FEMA thwarted Local, National, and International Relief

Not only did FEMA prevent the Red Cross from delivering food and water to people trapped in the Superdome and Convention centers, (see post below for details), but they have denied aid all over the place.
Andrew Sullivan has links to lots of info about FEMA and Michael Brown's incompetence, including the following:
http://femafailures.blogspot.com/
Articles exposing FEMA's failures in Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and more.
Constructive Interference
This site lists many of the relief workers and aid supplies that were refused entry to New Orleans and/or the Gulf area. FEMA also blocked civilian response, both neighbors from the region and Americans from all over the USA were turned away, even if they had boats, supplies, medical training, whatever.
But a few Duke students managed to sneak in and help:
In the Durham Herald Sun, Sept 4, 2005
Three Duke students, disgusted by the inadequate relief effort, drove to the Gulf on Friday, posed as jounalists, got past the National Guard and evacuated 7 people from downtown New Orleans in their little Hyundai.
Fire Brown Now
Spin First, Save Lives Later
FEMA Director Michael Brown's memo to Chertoff shows the focus was not on getting rescuers in there right away.
Check the local news for best coverage and photos:
The Times-Picayune http://www.nola.com
New Orleans WWL TV http://www.wwltv.com
What does this sad pic of New Orleans remind you of?

Homeland Security Admits They Denied Red Cross Access to New Orleans

This is killer information that should be distributed widely to media, politicians, church leaders, and everyone you know.
Both Red Cross and Homeland Security have admitted that Red Cross was not allowed into the city of New Orleans ALL WEEK.
I find it very disturbing that people died of dehydration and starvation in the Superdome "shelter", while President Bush's suggestion was "Send cash to the Red Cross". Red Cross was allowed access to the outlying more white communities where they gave out food and water.
What reason do they give for withholding food and water from 50,000 predominantly poor African Americans left in the city because they did not have cars to evacuate?
Red Cross says the reason was that their "presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."
Kevin Cowan at the Louisianna Office of Homeland Security said they "don't want to put anyone at undue risk". I guess that reference to "anyone" must only refer to white Red Cross workers. Certainly the 20,000 people in the Superdome and the other thousands at the Convention center were put at grave risk by being held at gunpoint with no food, water, or bathroom facilities for days. Ten bodies were found in the Superdome.
So if they were afraid to put the Red Cross workers at risk, why didn't they escort them in with military back-up, or just have the National Guard drive in the darn truckloads of Red Cross food & water?
When there are disasters in other countries, the Red Cross is there right away with food and water, because other countries do not deny them access to the victims.
A few bloggers posted that they had heard on CNN and on Larry King Show, the head of Red Cross saying they weren't allowed in.
I found this news at Dailykos, which has a lot of information now about the disastrous disaster response.
See for yourself on the FAQ section of Red Cross's website:
Here is an excerpt in case they remove it from their website soon:

Disaster FAQs
Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?
Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.
The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

A DailyKos blogger called up Homeland Security to verify this statement on Red Cross's web-page. The Federal Homeland Security guy admitted it at first, but would not stand by his statement. On the Red Cross Webpage it says ""state Homeland Security department", so then he called the Communications Center for the Louisianna Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at 225-925-7500. Lt. Kevin Cowan (Public Information Officer) confirmed that their office did prevent Red Cross from coming in! Read the text of his phone calls here.
He goes on to say

"Orj Ozeppi reports that the Salvation Army is telling people the same thing as the ARC(Red Cross): "if we help, people won't leave." So we have a discrepancy between these relief agencies and LA Homeland Security as to the reason. The relief agencies are consistent. It may be that this policy is just because it's a disaster zone, as the LA Homeland Security guy said, but this question needs to be answered. Was the decision to keep the relief agencies out made to force people to evacuate (and punish those who didn't... perhaps making a lesson of them?) by making conditions intolerable??? If not, why do these relief agencies say so? "

