Progressive News Digest - June 9, 2008
stri...@comcast.net
PROGRESSIVE NEWS DIGEST
The latest news, commentary & event listings
(from slightly left of center)
updated daily on the web at
http://rationalreview.com/pnd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Published Mondays
Supported by the generous donations of our readership
The web version updates continuously. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/progressive-news
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For more news stories and commentaries, or to donate, visit:
http://rationalreview.com/pnd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume V, Issue #52 Monday, June 9, 2008
Welcome to another edition of Progressive News Digest, still rolling along
and now beginning YEAR FIVE, with rare exception appearing every week
at some point.
This week, we're back to semi-normal, with a Table of Contents and all that.
However, I will not attempt to summarize those contents; I'll let you do that
for yourselves.
Meanwhile, If the impulse strikes you, we could sure use donations, both here
and at the parent-site:
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/38515
We appreciate your support, in any amount … but subscribing contributors really
do it for us. To support RRND/FND (and by extension, PND) with regular
monthly payment of $2.50, $5.00, $10 or $20, point your browser at:
www.rationalreview.com/rrnd-subscribing-contributor-options/ "
* * * * * *
... enjoy and see you next week! Check the site for constant updates
each day:
NEWS
01 - NE: Trial judge bans the word “rape”
02 - CA: Legislators could be hit with pay cut
03 - AZ: Sanctions law ruling will ripple across US
04 - MD: Mongtomery schools cave to pressue with Islam book
05 - Tighter Australia-China ties worry Asian neighbors
06 - Senate investigators criticize two Harvard researchers
07 - Patriot lineman busted, turned into drug warrior
08 - The race for nonfood biofuel
09 - Gore: Congrats, Obama … but I don’t want a job!
10 - OK: Judge blocks Know-Nothing law
11 - Gas-guzzler trucks, SUVs nearing end of the road
12 - SCOTUS limits money-laundering law
13 - Mass transit demand rises, costs soar
14 - MA: Patrick administration sees arts as “vital to economy”
15 - AZ: County’s new policies to help environment
16 - “Survivor” Hatch appeals tax conviction to SCOTUS
17 - Tibet activists pledge worldwide protests during Beijing Olympics
18 - CA: Anti-family measure qualifies for ballot
19 - MA: Taxi drivers push for fare increase
20 - Fred Thompson: VP “not in the cards”
21 - Why Australia is leaving Iraq
22 - MN: Town tells Google Maps to get lost
23 - CA: HS valedictorian to be deported
24 - Australia: Top “official” drug thug faces drug charges
25 - Kennedy’s brain surgery “successful,” doctors say
COMMENTARY
26 - Did road to unity begin in Virginia?
27 - The populist uprising
28 - The antiwar plank
29 - GOP plays “telephone” with the media
30 - Make forced marriage a crime against humanity
31 - Soothing those raw political wounds
32 - Be careful who you help
33 - Democrats, put down your swords
34 - It’s your party now
35 - Turning carbon into gold
36 - Militarizing your cyberspace
37 - Is famine inevitable?
38 - Why assassination talk is taboo
39 - Time for civil, focused debate on issues
40 - Will the real John McCain please stand up?
41 - Clinton’s new plan(?)
42 - No strings attached?
43 - Yard sale for cash-strapped states
44 - How does your city’s carbon footprint stack up?
45 - Indefensible spending
46 - The officers’ war
47 - A wonder cure for “Deficit Attention Disorder!”
48 - An education for peace and understanding
49 - An exit plan for Hillary
50 - Is she or isn’t she conceding?
51 - Interview With Congressman Ron Paul
52 - God’s Bastard Son
53 - Lower the wages for teenagers
54 - The problem with conservatism … is conservatism
55 - The corporate state & the subversion of democracy
NEWS
01 - NE: Trial judge bans the word “rape”
Kansas City Star
“It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her. She was raped. But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word ‘rape’ in front of a jury. The term ’sexual assault’ also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word ‘assailant’ to describe the man who allegedly raped her. The defendant’s presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial trumps Bowen’s right of free speech, said the Lincoln, Neb., judge who issued the order. ‘It shouldn’t be up to a judge to tell me whether or not I was raped,’ Bowen said. ‘I should be able to tell the jury in my own words what happened to me.’ Bowen’s case is part of what some prosecutors and victim advocates see as a national trend in sexual assault cases.” [editor’s note: A trend indeed — Judges have been denying tax rebels, medical marijuana patients and others these rights for years - SAT] (06/08/08)
http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/654147.html
=====
02 - CA: Legislators could be hit with pay cut
“Some California legislators might claim to be victims of pay discrimination if the commission that sets state elected officials’ salaries decides this week to impose its first pay cut. The California Citizens Compensation Commission is scheduled Tuesday to consider a proposal by its chairman to cut elected officials’ salaries by 10 percent to help deal with a $15.2 billion state budget deficit. But a legal opinion the commission requested could limit those affected by the cut to the 80 members of the Assembly and half of the 40 state senators.” (06/08/08)
=====
03 - AZ: Sanctions law ruling will ripple across US
Arizona Republic
“Arizona’s employer-sanctions law was among the first in the nation to go on the books, sending the state into a new world of employee screening, absent workers and anxious waiting for prosecutions. Now, a year after it was signed into law, the measure has survived a challenge in federal court and is the first in the nation to get an airing before a federal appeals court. On Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the case, which is being pressed by business groups, civil-rights groups and Latino organizations. The law allows the state to suspend or revoke the business license of employers found to have knowingly hired illegal workers. The case is being closely watched by lawmakers, attorneys, employers and immigration activists of all stripes. And not just in Arizona.” (06/08/08)
=====
04 - MD: Mongtomery schools cave to pressue with Islam book
The Examiner
“A new report issued by the American Textbook Council says books approved for use in local school districts for teaching middle and high school students about Islam caved in to political correctness and dumbed down the topic at a critical moment in its history. ‘Textbook editors try to avoid any subject that could turn into a political grenade,’ wrote Gilbert Sewall, director of the council, who railed against five popular history texts for ‘adjust[ing] the definition of jihad or sharia or remov[ing] these words from lessons to avoid inconvenient truths.’” (06/08/08)
