Impeach Bush & Blair 1-15-2006

      15, January 2006             Impeach Bush & Blair

I am appalled that the British Courts have charged two courageous men, David Kreogh and Leo O’Conner of violating the archaic British Official Secrets Act – an act used to suppress the dark deeds of the British Government. It is encouraging to know that there are some people who still follow the dictates of their conscience and refuse to be cowered by the British Establishment. It is not surprising that the Blair government is attempting to suppress public knowledge of the meeting of Prime Minister Blair and his US master, President Bush, in April 2004, in which the gun toting Texan planned to bomb Al Jazeera, in Qatar.

It is encouraging that more senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic are demanding accountability from the Blair and Bush governments. General Sir Michael Rose, a former commander of the United Nations troops in Bosnia called for the impeachment of Prime Minister Blair for taking the country to war on false pretenses.  The general’s remarks were unusually harsh for a commander of such senior rank – “no one can undo the decision to go to war but impeachment of Blair is now I believe something that must happen if we are to rekindle interest in the democratic process”. One can make a similar case for the impeachment of George Bush. 

Indian Farmers 1-12-2006

12, January 2006 Indian Farmers

It is shameful that the current plight of Indian farmers have been largely ignored by the Indian government. Saddled by crippling debt, thousands of Indian farmers have been driven to mass suicides leaving in their wake grieving widows and children. A compendium of events has resulted in the current situation. The former green revolution prompted forests to be cleared, soil fertility compromised by overuse of chemical fertilizers, and plummeting water tables triggered by injudicious use of water. The government is largely to blame for aggressively promoting unsustainable farming systems which has precipitated the current crisis. Sadly, the failed strategies tried in Europe and the US and more recently in Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu, are now being promoted on the hapless Indian farmers. 

Offering the farmers additional credit drives them to deeper debt. For example, 1,200 farmers in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have committed suicide following the prime minister's Rs 3,750-crore relief package announced on July 1, 2006. The farm earnings over the years has declined markedly for poor farmers and is now comparable to that of a day laborer. Commodity prices fluctuate widely and one bad year can drive poor farmers to the clutches of usurious money-lenders from whom they can rarely escape. Average farm income ranges from a high of Rs 5,500 per month in Punjab and Kerala to a low of R1,630 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa.  What is sorely needed is a government farm subsidy to ensure a minimum subsistence allowance for its beleaguered farmers. 

Mine safety 1-12-2006

12, January 2006                   Mine safety 

It is tragic that the fatalities that occurred at Sago Mines could have been averted if strict safety standards had been enforced. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, coal companies gave a staggering $9 million to mostly republican candidates. $15 million was cut from mine safety and corporate interest leaders were placed in key positions in the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

In 2002, Bush named former Massey Energy official Stanley Suboleski to the MSHA review commission that decides all legal matters under the Federal Mine Act. Massey Energy is one of the largest coal companies in the U.S and has been cited for numerous violations. The current head of MSHA, Richard Stickler, was appointed by Bush last September. Stickler is a former manager of Beth Energy mines.

Sago mine was forced to suspend operations 16 times in 2005 after failing to comply with safety rules. The fines that the company paid were extremely low, from $60 to $250 dollars.

Government documents also show a high rate of accidents at Sago. 42 workers and contractors have been injured in accidents since 2000 and the average number of working days lost because of accidents in the past five years was nearly double the national average for underground coal mines.

Once again, the Legislative Branch failed to exercise their oversight duties and have capitulated to the White House who compromise safety and health concerns to reward their corporate benefactors.

Ariel Sharon 1-11-2006

11, January 2006 Ariel Sharon  

At a time when Sharon is being lionized as a man of peace, it is important to inject a healthy dose of realism and history to dispel this myth. As early as 1953, Sharon began his ruthless crusade against the Palestinians in the village of Qibya in 1953 by directing his men to destroy homes, with their occupants trapped inside – men, women and children. In 1982 Sharon’s army invaded Lebanon, and laid siege to Beirut, cutting off water, electricity and food supplies and subjecting the city's residents to weeks of indiscriminate bombardment by land, sea and air. His army then facilitated the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

It is ludicrous to portray Sharon as a man of peace because of his unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. This was merely a political ploy to divert attention from Israel’s increased land theft in the West Bank.

Palestinians continue to be driven from their homes and their land repossessed. The fragmented, disconnected territory is all that is left for the Palestinians whose movements are strictly controlled by Israeli checkpoints. The land theft is a blatant violation of the US peace process and international law. In a staggering public statement, the highly respected apolitical human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, urged the US government to reduce aid to Israel because much of the funds are being used to construct the separation wall, illegal settlements and gross human rights violations. Such is the legacy of Ariel Sharon. 