In fact, many aid offers have been turned down by President Bush & Homeland Security. Even Homeland Security was blocked by Bush! The Homeland Security division, "NorthCOM" in Colorado, which was supposedly coordinating the relief efforts (Surprise! This must be a stealth mission), said they did not send 9 million meals which were ready before the hurricane hit, because they were waiting for Bush's order.
A Canadian Med-vac team was denied access to the USA. They have now made a deal directly with local officials to come in by ship.
according to the Washington Post, Cuba offered med teams and supplies.
France and Germany offered med teams, tents, water purification equipment, but were initially turned down.
President George W. Bush said in a television interview that the United States could take care of itself. In contrast, Sean McCormack of the State Department said,
"Anything that can be of help to alleviate the tragic situation of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina will be accepted".
Al Gore knows a doctor at one of the hospitals in NO and lined up TWO 747 airliners to fly in and evacuate victims in order to fly critical care patients to waiting hospitals around the nation.
Homeland Security BLOCKED this from happening. Why? Because FEMA is not allowed to help PRIVATELY funded hospitals.
Those people in critical condition, in hospitals were DENIED a free and safe evacuation.
According to nola.com (the N.O. Times-Picayune website), Homeland Security has also declined the Forest Service's offer to put out the fires in New Orleans.

"The Forest Service has offered fixed plane aircraft used to fight forest fires to help extinguish blazes in New Orleans, according to two congressional sources. But the sources said the planes, which can pour large amounts of water on fires, remained grounded in Missouri Friday because the Department of Homeland Security hasn't authorized their use.
"We've been asking them to request that the planes be used, but nothing has happened," said one of the two congressional sources, both of whom asked to remain anonymous. The planes were offered by the Forest Service because of news reports that firefighters in New Orleans lacked adequate water pressure to fight a number of fires in the city."

President Bush is returning to the area to do more cheerleading and take more photo ops to shift the rising tide of public anger.
Meanwhile, our government's disaster response seems more like sabotage than aid.

Katrina Disaster Relief

If you know anyone in or near the disaster area, or if you want to offer temporary housing, the following website has a well organized system of free housing offers for evacuees. It can be printed out for a wall poster to be put near pay phones, or for relief workers to bring in. I plan to see if the Red Cross knows about this effort.
http://www.katrinahome.com/
Another similar site:http://www.nola.com/forums/homesavailable/
I agree with this post at Daily Kos, that the government should get more buses in theres RIGHT AWAY by any means possible:
"You know what else I was thinking? Why didn't the government send every available bus to New Orleans to take everyone away who was stranded their. Surely a national emergency would allow the President to comandeer all the local Greyhound buses for this purpose."
Is it Wrong to Politicize a Disaster?
http://central-scrutinizer.dailykos.com/
"A lot of people are going to huff and bluster about making this disaster a political issue. Put bluntly, however, what government does and does not choose to spend money on for the essential safety of its citizens is a political issue, and a very basic one at that. The administration willfully reduced the budget for the protective levees around New Orleans to a level where even maintaining the current levee height was impossible, in order to shift that Corps money into Iraq. I'd say that's a political big deal."
Check out this article of Feb 16, 2004, in New Orleans CityBusiness:
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

This Salon article expands on how Bush policies also failed to protect the wetlands which would have mitigated this disaster.

The Corporation

Five of us *enjoyed* watching "The Corporation". It is actually a very entertaining movie, with a lot of funny soundbites from the 1950's and 60's extolling the benefits of corporate power. Michael Moore is in it, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and a very interesting CEO of a formerly polluting carpet company, named Ray Anderson, fondly referred to as "the carpet guy". This guy seems to have had an enlightenment experience, and has changed his company to help move towards an environmentally sustainable world. If people like him can change so profoundly, I think there is hope for the world. We must reach people's hearts.
I also saw "Weapons of Mass Deception", Danny Schecter's film on the Iraq War as shown through the distorting eyes of the media. Afterwards, James M made this profound comment in regard to fighting against the neo-con's takeover by manipulation of fears:

"We need to stop fighting against what we can't defeat, and embrace what can't be defeated".

For me, the top undefeatable energy is love, followed closely by truth and fairness ( a kinder word than justice).
http://www.thecorporation.com/ is an activist tool, with interactive discussion on whether to reform, regulate, or rewrite the structure of corporations. They held an online debate in which over 800 logged in, (video clips at website). They are working on an action agenda of how we can help:

What Do We Do Now?

"Whether or not you've been part of a DVD House Party and debate, or if you've just seen the film -- we really want your feedback around the issues and around the three "R's. Tell us what you think: Please fill out our online feedback form. We will be using all this information we collect to formulate a Framework for Action document around Corporate Harm Reduction and using it to fuel future campaigns. "

I'm ordering the 2 DVD set of "The Corporation", which has more interviews and action ideas.