=====
05 - Tighter Australia-China ties worry Asian neighbors
Christian Science Monitor
“It is a match made in heaven — China’s ravenous appetite for raw materials and the billions of dollars’ worth of minerals lurking beneath the rust-red dirt of Australia’s vast outback. Australians are growing rich, in large part because of the Chinese economic juggernaut, which has sent property prices soaring, propelled the stock exchange to new heights, and plunged unemployment to its lowest level in more than 30 years. But as economic and political ties between Canberra and Beijing strengthen on the back of the mining boom, alarm bells are ringing across other parts of Asia. India and Japan, in particular, feel that the Australians are paying far too much attention to China. Japan is acutely aware that last year it was eclipsed by China as Australia’s top trading partner. And while Australia had strong trading ties with China under former Prime Minister John Howard, ties have ratcheted up under Kevin Rudd, the only Western leader who speaks fluent Mandarin.” (06/06/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0607/p05s01-woap.html
=====
06 - Senate investigators criticize two Harvard researchers
Boston Globe
“A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given congressional investigators. By failing to report income, the psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Biederman, and a colleague in the psychiatry department at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens, may have violated federal and university research rules designed to police potential conflicts of interest, according to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Some of their research is financed by government grants.” (06/08/08)
=====
07 - Patriot lineman busted, turned into drug warrior
Boston Globe
“Starting New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur was arrested in April on a charge of illegal possession of prescription painkillers and then secretly cooperated with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in a sting operation that resulted in the indictment of his alleged drug supplier, according to a lawyer and two people briefed on the investigation. Kaczur — a 28-year-old, 315-pound offensive tackle — wore a hidden recording device during three different drug transactions in May at gas stations in Foxborough and North Attleborough and a supermarket parking lot in Sharon, according to the lawyer, the two people, and federal court documents. At each of the three transactions, Kaczur paid $3,900 in cash to buy 100 OxyContin pills, a potent prescription pain reliever.” [editor’s note: The real “news” about this is that Kaczur’s “drug thug” gig was with PRESCRIPTION drugs … not stopping the “overseas cocaine/heroin runners” regarding which the DEA was allegedly
created! - SAT] (06/04/08)
=====
08 - The race for nonfood biofuel
Christian Science Monitor
“Way back in 2006, when gasoline cost just $2.50 a gallon, President Bush called for home-grown biofuels to replace three-quarters of oil imports from the Persian Gulf — or about 72 billion gallons — by 2025. How to achieve that goal is still a question. Corn-based ethanol production is expected to be 12 billion to 15 billion gallons in coming years. But with gas now at $4 a gallon and critics hammering corn ethanol for helping to pump up global food prices, it is clear that the holy grail of biofuels — cellulosic ethanol — needs to make its entrance soon. Driven by a growing political consensus to shift toward nonfood biofuels, the high price of oil, and gains in technology, a flood of public and private investment has poured into the development of cellulosic ethanol.” (06/05/08)
=====
09 - Gore: Congrats, Obama … but I don’t want a job!
Tennessean
“Al Gore called Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois on Tuesday to congratulate him on earning the Democratic nomination for president. But the former vice president does not want any position in a possible Obama administration, his spokeswoman said Wednesday. Kalee Kreider said in written responses to questions that Gore has not even determined when he will announce his endorsement. Despite the increased prominence Gore has earned through his work on climate change, he has stayed on the sidelines during the presidential race. He did not release any official announcement Tuesday. ‘Vice President Gore has long since ruled out any possibility of serving in an administration,’ Kreider said.” (06/04/08)
=====
10 - OK: Judge blocks Know-Nothing law
Fox News
“A federal judge on Wednesday blocked parts of an Oklahoma law targeting illegal immigration, saying the measures are probably unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of provisions of the law that subject employers to penalties for failing to comply with a federal employee verification system. The decision came on a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Chamber and other business groups, who argued that the electronic verification system is voluntary under federal law and that employers should not be subjected to state penalties. ‘Through harsh civil penalties, the Oklahoma law unfairly shifts the burden of immigration enforcement from government onto the backs of business,’ Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber, said in statement.” (06/04/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,363382,00.html
=====
11 - Gas-guzzler trucks, SUVs nearing end of the road
Arizona Republic
“The auto industry suffered whiplash during May, as sales plunged for big pickup trucks and SUVs as $4-per-gallon gas prompted consumers to ditch their gas guzzlers in favor of more economical passenger cars. The strong shift from trucks to cars reverses the trend of the past decade, and domestic automakers were caught with a huge surplus of unsold trucks. Industry analysts say that with gas prices expected to remain in $4 territory for the foreseeable future, the May truck-sales drop could signal the end of an era. In Detroit, Jim Farley, Ford’s vice president for marketing and communications, said sales figures released Tuesday show that the ground rules have changed for good. ‘May was a watershed month,’ Farley said. ‘We are, as an industry, catching up with the breathtaking choices the consumers are now making.’” (06/04/08)
=====
12 - SCOTUS limits money-laundering law
Los Angeles Times
“Hiding $81,000 in cash under the floorboard of a car and driving toward Mexico is not enough to prove the driver was guilty of money laundering, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. Instead, the court said, prosecutors must also prove the driver was traveling to Mexico for the purpose of hiding the true source of the funds. This was one of a pair of decisions handed down Monday that could make it harder for prosecutors to win convictions for money laundering. This law has been one of the government’s most powerful weapons in the war on drugs. In the second ruling, the court said the law against money laundering applies only to the profits of an illegal operation, not all of the cash it generates.” (06/02/08)
