news accounts are implying as much. Hours before Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s meeting with President Obama on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that “the firestorm was fueled by increasing doubts -- even in the military -- that Afghanistan can be won and by crumbling public support for the nine-year war as American casualties rise.”
It now does McChrystal little good that news media have trumpeted everything from his Spartan personal habits (scarcely eats or sleeps) to his physical stamina (runs a lot) to his steel-trap alloy of military smarts and scholarship (reads history). Any individual is expendable.
Whatever the name of the commanding general in Afghanistan, the U.S. war effort will continue its carnage and futility.
Between the lines, some news accounts are implying as much. Hours before Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s meeting with President Obama on Wednesday, the New York Times reported that “the firestorm was fueled by increasing doubts -- even in the military -- that Afghanistan can be won and by crumbling public support for the nine-year war as American casualties rise.”
It now does McChrystal little good that news media have trumpeted everything from his Spartan personal habits (scarcely eats or sleeps) to his physical stamina (runs a lot) to his steel-trap alloy of military smarts and scholarship (reads history). Any individual is expendable.
Witnessing against torture: Why we must act
Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
U.S. Constitution Amendment I
An old cliché says that anyone who has herself for a lawyer has a fool for a client. Nevertheless, going to trial in Washington, D.C., this past June 14, I and twenty-three other defendants prepared a pro se defense. Acting as our own lawyers in court, we aimed to defend a population that finds little voice in our society at all, and to bring a sort of prosecution against their persecutors.
An old cliché says that anyone who has herself for a lawyer has a fool for a client. Nevertheless, going to trial in Washington, D.C., this past June 14, I and twenty-three other defendants prepared a pro se defense. Acting as our own lawyers in court, we aimed to defend a population that finds little voice in our society at all, and to bring a sort of prosecution against their persecutors.
An easy way to dramatically change Congress
There are lots of ways to change Congress that falsely appear easy, that would alter the rules and patterns of behavior if only Congress were already fixed and willing to make the changes, or if we owned the television networks, or if people could suddenly hear what they're paid good money never to hear. But I've got a way to change Congress that is actually easy.
Congress lacks leadership. There is a progressive caucus, but it has never fought for anything. It doesn't fund its members' campaigns. It doesn't withhold votes needed for passing bills. It just does rhetoric. There are committees, but they don't subpoena, they don't send the police to pick up witnesses, they don't fine witnesses who refuse to answer questions. Congress thinks oversight was an oversight. If asked to put future generations into debt to fund wars, Congress asks "Would you like a side of drones with that?" Congress doesn't want power.
Congress lacks leadership. There is a progressive caucus, but it has never fought for anything. It doesn't fund its members' campaigns. It doesn't withhold votes needed for passing bills. It just does rhetoric. There are committees, but they don't subpoena, they don't send the police to pick up witnesses, they don't fine witnesses who refuse to answer questions. Congress thinks oversight was an oversight. If asked to put future generations into debt to fund wars, Congress asks "Would you like a side of drones with that?" Congress doesn't want power.
Fire McChrystal & get out of Afghanistan NOW
President Obama must fire General Stanley McChrystal and get out of Afghanistan....for starters.
There is much more at stake here than meets the eye.
History is full of generals with deep contempt for democracy.
General McChrystal has a very particular significance. Last year, as Obama weighed the Afghan situation, McChrystal circumvented him entirely. In an act of profound public contempt, the general went directly to the world media with a high-profile campaign that was entirely inappropriate to a civilian democracy.
He should have been fired right then and there.
But McChrystal used the brass on his chest to sell the nation a bill of goods---that the war in Afghanistan could be "won." It would be "difficult," of course, requiring "sacrifice."
But exactly what "victory" meant, and how that would make the United States safer, more just and prosperous, was never clear.
What WAS clear was who would die and who would pay.
But with the corporate media lapping up his every word, McChrystal upstaged the numerous political, strategic, financial and military experts who disagreed with him.
There is much more at stake here than meets the eye.
History is full of generals with deep contempt for democracy.
General McChrystal has a very particular significance. Last year, as Obama weighed the Afghan situation, McChrystal circumvented him entirely. In an act of profound public contempt, the general went directly to the world media with a high-profile campaign that was entirely inappropriate to a civilian democracy.
He should have been fired right then and there.
But McChrystal used the brass on his chest to sell the nation a bill of goods---that the war in Afghanistan could be "won." It would be "difficult," of course, requiring "sacrifice."
But exactly what "victory" meant, and how that would make the United States safer, more just and prosperous, was never clear.
What WAS clear was who would die and who would pay.
But with the corporate media lapping up his every word, McChrystal upstaged the numerous political, strategic, financial and military experts who disagreed with him.