Rasul vs. Rumsfeld

Rasul v. Rumsfeld
Wow, have you heard about this? Why don't we hear this story in the mainstream media? I think I know why. Rumsfeld is GUILTY.
I read about it in this Common Dreams article released May 6. It is pertinent now, because it contains descriptions of Koran desecration that these (now-released) detainees sent to our government last fall.

My hero, Rep John Conyers is on to it though. He posted a letter on his blog page at dailykos ,which he just sent to the Whitehouse Press Secretary,Mr. Scott McClellan.
Here is a key excerpt from Conyers' letter:

"Third, the public deserves to know what precisely the White House is asserting with respect to the mistreatment of the Koran by interrogators: are such reports categorically false or are they, in the words of one publication, "manifold?" For example, a May1st New York Times report indicated that a Koran was thrown into a pile and stepped on at the Guantanamo detention facility and "[a] former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans." The incident where a Koran was allegedly thrown in a toilet was also recounted by a former detainee in a March 26, 2003 article in the Washington Post, and corroborated by another detainee in a August 4, 2003 report by the Center for Constitutional Rights. The question is: are you categorically denying that the mistreatment of the Koran occurred, or are you simply denying the Newsweek report is accurate on hyper technical grounds?" [my emphasis]

SYNOPSIS:
Rasul v. Rumsfeld represents four British citizens formerly detained at Guantánamo Bay: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith. Three of them wrote a 115-page document detailing the torture and abuse they suffered and witnessed while imprisoned at Guantánamo, and it can be downloaded from the Center for Constitutional Rights web site at www.ccr-ny.org. I read quite a bit of it and it is a fascinating and detailed personal account of life from the inside of a cell in Guantánamo.
I'll paste in a bit of it below,(not the most disgusting parts).
The beginning of the document describes their horrific journey from Afghanistan to Cuba, in freezing weather, shackled and packed into trucks, where many died, and then the cargo planes. I'm skipping that part.
Shafiq Rasul (age 27) lives in England. Before he went to Afghanistan, he worked at an electronics store, and was attending the University of Central England. The other two men who give this amazing first-hand account are now 22 years old.
Here is the the pdf file of their document, which includes paintings (oil or acrylic) of the prisoners. Worth a peek for the paintings alone.
The suit, filed last fall in conjunction with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks $10 million in damages for these detainees. It charges that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon chain of command authorized and condoned torture and other mistreatment in violation of the Alien Tort Statute, the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
None of the detainees had ever been a member of any terrorist group or taken up arms against the United States.

"This is a case about torture,” said Eric Lewis, lead lawyer for the detainees. “The government tries to ignore this, but it is clear now beyond dispute that detainees were tortured at Guantánamo as part of a deliberate policy devised and implemented by Secretary Rumsfeld and senior generals. If the United States’ policy is against torture—and the President says it is—then senior officials must be held accountable."

For a copy of the filing, e-mail the attorney: Paul Hughes at Baach Robinson & Lewis
Paul.Hughes@baachrobinson.com
excerpts from the document by three of the four plaintiffs:
Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay
Statement of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed
26th July 2004