=====
13 - Mass transit demand rises, costs soar
Christian Science Monitor
“Across the US, public-transit officials are scrambling to accommodate a record number of people who are leaving their cars at home and hopping the bus or the train to work. More than 90 percent of public-transit officials report that their ridership is up over the past three years, according to a survey released this week by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). And more than 90 percent credited the sky-high gasoline prices.” [editor’s note: Meanwhile, as ridership increases, the level of subsidy continued to rise as well; taxpayers still pay the lion’s share of every “public transit” system there is! - SAT] (06/04/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0604/p01s09-usgn.html
=====
14 - MA: Patrick administration sees arts as “vital to economy”
Boston Globe
“The Patrick administration today launches an initiative to expand so-called creative industries in the state, appointing a first-in-the-nation ‘creative economy’ director to help expand a diverse sector that ranges from individual artists to cultural institutions to video game makers. The appointment of Jason S. Schupbach of Boston illustrates the growing role creative sectors play in economic policy as states compete for jobs, companies, and skilled workers. Beyond the direct employment provided by museums, art galleries, and design and other creative firms, the vitality of the local arts and cultural scene is increasingly viewed by development specialists as key to attracting knowledge workers expected to drive 21st century economies.” (06/03/08)
=====
15 - AZ: County’s new policies to help environment
Arizona Republic
“Saying they want ‘more green,’ Maricopa County leaders this week will likely pass wide-ranging measures designed to help the region’s environment and save taxpayer money. The Green Government Program unveiled Monday sets dozens of goals and directs county departments to carry out new measures intended to lead to more recycling, better air quality and better decisions about building and land use. The county would, among other things, plant garden roofs on its buildings to help offset the Valley’s heat-island effect and require the use of solar energy or other renewable resources in the design of most new county buildings. County workers would rely more on electronics, less on paper and less on travel.” (06/02/08)
=====
16 - “Survivor” Hatch appeals tax conviction to SCOTUS
Fox News
“Survivor winner Richard Hatch has appealed his tax evasion conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorney said Tuesday. Hatch was convicted two years ago of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million prize he won on the debut season of the hit CBS reality series. The Newport man was sentenced to more than four years in prison. Hatch’s lawyer, Michael Minns, has said his client confronted producers about cheating during taping of the show, and a producer promised his taxes would be paid if he kept quiet and went on to win the competition.” (06/03/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,362503,00.html
=====
17 - Tibet activists pledge worldwide protests during Beijing Olympics
International Herald Tribune
“Pro-Tibetan activists on Tuesday promised worldwide protests during the Beijing Olympics and said they would try to penetrate security to mount demonstrations in Beijing itself. An international network of student activists, Students for a Free Tibet, will hold demonstrations around the world ‘and probably in Beijing’ during the Aug. 8-24 Games to protest China’s security clampdown in Tibet, said group spokeswoman Lhadon Tethong. Tethong also called on the International Olympic Committee to cancel the planned passage of the Olympic flame through Tibet next week and to press China to allow immediate media access to the area.” (06/03/08)
=====
18 - CA: Anti-family measure qualifies for ballot
Los Angeles Times
“Setting the stage for a political showdown, the California secretary of state today said an initiative barring gay marriage had enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot. The proposal would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as a union ‘between a man and a woman’ and undo last month’s historic California Supreme Court ruling, which found that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was unconstitutional. A coalition of religious and conservative activists submitted 1.1 million signatures for the ballot measure.” (06/03/08)
=====
19 - MA: Taxi drivers push for fare increase
Boston Globe
“Inside a dingy cinder-block snack stand at Logan International Airport, taxi drivers scarfed falafel sandwiches, bought lottery tickets, and talked of an uprising. The cost of gas is increasing. The slow economy is scaring away customers. And they cannot make money. Now is the time, they said. The drivers, newly organized by the United Steelworkers union, have asked Boston for the first increase in their per-mile fare in six years — a proposal that would make a city cab ride one of the most expensive in the nation. If approved by the Police Department, which regulates taxi fares, the cost of a 4-mile ride would go from $11.55 to $16.70. The proposal, which the city has agreed to review at a public hearing, would increase the per-mile rate by 50 percent and the starting fare from $2.25 to $2.75.” (06/02/08)
=====
20 - Fred Thompson: VP “not in the cards”
Tennessean
“It may be a fantasy for Tennessee Republicans: a presidential ticket with Fred Thompson as John McCain’s vice presidential running mate. The idea got one of the loudest responses from the crowd today at the Ryman Auditorium during a town hall meeting with McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. Thompson introduced McCain and sat on stage with other dignitaries as McCain fielded questions. A woman in the audience had a suggestion for McCain. How about Thompson as his running mate? ‘I kind of got the impression that if he were the candidate I wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time in Tennessee,’ McCain said, drawing laughter. When asked about the idea after the town hall was over, Thompson said he won’t be a vice presidential contender. ‘That’s not in the cards for me,’ he said.” (06/02/08)
=====
21 - Why Australia is leaving Iraq
Christian Science Monitor