McCain’s amendment 1-6-2006

6, January 2006                     McCain’s amendment

No sooner had the ink run dry on McCain’s amendment to the defense appropriations bill, prohibiting U.S. personnel from subjecting prisoners anywhere in the world to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, (passed in the Senate 90 to 9). Bush sought to tip toe around the bill to allow the despicable practice of torture to continue. His signing statement contained legal gobbledygook crafted by his pro-torture advisors to finesse McCain’s amendment, the president agreed to abide by the law "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president to supervise the unitary executive branch and as commander in chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective … of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks.

“Translation, whenever the president asserts that he is acting in the interests of national security he can thumb his nose at the law and do as he pleases. Once again, Bush is attempting to prop up the powers of the executive branch by using the fear factor, a strategy which is continuing fodder for late night comedians. Such is the fading light of his failed presidency.

Jack Abramoff 1-5-2006

5, January 2006                                 Jack Abramoff 

Jack Abramoff's truly repugnant actions are only a tip of the iceberg into the murky waters of Washington’s lobbyists. Our cherished democracy is under constant assault and is being rapidly transformed into an oligarchy where the interests of corporations supersede the interests of the American people. The People’s House has been transformed into a rabid group of politicians determined to maintain their war chest of money to ensure their re-elections and grant legislative favors to their corporate donors.

Consider some of the more egregious actions of Abramoff.

In 1995, established a think–tank, the International Freedom Foundation, to  improve white South African apartheid government’s image, while demonizing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress.

In the mid 1990’s was on the payroll of sweat shop owners in the US territory of Saipan to gut US labor laws reducing workers to indentured servants and forced abortions. As many as 60 Congressmen accompanied Abramoff on vacation junkets to Saipan, Scotland, Paris and Moscow.

Robbed millions of dollars from Indian reservations as consultation fees claiming his high level contacts with the Department of the Interior would be critical to their interests.

Shipped arms to extremist Jewish settlers in Israel.

If the cancer of corruption in Washington is to be halted and the American people are to regain their voice in public affairs, all lobbying activities must be outlawed. I urge citizens to raise your voices. Do not remain silent.  Our democracy is at stake.  

NSA spying 1-3-2006

3, January 2006                                 NSA spying

A former NSA intelligence agent, Russell Tice has now stepped out of the shadows and exposed the illegal activity conducted by his former employer. Tice stated, “The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state”. It is shameful that the New York Times was cowered by the Bush administration and delayed publication of the NSA spying scandal for a year so the fallout would not adversely the outcome of the presidential election.

Since the story broke, calls for Congressional hearings and the possible impeachment of the president have intensified. It is the height of hypocrisy for the Bush administration to express outrage over the “newspaper leak” while stonewalling the investigation into the exposure of Valerie Plame by the White House cabal. According to the Times, Attorney General John Ashcroft's top deputy, James Comey, refused to sign on to the continuation of the secret program in 2004 amid concerns about its legality and oversight. So, who was the target of this illegal snooping? Riding on the coattails of the F.B.I’s joint Terrorism Task Force, military intelligence and local police departments, the NSA squandered our tax dollars monitoring peaceful groups including Greenpeace, PETA (the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the Catholic Worker antiwar groups, and even cyclists in New York City. I urge readers to contact their elected officials and demand accountability from the White House

Corporate Crime 1-2-2006

2, January 2006                                 Corporate Crime 

White Collar criminals guilty of securities and accounting fraud are getting sweetheart deals from the Justice Department and escaping public exposure for their misdeeds. Under a policy implemented by the Justice Department in 2003, a large number of major corporations who have committed serious crimes have not been prosecuted or convicted. The watch-dog group, Corporate Crime Reporter, has named 34 major corporations that have been granted favorable settlements. Prosecutors forego criminal prosecutions in exchange for cooperation against executives, implementation of corporate monitors and fines. The report concludes that no major corporation guilty of accounting or securities fraud has been convicted since the Arthur Andersen conviction in June 2002. Instead, corporations are charged with a felony and are granted deferred prosecution agreements. These are agreements that were intended for juvenile delinquents, to clear the courts of minor issues.

A small sample of white collar corporate crimes: KPMG guilty of tax shelter fraud of $2.5 billion; Monsanto guilty bribing officials of the Indonesian Government to circumvent an environmental impact report;15 executives of HealthSouth escaped prosecution and instead were placed under ‘house detention’; Con Ed escaped prosecution for serious environmental infractions; Bristol-Myers Squibb guilty of major accounting fraud and Sears guilty selling defective tires, both escaped prosecution. Contrast these soft punishments with the harsh sentences of those guilty of street crimes speaks volumes of the prevailing dual justice system that exists in our society