1. All three men come from Tipton in West Midlands, a poor area with a small
community of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. The school all three attended is
considered one of the worst in England. Rhuhel Ahmed and Asif Iqbal who are now
both aged 22 were friends from school, although one year apart. Neither was
brought up religiously but each was drawn towards Islam.
2. This statement jointly made by them constitutes an attempt to set out details of their treatment at the hands of UK and US military personnel and civilian authorities during the time of their detention in Kandahar in Afghanistan in late December 2001 and throughout their time in American custody in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. This statement is a composite of the experiences of all 3. They are referred to throughout by their first names for brevity.
72. They were never given prayer mats and initially they didn’t get a Koran. When the Korans were provided, they were kicked and thrown about by the guards and on occasion thrown in the buckets used for the toilets. This kept happening. When it
happened it was always said to be an accident but it was a recurrent theme.
73. Eventually the prisoners went on hunger strike because of the way that they were treated and in particular the way their religion was treated.
74. Asif says that ‘it was impossible to pray because initially we did not know the
direction to pray, but also given that we couldn’t move and the harassment
from the guards, it was simply not feasible. The behaviour of the guards
towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view,
designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the
Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.’
129. Delta was placed very close to the sea and as such, the salt air would cause the
containers to rust. This meant that there was constant reconstruction work and
therefore large electric generators were running 24 hours a day. This made it
difficult to sleep. There was also constant noise from the 48 or so other men all
detained in the same “block”. An unusual, but foreseeable problem that emerged in
Delta was that the cages and the entire area around the containers were infested
with rats. These were huge “banana” rats which would climb over the containers or
around the cages. Every morning, the men would wake up to find rat droppings on
their blankets or on the floor. There were also snakes in Delta but less than Camp
X-Ray.
130. In normal circumstances such conditions would be difficult to endure. In
Guantanamo Bay however we were deliberately kept hungry the whole time.
We were constantly in a state of anxiety about our future and totally at the
mercy of the guards’.
133. Shafiq comments “while we were in Guantanamo each of us was
interrogated for hundreds and hundreds of hours by the Americans. The same
questions were repeated over and over and over again.
134. During the whole time that we were in Guantanamo, we were at a high level
of fear. When we first got there the level was sky-high. At the beginning we
were terrified that we might be killed at any minute. The guards would say to
us ‘we could kill you at any time’. They would say ‘the world doesn’t know
you’re here, nobody knows you’re here, all they know is that you’re missing
and we could kill you and no one would know’.
139. (In the first few months, they were allowed a one minute shower per week. Later
this increased to 5 minutes per week and after 7 or 8 months in Delta, they were
allowed 2 showers a week. This was still not enough because as a result of the
heat and the humidity they would be constantly sweating and feel dirty.
1. Medical – I said that I together with others were suffering with infections on
our ankles as a result of the scraping by the shackles. The officials would
tell us that we simply needed to wash our ankles with soap and water, but
this was impossible as we only had a one minute shower per week. Often,
when we were in the shower, we had barely put the soap on when they
would turn the water off and take us away.

Why the fuss?

Bush holding hands with Saudi Prince Abdullah

as shown on CBS news
At "the political junkies.net" Jay Greene comments about why there isn't more fuss about this. I agree it is likely that the cons would have lambasted Clinton, had he done the same thing.
Personally I don't think there should be a fuss because men hold hands, the fuss should be over WHO he's holding hands with... leader from the country that privately condones the insurgent attacks, the country which is allowing men on their death row to go to Iraq as suicide bombers, country which has not reprimanded their 2nd top cleric for preaching in his mosque that Arabs should go to Iraq now to fight with the insurgents, country that spawned most of the 911 terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, country that doesn't allow women to vote, and only recently had any election at all.
imho our country engages in total hypocrisy in being so chummy with Saudi Arabia and dozens of other countries with the worst human rights records in the world. If they have oil to sell us or money to buy up US bonds, then we'll support them, send weapons and technological secrets, which could be used against us at a future date, whatever.
The world must laugh at how STUPID our foreign policy is. But since these policies (including our total disregard/denial of global warming) will bring down the whole planet with us, it is no laughing matter.

Letter from Congress makes news

Here is a little mention on CNN about the letter concerning leaked memo. Too bad they call the London Times "a tabloid", thus casting doubt on the source.
Video in Real Media format (1 minute)

btw next Think Tank on Sunday, May 22 will be about the media. Two of our members are going to the National Conference for Media Reform in St Louis next week. Here are just a few of the many top liberal presenters: George Lakoff, Al Franken, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Jim Hightower, Robert Greenwald. The conference is sold out, so come to the Think Tank to hear about it first-hand.

Memo proves Bush faked our way into Iraq

The democratic underground is a buzz with this leaked memo story, and now my hero, John Conyers, has brought it up in Congress, and gotten 88 other members of Congress to join him in questioning the President.
See their letter, complete with 88 signatures here.
John Conyers is so cool he posted the story on dailykos. He said hundreds of Progressive Democrats of America and Daily Kos readers contacted their congress people about this.
According alternet, the memo is the official minutes of a briefing by Richard Dearlove, (then head of Britain's CIA equivalent, MI-6) on July 23, 2002 to Tony Blair and a few other top officials about a meeting in Washington with Bush.
Dearlove tells Blair and the others that President Bush has decided to remove Saddam Hussein by launching a war that is to be "justified by the conjunction of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction."
"The intelligence and facts are being fixed around the policy."
Here is the memo, as printed in the London Times.
I liked Ken Sanders article,
"Smoking Gun Memo appears, but where's the outrage?"
in the Dissident Voice on May 5. He mentions John Conyer's letter and the subsequent lack of interest by the media, concluding, "If only the memo had a semen stain .... "
So let's pummel congress, newspapers, and radio with questions about this!