“Australia’s prime minister said Monday that the reasons used to justify joining the war in Iraq turned out to be false. Labor leader Kevin Rudd made the remarks a day after ordering his country’s 550 combat troops to head home after five years in Iraq. As one of the United States’ staunchest allies, Australia was quick to pledge military support for the US-led coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003. But that decision was made by conservative prime minister John Howard, whose 11 years in office came to an end in November’s election. Bringing home Australia’s small but politically significant contingent of combat troops was one of Mr. Rudd’s main election campaign pledges. He dismissed one by one the reasons used by the Howard administration … to topple Saddam Hussein.” (06/03/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0603/p04s01-wome.html
=====
22 - MN: Town tells Google Maps to get lost
CNet News
“A small town in Minnesota has told Google that its Street View feature can hit the road. North Oaks, a private community of 4,500 residents north of St. Paul, isn’t too keen on outsiders traipsing through its privately owned streets — even if is only on the Internet. According to the city’s Web site, the roads are privately owned, and a no-trespassing sign greets potential visitors to the city. So city officials were really unhappy when images of their streets and homes appeared on the Google Maps Street View feature, which presents a view of dozens of United States cities from a driver’s perspective. The North Oaks City Council sent the Internet search giant a letter in January demanding that images be removed or risk being cited for trespassing, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.” (06/02/08)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956753-7.html?tag=nefd.riv
=====
23 - CA: HS valedictorian to be deported
Fox News
“The valedictorian at Fresno’s Bullard High School won’t be attending college in the United States this fall because he’s scheduled to be deported. Arthur Mkoyan’s 4.0 grade-point average qualified him to enter one of the state’s top universities. But the 17-year-old and his mother have been ordered back to Armenia after their last appeal for asylum failed. The family fled from what used to be part of the Soviet Union and has been seeking asylum since 1992. A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they were given an extension until June 20 so Mkoyan could attend his graduation ceremony.” (06/02/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,361861,00.html
=====
24 - Australia: Top “official” drug thug faces drug charges
Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]
“Australian Federal Police have this morning released further details, including charges, relating to the drug arrest of one of the country’s top-ranking organised crime fighters. Mark Standen, 51, an assistant director of investigations at the NSW Crime Commission, was arrested at his Kent Street desk yesterday afternoon in connection with an alleged conspiracy to import 600 kilograms of the precursor drug used to manufacture ‘ice.’” (06/03/08)
=====
25 - Kennedy’s brain surgery “successful,” doctors say
The Hill
“Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) underwent ’successful’ surgery on Monday, taking the first step in treatment for his brain cancer. Neurosurgeons at Duke University operated on the 76-year-old senator for three-and-a-half hours before issuing a statement that said the surgery was a ’success’ and ‘accomplished our goals.’ Kennedy was awake during at least a portion of the operation, which doctors described as a positive sign that neurological damage was unlikely. … Kennedy’s tumor was discovered last month after he was hospitalized for seizures. Doctors diagnosed a malignant glioma in the left parental lobe of his brain, which handles speech and movement.” (06/02/08)
COMMENTARY
26 - Did road to unity begin in Virginia?
The American Prospect
Thomas F. Schaller
“A mixed-raced audience of amped-up supporters braved Northern Virginia’s rush hour traffic and the oppressive humidity of the summer’s first major heat wave yesterday to catch a glimpse of their newly-crowned Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama. With a punctuality that would impress President Bush, the event at Bristol’s Nissan Pavilion started promptly at 6 p.m. This seemed surprising at the time, but may have been because he was eager to be on time to his later personal meeting with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Washington. As Democrats await news from that meeting to leak out, Obama finds himself in a weird electoral limbo in which he has wrapped up the nomination but still awaits the formal end this Saturday of the Clinton campaign, and an eventual endorsement and unity moment with her at some event in the near future. Meanwhile, speculation continues unabated about a possible ‘dream team’ pairing the two senators on the presidential ticket.” [editor’s note: One can o
nly hope Obama does not suffer from such a deathwish - SAT] (06/06/08)
=====
27 - The populist uprising
In These Times
David Sirota
“American history is the history of populist uprisings. From the Revolutionary War to the coalfield wars, from labor organizers to anti-tax crusaders, from the New Deal to the current conservative era, backlashes to the status quo have defined every major political era. These uprisings have given us candidates from Goldwater to Dean, and presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan — and the populist uprising that delivered Barack Obama the Democratic presidential nomination means history could be forged once again. … Just like the late 1970s, America currently faces the telltale signs of all insurrections: an economic emergency, a financial meltdown, an energy crisis and a national security quagmire.” (06/06/08)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3732/the_populist_uprising/
=====
28 - The antiwar plank
The Nation
John Nichols
“Democrats were clearly seen as running on an antiwar platform in 2006, and they won big, grabbing control of both houses of Congress. The lesson should have been clear: when the party defines itself as antiwar, it wins. But after a year and a half of wrangling between Congressional Democrats and the Bush Administration over Iraq, that definition has blurred. … So far, fifty House members, all superdelegates, have signed a letter endorsing the antiwar language. ‘On the issues of Iraq and foreign policy, Democrats can’t be vague or fuzzy,’ argue Representatives Barbara Lee, an Obama backer; Jim McGovern, a Clinton backer; and Sam Farr, uncommitted until after the primaries, in an open letter to delegates to the Democratic National Convention.” [editor’snote: If only the Dems would “grow a pair” and actually live up to their allegedly anti-imperialist creeds! - SAT] (06/05/08)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080623/nichols
=====
29 - GOP plays “telephone” with the media
Fox News
Susan Estrich