800 anti-war rallies barely mentioned in news

I am shocked anew at the lack of coverage in the MSM [Mainstream Media] of this growing anti-war movement.
The NY Times focused on a small group of 350 protesters at the U.N. This is what other newsmedia then repeat.
After returning from the powerful march experience in Fayetteville, NC, I wanted to see what happened elsewhere. To be honest, I was disappointed in the turnout in Fayetteville. It looked like about 2500 people to me, and they had been hoping for 4000- 10,000. It was supposed to be the largest national march, with national news coverage, since it was so unusual to have a Peace march co-sponsored by military families in a military town.
Before I continue with my rant on the media, I want to show & tell a bit about the march. At the pre-rally, there were a lot of Code Pink women, including their founder, Medea Benjamin. There was singing and belly-dancing for peace by my friend Betsy. Thanks to Susan M. for snapping these photos.

I have been a Picasso fan since I was a child. My Pacifist father introduced me to Picasso's monumental anti-war painting, "Guernica". So when exciting drums announced a larger than life enactment of a moving "Guernica", done with 10' tall puppets, moving with sticks and hinges, I was blown away. They also made a very large flying dove that needs five people to hold it up with long bamboo poles. Here are the characters, made by Paper Hand Puppet Intervention.

One hundred coffins had been made with cardboard and covered with flags to represent all the soldiers from North Carolina who died in Iraq. The marchers were asked to be pallbearers. This made the sadness of this war more real.

When we got to the rally site, there were pillow case sizes banners made by family and friends of the dead. Hanging beside them were banners for some of the Iraqi civilians, with their names, ages and circumstances of their death. This sight brought tears to my eyes.

Here is the stage where we heard many speakers who had been in Iraq or lost loved ones there, including Nick Berg's father. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey spoke; she is the co-sponsor of Res 35, which calls for the President to bring the troops home at once. The Co-founders of all these groups with military ties were present:
Iraq Veterans Against the War http://www.ivaw.net/
Gold Star Families for Peace http://www.gsfp.org/
Military Families Speak Out http://www.mfso.org/
Veterans for Peace http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
and the non-military sponsors included
NC Peace and Justice Coalition http://www.ncpeacejustice.org/
Sept 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows http://www.peacefultomorrows.org
United for Peace and Justice http://www.unitedforpeace.org
CODEPINK http://www.codepinkalert.org
A real highlight for me was running into Code Pink's founding mother, Medea Benjamin. I had brought a pink tee,"What Would Durga Do?" to give her, and she loved it. Here we are with her (second from left).

For 24 hours, I believed theWashington Post, which said, "N.C. Demonstration Is Largest of 800 Held Across the U.S. to Mark 2nd Anniversary of Conflict". But then I searched the internet and found reports of 25,000 in San Francisco and 20,000 L.A. http://www.answercoalition.org

Even if that's an exaggeration, there were probably more than we had in Fayetteville. ABC TV news gave some coverage, but they featured the few counter-protesters as much as the protest. Many people who follow MSM didn't even know about any of the marches. I guess it's good to decentralize and have marches in 800 cities in all 50 states. that way at least some people will be first hand witnesses to these under-reported events.
United for Peace lists all 765 U.S. cities that held rallies, which were twice as many as last year.

Apparently, there were far bigger rallies in Europe, also on March 19, 2005. London: 45,000, Istanbul,Turkey: 15,000, Athens, Greece: 3000 according to the
Boston Globe.

I am grateful for the liberal websites and blogs who share more of the news on the ground.
Here are some nice big pictures of Seattle's march someone posted at Democratic Underground
Truthout's Chris Hume interviews the military protesters at Fayetteville march. This interview is biased to leave out the fact that the majority of the marchers present were non military. But at least it's coverage of this important and growing segment of the Peace Movement.

I guess we have to become our own media, as well as pressure the media to cover news we want to hear.

Evaluate our Think Tank

I posed these questions, and Susan Michael wrote these replies.
1. What has Living-room Think Tank done for you?
It has been both fun and informative. I really love getting together with like-minded people to discuss freely what we should do about the state we are in as progressives and strategize game plans.
2. What is the purpose of this group? I feel the purpose of this group is to share ideas, formulate responses for when we encounter people outside the group and stimulate thinking. I would like to add action as a result of our thinking.
3. Do you like the format? I like the format, particularly when we write our discussion points on a poster board to be used as a basis for action.
4. What topics would you like us to discuss? I have enjoyed the topics. A topic I would like to discuss is what are good strategies for toppling this regime. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming for me. Every area I look the Bush Administration is dismantling and I don’t know where to begin. I guess I feel we need to focus on the bigger picture and where we could get the most people rallied and awakened. I think if we were to start tackling the budget crisis or the war and consider how we can bring this to the foreground that could bring more attention from more sources. I think about how Code Pink explained at the Progressive Democrats Summit in January, they were planning a rally in Fayetteville, NC along with other states and now it is a few weeks away. I am amazed at how much it has grown from January. I guess I think we need to keep the ‘frame’ large so as many people can umbrella underneath it. I would really like to think of big issues we can take on and maybe brainstorm how we can start creating a buzz around them.
Lastly, I am trying to figure out how some groups can converge into one. For it seems several of the groups I am involved with are at a similar place, they start with a lot of enthusiasm and after awhile the momentum fades. I just don’t want that to happen with this group. I feel it is too valuable and too important. The issues are looming too big over all of us and it helps to feel there is a force locally trying to do something.
5. If you have read "Don't Think of an Elephant", do you think we are learning to reframe political topics from a progressive view? I think reframing using a bigger picture is where I would like to go with it.

War in Iraq = Future Lack

Reframe the war in Iraq for all its negative consequences, by connecting its full cost to our full future lacks.
Balance all the costs of this type of unjust war to all these

Future Deficits:

• lack of safety from terrorism
• lack of fuel*
• lack of money
• lack of clean environment to live in
• lack of jobs, life, liberty, health.

Costs of Iraq war

• the lives lost
• the growing ill-will with millions of Muslims
• billions $$$ spent will bring future national bankruptcy
• environmental DU damage
• health costs of all the injured or contaminated troops
• moral danger of setting the first attack precedent (Bush says "pre-emptive strike", let's start naming it for what it really was).

In the longer term, if we keep using fossil and nuclear fuel instead of developing clean renewable sources, we risk environmental damage to the atmosphere, and radiation damage in the ground, air, and food.
*Here's the reason I say it will cost us fuel instead of gain it: Grabbing their oil is a short-term fix. When it runs out in 30-50 years, we won't have the time or the money to fix the situation fast enough. Better to start working on safe alternatives before that crisis.

We could make the world safer by putting the billions of dollars we're spending on this war into renewable energy/ conservation breakthroughs now. The USA has left a oversized footprint of environmental damage to planet Earth. For all the damage we've done, I want to start repaying that debt asap!

Spending even half the huge amount of cash in the defense and pentagon budgets could create millions of jobs here in the USA and radically improve education as we retrain and rebuild ourselves into a green nation. For example, how many jobs will it create to super insulate every single dwelling in the nation, and rebuild many to passive solar standards?
By leaving Iraq we will reduce our terrorist threat. Every day we stay compounds the threat.This situation is breeding terrorists. Many Iraqis do not want to live under American occupation. I hear it's not very pleasant over there. Although we have transferred power in name, it is obvious that we still call the shots as long as we have permanent military bases and the controlling interests in the corporations handling the reconstruction.

Instead of creating ill-will, we could build good-will by withdrawing our full presence, but helping fund reconstruction of Iraq by non-American firms, chosen by Iraqis. Remember when Bush said France and Germany couldn't bid on any contracts, and then he went one step further and gave these profitable jobs with no bid to his American buddies? Well this time I think the blackout should be on all American interests. Then we will begin getting safer as our global image changes from greedy imperialists to a caring nation.
The other key step in reducing Islamic hatred of Americans will have to be a radical shift in our Mideast Policy, to be fair and equal to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Acting on the wrong side of justice will cost us the American Dream.

Unjust war = no more safety, no more plenty.