“Obama denies any video showing Michelle in ‘whitey’ rant … So reads the headline on the DrudgeReport. Check it out. For weeks I’ve been hearing that Republicans had gotten their hands on a video in which Sen. Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, goes on a tirade against ‘whitey.’ According to various versions of the story, it was a video from Trinity Church, undated, that the supersleuths of the Republican negative research team had been able to uncover, much to the frustration of their less effective counterparts in the Clinton campaign. But rather than let it out at a time when it could cost Obama the nomination, and have their man end up facing Hillary, they were holding on to it to use in the general election.” (06/07/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364263,00.html
=====
30 - Make forced marriage a crime against humanity
Christian Science Monitor
Donald Steinberg
“Nearly a decade after Angola emerged from a civil war that killed half a million people, one image from my work there continues to haunt me: that of young women huddled in the shadows in rebel demobilization camps. They all told the same story. They believed in the rebel movement, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and its leader, Jonas Savimbi, and ran off to join the rebels. While there, they fell in love with a UNITA freedom fighter, got married, and had a child. Now, they had no interest in returning to their villages and families. But it didn’t take much investigation to find out that these women had been kidnapped from their villages, forced into sex slavery, and were too ashamed to return to their villages. Despite the best efforts of international aid agencies to assist them, it was clear that most of their lives had been permanently shattered.” [editor’s note: Slavery by any other name … - SAT] (06/09/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0609/p09s02-coop.html
=====
31 - Soothing those raw political wounds
Boston Globe
Joan Vennochi
“It’s healing time for Massachusetts Democrats. At least, that’s the hope. Efforts are officially underway to get Hillary Clinton’s disappointed supporters behind Barack Obama. The day after Obama became the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, dined with Clinton fund-raisers at Radius, a chic Boston restaurant. The dinner guests included some key Clinton female supporters, such as Elaine Schuster, Deborah Goldberg, and Shanti Fry. ‘I think they appreciated the fact that Howard took time to lay out the plan for the fall,’ said Steve Grossman, a Clinton backer and former DNC chairman. But Grossman warned that ‘one meeting isn’t necessarily going to do the job,’ particularly for those Clinton supporters who told Dean over dinner that their candidate earned the right to the second spot on the ticket.” (06/08/08)
=====
32 - Be careful who you help
No Force, No Fraud
Bob Smith
“So … a man goes to the grocery store, minding his own business, and is approached by a woman asking if he could give her a ride home. She asks if he ‘does a service,’ and he says he doesn’t. She persists. He agrees to give her a ride if she’s still there when he’s ready to leave after shopping. She was waiting, so he gave her a ride as he promised. She offered to give him some money, and tried to get him to name a price. He said ‘Anything you give me.’ Is there anything about that story to indicate that the 78-year-old man wanted to haul that woman for pay? He tried to avoid it, and then gave in to her insistence. Yet, the undercover operative charged the man for running an illegal taxi service. His vehicle was impounded and fines of $2,000 were levied on him.” (06/06/08)
=====
33 - Democrats, put down your swords
Salon
Joe Conason
“For Democrats of all persuasions, the conclusion of the primaries should encourage reflection rather than recrimination. Now is the time to listen to the calm counsel that cannot be heard amid the roar of combat, and to think. Hillary Clinton needs to think about how best to preserve the gains of her campaign without spoiling it all. Barack Obama must consider how best to unite his party while making choices, including a running mate, true to his own instincts and style. Meanwhile their supporters can take deep breaths and try to imagine how they will feel on Nov. 5 if John McCain has won the presidency.” (06/06/08)
=====
34 - It’s your party now
Slate
John Dickerson
“So what will Obamaism (or is it Obamology?) look like now that the Democratic Party is his to shape? There are a few specific, if not overarching, data points. As an antidote to the secrecy of Clinton’s 1994 health care plan, Obama has promised his health care negotiations will be on C-SPAN for all to behold. When Hillary Clinton offered a gas-tax holiday, Obama argued against it, framing the plan as vintage Clintonism — a small meaningless sop confected only for political advantage. He said that if elected, it was just this kind of nonsense he’d avoid. These are only hints, though. The larger promise of Obama’s truth-telling has still not arrived. In Troy, Mich., yesterday the ‘truth’ he offered about high gas prices was not that people would have to drive less, or carpool, or sell their SUVs, or maybe even accept a higher gas tax. He told the audience that energy conservation would come about through government spending, which would in turn bring Michigan new jobs. That’s offeri
ng people candy, not spinach.” (06/03/08)
http://www.slate.com/id/2192825/
=====
35 - Turning carbon into gold
Mother Jones
Josh Harkinson
“In 2007, ecoconscious consumers and corporations spent $330 million on offsets, paying to balance the greenhouse gas emissions of everything from SUVs to oil refineries by eliminating an equal amount of emissions elsewhere. Now the offset sellers and their backers have their eyes on a bigger prize: The enormous offset market that would be created if the federal government were to require companies to reduce their carbon footprints. The offset lobby has set its sights on Capitol Hill, where Congress has been considering competing carbon-reduction plans. The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the leading bill up for debate this summer, would make companies reduce their CO2 emissions a full 70 percent by 2050, but would allow them to use carbon offsets to achieve up to 30 percent of their reductions; other climate bills would allow for a much larger portion. But even under Lieberman-Warner, the federally regulated offset market would be more than 40 times larger than the current
consumer market.” (06/08)
=====
36 - Militarizing your cyberspace
LewRockwell.Com
Tom Engelhardt and William Astore
“Be depressed. Be very depressed. You thought that cyberspace — a term conjured up long ago by that neuromancer, sci-fi author William Gibson — was the last frontier of freedom. Well, think again. If the U.S. Air Force has anything to say about it, cyber-freedom will, in the not so distant future, be just another word for domination. Air Force officials, despite a year-long air surge in Iraq, undoubtedly worry that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s ‘next wars’ (two, three, many Afghanistans) won’t have much room for air glory. Recently, looking for new realms to bomb, it launched itself into cyberspace.” (06/06/08)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt339.html
=====
37 - Is famine inevitable?