Senators call for a new "Truman Committee" to prevent War Profiteering

Something good in congress! Spread the word.
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (Democrat-IL), and Larry Craig (Republican-ID)introduced a bipartisan resolution on Sept 15 to create a Senate special committee for oversight of contracts awarded to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war on terrorism. Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Mark Dayton (D-MN) are also cosponsors of the resolution.
Often described as the most successful government investigation effort in U.S. history, the Truman Committee investigated billions of dollars in wartime contracts, saved millions, and serves as a valuable model today. Today, as in the World War II years, skyrocketing costs and rapid allocations of funds have outpaced the federal government's ability to oversee and audit the use of taxpayer funds. Congress has allocated more than $166 billion for war and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and costs will continue to rise.
The Durbin-Craig resolution will create a new Truman Committee to examine bidding, contracting, subcontracting and oversight of private contracts, and also to investigate allegations of wasteful and fraudulent practices.
I found out about this from an amusing blogger, firedoglake.
Her post at dailykos is called
War Profiteering and You: A CALL FOR ACTION
here is an excerpt:

We all know that the so-called "reconstruction effort" in Iraq has amounted to little more than a depraved carnival of corporate greed. But just how bad is it? It's bad. Really bad.
So I decided to take a closer look at the Top Ten War Profiteers (as determined by the Center for Corporate Policy) and examine how each has fared in the news of late. This is what I found. (Warning: It's ugly.)

What can you do?
1. Inform yourself about the top ten offenders in Iraq at her article
http://firedoglake.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/3/9342/72417
2.Ask your Senator to join them in co-sponsorship.
3.Write these senators a thank you note.
Their e-mail adresses are a click away at the above link.

Here's my Thank You note. perhaps too brash for the Republican. oh well.

Thank You for calling for a new "Truman Committee" to prevent War Profiteering. I think this is a good idea. I am disgusted at how the current administration has attacked Iraq without just cause, and then moved in with no-bid contracts for all of Bush's crooked cronies. Let's see... American taxpayers pay for the war, but it costs more than we can cough up, so our future generations will be saddled with debt too, meanwhile, Bectel, Halliburton, BearingPoint ,BKSH & Associates,etc. executives get even richer by overcharging for work they never complete.
STOP THEM! Thank You.

Progressive Democrat Summit Inspiring

Our carpool of 6 braved the snow in DC, and returned safely with no ice or snow on the highways. What a fun and exhausting experience to gather with 500 progressives from all over the country. At our next Think Tank on Friday Feb 18, we plan to give a presentation of what we learned at the Summit, and discuss topics that came up there. I also plan to put up a webpage at the blog about the conference.
If you want to hear about what it was like right away, here are comments and ongoing discussions from other attendees at the PDA conference blog.
We heard David Cobb, the Green party's presidential candidate; Tom Hayden was inspirational; Medea Benjamin, a founder of Code Pink brimmed with good energy. Swami Beyondananda put his wisdom to rap music, and the Billionaires for Bush did some fabulous song and dance numbers.

We took notes through panel after panel after panel of intelligent, sensitive, well-informed multi-cultural speakers. Whew!
There wasn't enough smaller break-out meetings by topic, which was a little frustrating for all of us networkers. But we did have regional meetings, so I'll be filling you in on the North Carolina scoop soon. I took a blogging workshop, so I hope that our think tank blog may start reaching more people. My hope is that we can provide a suggested format to encourage other living room think tanks to start popping up.

Swami Beyondananda

Michael Moore & Hack-proof Voting

Our Jan 14 meeting was fun and productive. We began by watching Michael Moore's appearances on TV last week; the Today Show, the Tonight Show, and the People's Choice Awards Show. Fahrenheit 911 won the People's Choice Award for Best Movie of the Year, and it will be entered in the Oscars race. Michael said, "I will take that as a suggestion to make more Fahrenheit 911's." He commented on the Democratic party's choice of undynamic candidates, and feels they need to find someone well-loved by the American people, like Tom Hanks, or Oprah, or at least someone who can emotionally connect to people like Clinton did.

We brainstormed on phrases to use concerning "Vote Verification". I'll link to them later, when ready. These phrases can be used in speech or on printed flyers or stickers to spread around. Essentially a soundbite with a website address, such as whatreallyhappened.com, chuckherrin.com, and/or www.airamericaradio.com. If you haven't seen these sites, take a peek.
Chuck Herrin's site is the best to recommend to Republicans, since he is one, and he is a computer expert who is actively working for a switch to all hand-counted paper ballots, nationwide. That's right--
NO MACHINES!
Apparently that's how Canada does it, and it would be the safest way to limit fraud and tampering. At first, this seemed like a pipe dream to me, but as I learned more, I am coming to think it is an issue which could rise to America's attention with a lot more grassroots publicity.