AlterNet
Scott Thill
“Much of our current recessionary intrigue has been aided and abetted by market speculation, from the oil and food sector all the way to the White House itself. For the last seven years, the Bush administration has placed climate crisis on the back burner in existential pursuit of resource wars and an ‘American way of life’ that has turned from a dream of Hummers, housing and bling into a nightmare of price hikes, foreclosures and layoffs. Mission accomplished. But someone will have to pick up the pieces, which are going viral fast. In that chaos, food has stopped being our other energy problem and become a chief terror of the future.” (06/06/08)
http://www.alternet.org/environment/87071/
=====
38 - Why assassination talk is taboo
Boston Globe
Priscilla Johnson McMillan
“Shock ran through many of us when Hillary Clinton raised the specter of Robert Kennedy’s assassination 40 years ago this week to justify her decision to stay in the presidential race. Although Clinton regarded her comments as innocent, they were disturbing because fear for the safety of Barack Obama has been a disquieting undercurrent throughout the primary season. Clinton’s remarks only served as an incitement. While writing a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, I learned that there is a web of associations in the mind and emotions of the assassin that leads him toward his victim. Almost anything can contribute.” [editor’s note: The likelihood that Obama gets offed before Election Day rises each week; the odds skyrocket if he picks Hillary as his Veep; whether or not her words were a veiled warning, there is likely a line of damn fools (a la Oswald?) just itching to do the job! - SAT] (06/04/08)
=====
39 - Time for civil, focused debate on issues
Tennessean
staff
“Now that Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have locked up enough delegates to get their parties’ nominations at conventions this summer, the focus on the campaign should become what those two candidates say to the American people, and they need to address issues that matter most to families who are struggling in many ways. The nation is fortunate that neither of the two candidates seems to exhibit the demeanor that will base a campaign on personal attacks against his opponent. The nation is unfortunate that there are groups and some political party operatives who are only too happy to dive into the gutter of politics to do dirty work they think will help their candidate. Most voters are far less interested in personal putdowns and far more interested in issues that affect their daily lives.” [editor’s note: If the only folks you want to hear from are these two … don’t hold your breath! (However, it must be noted, the Tennessean does end up asking most of the right q
uestions here — worth the read! - SAT] (06/04/08)
=====
40 - Will the real John McCain please stand up?
The Nation
Robert Scheer
“Will the real John McCain stand up? Actually, I don’t expect him to, now that he is the Republican presidential candidate, pandering to the irrationalities that drive his party. Nor is it likely that the fawning mass media will pressure him to the point of clarity. But I remain genuinely confused as to what makes him tick. McCain is the most confounding of candidates, veering as he does from the stance of provincial reaction to sophisticated enlightenment within an almost instantaneous time frame. He did it last week, when he blasted Barack Obama for being soft in appraising America’s adversaries while in the same moment, calling for sensible rapprochement with Vladimir Putin’s Russia on nuclear arms control. While such unpredictability can be appealing in a senator, it is unnerving in a possible President.” (06/04/08)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080616/scheer
=====
41 - Clinton’s new plan(?)
Fox News
Susan Estrich
“Say it ain’t so Joe. … I mean, Hillary. I don’t believe it. But my friends in Obama-land, the place where all good Democrats are, or are heading to, are worried. The concern is that Hillary could take a page from the book of one Joe Lieberman, once and former good Democrat, and decide that having lost out on his party’s nomination to someone he couldn’t see winning a general election, the better option (for him) was to run himself in the fall. Which he did. And won. Beating the liberal Democrat who had beaten him in the primary. Of course, in Lieberman’s case, it was his senate seat, which had been his for some time, in a state where he’d been winning for some time, in a contest where the fate of the Supreme Court, the federal courts, the environment, the right to choose, and a few other things like that didn’t hang in the balance.” [editor’s note: This one sounds bizarre even for HRC … but stranger things have happened! But would,’t it mean that she and Nader might offset the “Ba
rr factor” … and ended up electing Old John, after all? - SAT] (06/04/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,363369,00.html
=====
42 - No strings attached?
In These Times
Jeremy Bigwood
“Domestic propaganda campaigns like the ‘Pentagon Pundits’ fiasco have been exposed and decried. Mainstream media outlets hired high-ranking military officers to provide ‘analysis’ about the war in Iraq. Turns out they had ties to military contractors with a vested interest in continuing the war. Below the radar, another journalism scandal is brewing: the U.S. government is secretly funding foreign news outlets and journalists. Government bodies — including the State Department, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) — support ‘media development’ in more than 70 countries. In These Times has found that these programs include funding hundreds of foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, policy-makers, journalist associations, media outlets, training institutes and academic journalism faculties. Grant
sizes can range from a few thousand to millions of dollars.” (06/04/08)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3697/no_strings_attached/
=====
43 - Yard sale for cash-strapped states
Christian Science Monitor
William F. Shughart II
“States have a big problem. Years of out-of-control spending along with today’s economic downturn means they’re facing up to $40 billion in red ink. Politicians, of course, are ready with their usual ’solutions.’ But maybe they should consider a yard sale, instead. Yard sales help homeowners dispose of unnecessary items and quickly raise cash in a pinch. Likewise, states have a great opportunity to sell off surplus assets to balance budgets without painful taxes, fees, and cuts. Many states are sitting on valuable surplus real estate that could be sold to replenish their coffers. No authoritative list of such properties is available. But selling surplus property … would give states an immediate cash infusion while they ride out the economic slowdown. It would also relieve them of long-term maintenance obligations.” [editor’s note: Congrats to Bill Shughart (a senior fellow at The Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. and professor of economics at the University of Mississippi) f
or getting this one printed! Now if we could just get the Feds to take the same track? - SAT] (06/05/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0605/p09s01-coop.html
=====
44 - How does your city’s carbon footprint stack up?
AlterNet
Ron Scherer
“With its balmy climate and residents who would rather go to the beach than drive on an interstate, Honolulu has the smallest metropolitan carbon footprint in the United States. By way of contrast, mix an icy Kentucky winter with coal-fired power plants and residents who often hit the highways, and you end up with the metro area of Lexington-Fayette, Ky., rated as having the largest carbon footprint in the nation. These two extremes are part of a report issued Thursday by the Brookings Institution in Washington, which looks at the per capita carbon footprint of the 100 largest metro areas in the US, based on residential energy use and highway transportation.” (06/02/08)
http://www.alternet.org/environment/86983/
=====
45 - Indefensible spending
Los Angeles Times
Robert Scheer
“What should be the most important issue in this election is one that is rarely, if ever, addressed: Why is U.S. military spending at the highest point, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than at any time since the end of World War II? Why, without a sophisticated military opponent in sight, is the United States spending trillions of dollars on the development of high-tech weapons systems that lost their purpose with the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago? You wouldn’t know it from the most-exhausting-ever presidential primary campaigns, but the 2009 defense budget commits the United States to spending more (again, in real dollars) to defeat a ragtag band of terrorists than it spent at the height of the Cold War fighting the Soviet superpower and what we alleged were its surrogates in the Korean and Vietnam wars. The Pentagon’s budget for fiscal year 2008 set a post-World War II record at $625 billion, and that does not include more than $100 billion in other federal budget e
xpenditures for homeland security, nuclear weapons and so-called black budget — or covert — operations.” (06/01/08)
=====
46 - The officers’ war
The American Prospect
Tara McKelvey
“For a junior Army officer named Ehren Watada, the road to Damascus was a two-lane street called Firing Center Road, which cuts through cow pastures in Yakima County, Washington. The air is bone dry, heavy with the smell of sagebrush, and the climate is similar to parts of Iraq. In the fall of 2005, Watada spent 30 days here, training on the Army’s 306-acre stretch of desert. In his free time, he sat in the back of a Stryker vehicle and paged through books borrowed from the library in Fort Lewis, Washington. Watada was hardly an ambitious learner when he was in college, but during officer training his commander taught him that ‘you should know everything there is to know about your mission, not just where you’re shooting the missiles but why you’re shooting the missiles.’ And so, knowing he was bound for Iraq or Afghanistan, Watada began to read voraciously.” (06/03/08)
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_officers_war
=====
47 - A wonder cure for “Deficit Attention Disorder!”
Christian Science Monitor
Mark Lange
“Have you ever wondered how the federal government can bail out banks and mortgage-holders, cut your taxes, try to protect Social Security, expand your Medicare benefits, and send you a stimulus check — all at the same time? These may be symptoms of an embarrassing condition afflicting political parties, banks, and households across America: Deficit Attention Disorder (DAD). … Fortunately, there’s a new way to get DAD under control — without any of the cosmetic remedies prescribed by spin doctors. By combining an ancient Zen secret with a cure-all from your grandmother, our researchers are proud to introduce: Restraint[TM]. Applied early and often, Restraint[TM] enters the body politic and goes to work fast. It restores reason, calms appetites, and builds a healthy resistance to billionaire tax breaks and deficit spending — to help future generations breathe easier.” (06/04/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0604/p09s01-coop.html
=====
48 - An education for peace and understanding
Boston Globe
H.D.S. Greenway
“When it was becoming clear that the tide of World War II was turning, after Midway, after Stalingrad, when Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps was on the run, an unknown, first-term congressman introduced a resolution that would help shape the post-war world. The freshman congressman was J. William Fulbright [D-AR]. His resolution was only one sentence, as ‘plain as an old hat,’ said Life magazine at the time: ‘Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring) that the Congress hereby expresses itself as favoring the creation of appropriate international machinery with power adequate to establish and to maintain a just and lasting peace among the nations of the world, and as favoring participation by the United States therein.’” (06/03/08)
=====
49 - An exit plan for Hillary
The Nation
Katrina vanden Heuvel
“A week ago I expressed my hope that Senator Hillary Clinton would exit this historic race, gracefully, with dignity, after the last primaries today. A smart op-ed by Anna Holmes in the New York Times this past Sunday suggests one way Clinton might manage to do just that … especially for a future generation of women who could be energized and moved by her campaign, rather than deflated by it. Holmes argues, ‘Of course there’s been sexism throughout this campaign. … But at this point, keeping track of every tone-deaf criticism matters less than delivering an active, impassioned response. Senator Clinton is the one woman in America right now who has the perspective, and the responsibility, to give that response.’” (06/03/08)
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/326069
=====
50 - Is she or isn’t she conceding?