Here is a Missouri bill calling for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots, submitted last May by Mo. State Representative, Edward W. Spannaus. I don't know if this bill got killed or not, but I repeat this excerpt from his presentation, because it gives me hope to see legislation in favor of of a totally manual method. And he gives such a clear argument, which can be your talking points for why we need this manual system.

"House Bill 1744 would require 100% use of paper ballots, and would prohibit all electronic counting or tabulation of votes. Additionally, every voter would be provided with a receipt—a copy of his or her vote—to be used in the event of a challenge or contest.
I would point out at the outset, that a comprehensive study of lost votes for the past four Presidential elections (1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000) found that paper ballots had the lowest rate of error of any voting system.
This study, known as the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Report(Mar 2001), studied five general types of voting technologies: hand-counted paper ballots, lever machines, punch cards, optically scanned paper ballots, and touch-screen (DRE) machines. The study reported:

"The central finding of this investigation is that manually-counted paper ballots have the lowest average incidence of spoiled, uncounted, and unmarked ballots, followed closely by lever machines and optically scanned ballots. Punchcard methods and systems using direct recording electronic (DRE) devices had significantly higher average rates of spoiled, uncounted, and unmarked ballots than of the other systems."
...
Why Use Only Paper Ballots?
A system of paper ballots only, as envisioned by House Bill 1744, best meets the Constitutional requirements for fair elections, and provides the soundest basis for voter confidence in the electoral process.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declared that the right to vote includes the right of qualified voters within a state not simply to cast a vote, but to have their votes counted properly.

Impediments to vote fraud: Any use of computers opens the door to fraud. The speed and complexity of computers creates an inherently dangerous and fraud-prone situation, because, as we have noted, only a handful of people know how votes are being counted. Citizens can never have full confidence in any such system of vote counting.

By going back to a universal paper ballot, which is hand counted, we are creating additional impediments to fraud and tampering with results. If this requires more people to count the votes than is needed when using computers, all the better. The more people involved, the more obstacles we have created to carrying out vote fraud.

Transparency and voter confidence. The objection has been raised, that a total paper-ballot system would be a slow, inefficient system for counting votes. In our view, this is a great advantage. A slow, ponderous vote-counting system, where citizens can watch their votes being counted with complete transparency, is the best way not only to prevent vote fraud and election-rigging, but to establish public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.

There is no requirement, Constitutional or otherwise, that vote totals must be made available instantaneously for the benefit of the news media or anyone else. There is, however, a Constitutional mandate that votes be counted fairly, and that all votes be treated equally.
A 100% paper-ballot system is the best means to ensure such an outcome."

- Edward W. Spannaus

Reframe Social Security

Does the wording "Ownership Society" feed the conservative frame?

Susan Carver Williams makes a good point in her perspective on the fight to protect Social Security from the Bush administration's sneaky tactics.

"I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live in a Generous and Kind Community that is strengthened by our connections than in an Ownership Society where we fight to protect what’s “ours” and expand what’s “ours” and keep others from having any of it."

I've put her analysis on how Bush & Co are cleverly marketing and framing their attack at my new page , Social Security Discussion Corner.

Please contribute to our conversation there... e-mail me or post a comment on the blog.

Here is a great succinct argument for why NOT to privatize Social Security or medicare. This is directly quoted from the Petition Site. In fact, please sign the petition there. Thanks!

Social Security is not facing an imminent crisis, and is not in danger of running out of money anytime soon. (The Social Security Administration estimates the trust fund will last until 2042; many economists estimate the fund will last much longer.) Also, privatization will cost a lot - and working families will be the ones who pay.

continued at Social Security Discussion Corner

Will lessons from history help us save the planet?

Happy New Year!
This January 1st Op-ed article in NY Times by Jared Diamond, "The Ends of the World as We Know Them" gives a fascinating background on ancient societies which failed or adapted and survived. I always wondered why 90% of the Mayans disappeared around 900AD. [I know... I'm weird, but I have visited there.] He also sheds light on the collapse of the Polynesian society on Easter Island three centuries ago, and the disappearance of the medieval Norse colonies on Greenland.
"When it comes to historical collapses, five groups of interacting factors have been especially important: the damage that people have inflicted on their environment; climate change; enemies; changes in friendly trading partners; and the society's political, economic and social responses to these shifts."
One of the key social responses for failure or success is insulation vs acknowledging the problem and modifying behavior.
Can we apply these lessons to our current situation? The author is hopeful.