Fox News
Ellen Ratner
“What a difference a day makes… or not? First came word this morning from the Associate Press (at 11:03 a.m. ET) that ‘Clinton will concede the delegate race to Obama.’ Then, at 11:19 came word from Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe that the candidate is ‘absolutely not’ conceding the campaign, saying the AP report was incorrect. I saw Terry McAuliffe yesterday and talked with him (Monday at 10am )and there was no indication that there was going to be any kind of a ‘concession’ on Tuesday night. Maybe the party regulars like Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid leaned on the Clinton campaign hard in the last 24 hours on the delegate front because otherwise where would a story saying Sen. Clinton is going to drop out come from?” [editor’s note: Yes, I know that sometime after this was written, Hillary apparently finally DID admit “defeat” … it’s still a good read - SAT] (06/03/08)
=====
51 - Interview With Congressman Ron Paul
Truthout
William Rivers Pitt
“Despite what the mainstream news media choose to report, Senator John McCain of Arizona is not the last remaining Republican candidate for president today. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas never abandoned his run for the GOP nomination, and he fully intends to present himself before the Republican National Convention in September as a true conservative alternative to McCain’s status-quo candidacy. … In sum and substance, Representative Paul is a breed apart within the confines of the Republican Party. One may disagree with some of the positions he takes or some of the votes he has cast, but he is far removed from the calcified evangelical hypocrisy that has come to define the modern GOP. His is a mind at work, and those who follow him may yet prevail in rescuing the Republican Party from the stagnated failures of the last three decades.” [Flash video] (05/29/08)
http://www.truthout.org/article/interview-with-congressman-ron-paul
=====
52 - God’s Bastard Son
Strike the Root
B.R. Merrick
“There’s a reason this is called the Golden Rule. It is pure gold. It is the only way to live one’s life. It is the one rule politically-motivated Christians and right-winged religious organizations magically forget, when in the same breath they condemn government spending, yet demand that the government pass laws in their favor.” (06/02/08)
http://www.strike-the-root.com/81/merrick/merrick8.html
=====
53 - Lower the wages for teenagers
Boston Globe
Jon B. Hurst
“Over the next month or so, many teenagers across the country will begin the process of looking for a summer job. Specialists predict that kids hoping to find a paying job this summer are facing long odds. In Massachusetts, the job prospects for teens are going to be even tougher because the Commonwealth’s wage laws are pricing teens out of the job market. Unfortunately for teens, the state’s minimum wage law effectively discourages employers from hiring teenagers by mandating that the even the youngest members of the workforce be paid the full wage — currently $8 per hour. Add to that, Massachusetts is one of only two states in the nation that still has on the books a requirement that most employees working in the retail industry be paid time-and-a-half on Sundays. The combined impact of these two laws means that a local grocer is paying her 14-year-old employee $12 an hour to bag groceries or stock inventory on a Sunday.” [editor’s note: Since “Jon B. Hurst is president of the Re
tailers Association of Massachusetts,” it’s hilarious (or just tragic?) that he has so little clue about how destructive minimum-wage laws are! - SAT] (06/02/08)
=====
54 - The problem with conservatism … is conservatism
The American Prospect
Greg Anrig
“George Packer’s New Yorker piece, ‘The Fall of Conservatism,’ and the reactions to it among leading thinkers on the right leave little doubt that the patient under scrutiny is indeed gravely ill. But the wide assortment of sometimes contradictory diagnoses and cures suggested by various despondent conservatives in Packer’s article and elsewhere all seem to miss the central problem: The main idea that propelled the conservative movement’s political success — that replacing the government with free-market forces would make everyone better off — simply hasn’t worked in practice. Since the Reagan administration, we have seen time and again that curtailing the government’s role to unleash market forces doesn’t solve much of anything and in some cases makes things worse.” [editor’s note: Too bad this dude has no idea of the difference between the current concept of “conservative” and the old-school Taftian free-marketeers - SAT] (06/02/08)
=====
55 - The corporate state & the subversion of democracy
TruthDig
Chris Hedges
“I used to live in a country called America. It was not a perfect country, God knows, especially if you were African-American or Native American or of Japanese descent in World War II or poor or gay or a woman or an immigrant, but it was a country I loved and honored. This country gave me hope that it could be better. It paid its workers wages that were envied around the world. It made sure these workers, thanks to labor unions and champions of the working class in the Democratic Party and the press, had health benefits and pensions. It offered good public education. It honored basic democratic values and held in regard the rule of law, including international law, and respect for human rights.” [editor’s note: Aside from the mis-labeling of “basic democratic values” … this is pretty accurate - SAT] (06/02/08)
Peace, Love and Liberty
Steve Trinward, Editor