30, March 2007 Aid to Isreal
According to Thomas Stauffer (see full report by staff writer David Francis of the Christian Science Monitor), a consulting economist in Washington, Israel has drained a staggering $1.6 trillion from the US Treasury since 1973. This nets out to be $5,700 per person based on the current U.S. population (or more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War). Israeli officials are now asking for more money. At a White House meeting last month, $4 billion in additional military aid and $8 billion in loan guarantees is being demanded to prop up the recession-bound economy. Based on the history of past loan guarantees, there is little likely hood, that Israel will ever pay back the loan, saddling US taxpayers with both principal and interest payments.
U.S. aid money has always been paid to Israel without pre-conditions. Thus, it is very likely that this aid money and loan will be used to dispossess the Palestinians of more of their land to build ‘for Jews’ only illegal settlements. This comes at a time when more than 82% of the Palestinians are suffering from acute malnutrition resulting from the crippling economic sanctions and theft of Palestinian revenue by Israel. I urge readers to pierce the blanket of silence and demand an immediate halt to unconditional economic and military aid to Israel.
25, March 2007 City of Palo Alto overstaffed?
Response to Diana Diamond’s Article, March 21, 2007
Diana Diamond (“Guaranteed work for life for Palo Alto city employees”, Wednesday March 21) deserves our support. Many excellent articles have appeared in the Weekly addressing concerns over the perennial infrastructure problems largely ignored by members of our city council and city staff. The comparative analysis by city included in Diamond’ article, offers a disturbing picture. Palo Alto appears to be overstaffed compared to other cities with comparable populations and services. Cities should follow the lead of private industries by trimming back their workforces when budgets are tight. No city has a social obligation to maintain large number of employees when operating at record deficits. No doubt the presence of large number of ‘purpose shirt union employees’ had the desired effect of discouraging city council members from making the hard choices of outsourcing work to save money which is desperately needed for upgrading our crumbling roads. Unless the city staff makes tough choices, unfunded liabilities will cripple us financially.
25, March 2007 Human Trafficking Needs to End
India has now assumed the dubious distinction of becoming a world leader in human trafficking (I-W, June 8). According to a recent article in the New York Times, the situation in India for poor young girls is dire. The story chronicles the horrors endured by one of its victims, Meena Khatun, who was kidnapped by a trafficker in north India when she was only 11 years old. Tragically, Meena had become another statistic in the 10 million children around the world forced into prostitution.
In addition to forcing these girls to endure unspeakable horrors to serve as 'cash cows' to their owners, these girls are also 'encouraged' to become pregnant to provide a continuous source of human slaves - prostitutes and cheap laborers. When Meena became pregnant, her two children, Naina and son Vivek, were snatched away. In desperation, Meena escaped and sought help from the local police who callously turned her away, exhibiting a common attitude of Indian law enforcement agencies.
Fearing for her life, Meena was unable to return to the brothel and was forced to leave her two children behind. When Naina turned 12, the brothel owners decided to sell her. Her brother, Vivek, was forced to work in the brothel's laundry. Eventually their sad plight came to the attention of a wonderful, caring agency, which specializes in anti-trafficking, Apne Aap. It is run by a former journalist, Ruchira Gupta. Gupta approached the local police and applied relentless pressure to seek the release of Naina who is recovering in a hospital from savage beatings inflicted by her captors.
The owners have not been arrested but are threatening to kill Meena, her children and her rescuers as they are material witnesses in a criminal case against them. I would encourage NRIs and others, who have contacts in India to urge religious and social organizations to crusade against the growing exploitation of God's ignored and forgotten children.
16, March 2007 Guest Worker Programs
President Bush made several stump speeches during his trip to Central and South America, offering ‘cheap labor’ to corporate America. Largely ignored by the US mainstream media, is the dark side of this much touted program which often results in gross exploitation of these workers.
For example, hundreds of guest workers were recruited from India after paying from $15,000 to $20,000 to obtain H2 visas. Many took loans at exorbitant high interest rates and others spent their entire life savings to get these visas with promises of lucrative jobs, green cards and permanent residency in the US. They were told they would be housed in comfortable hotels and paid a handsome salary. On arrival, they had their passports and visas seized and were told they could not seek employment elsewhere. The ‘hotels’ turned out to be large containers housing 24 workers who had to share two bathrooms. A strict ban on outside visitors was enforced. 288 workers were employed by Signal International at their shipyard in Pascagoula Mississippi and about 200 in Texas living under the same conditions. They were paid sub-standard wages contrary to what they had been promised and charged exorbitant rents for their sub-standard housing. Driven by utter despair, the workers decided to go public to protest their appalling working and living conditions under threats of job terminations. Mindful, of the adverse publicity, Signal told seven of the workers that their jobs had been terminated and they would be sent back to India. On hearing the news, one of the workers, Sabu Lal, became so despondent that he tried committing suicide by slashing his wrists.
Saket Soni, spokesman for the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity explained that Signal is one of hundreds of employers who have used the guest worker program to entice cheap imported labor to undercut wages across the industry and maximize company profits. Last month, 30 plus Mexican workers in Sulphur, Louisiana held a press conference to protest their working conditions. Tragically, guest workers have invoked the resentment of African-Americans who have been displaced in favor of imported cheaper labor. Courageously, the Indian workers at Signal have now formed their own union. They are demanding reinstatement of the fired workers, immediate release of imprisoned workers, refund of their ‘visa money’ obtained under false promises, and a restitution of back wages. I urge readers to offer their solidarity and support to their less fortunate brethren by contacting Sharda Sekaran, Associate Director, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) at sharda@nesri.org or call 212-253-1771.
14, March 2007 Alberto Gonzales
It certainly comes as no surprise that an increasing number of lawmakers are demanding the resignation of Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. His egregious actions to subvert the Constitution and destroy the careers of federal prosecutors must not be tolerated. By doing so, he has shown complete disdain and contempt for the rule of law.
But surely he is not alone. Emails between the White House and the Attorney General’s office clearly show that it was senior White House officials who orchestrated the firings. It is time the Democrats used the subpoena power to expose another shameful episode of this administration. It is time to repeal the Patriot Act which has been abused to elevate the power of the Executive Branch, weaken the Legislative and Judicial Branches of government and punish dissenters and independent thinkers. It is time that Gonzales and his erstwhile bosses in the White House tender their resignations and spare the American people more pain and misery. Finally, Democrats must share some of the blame. Most supported the Patriot Act which bypassed the need for confirmation hearings on federal judicial appointments.
8, March 2007 “Scooter” Libby
The indictment of “Scooter Libby”, the former chief of staff of Vice President Cheney is the latest saga of an Administration utterly devoid of morality and ethics. Libby is the designated ‘fall guy’ chosen by his White House masters to shield them from impeachable offenses of high crimes. There is little doubt that Libby will escape his 25 year sentence with a presidential pardon. Clearly, the whole sordid affair of revealing the identity of Valerie Plame was an act of retribution orchestrated by senior White House officials. Bush and Cheney were clearly incensed that Ambassador Wilson should challenge their fictional account of WMD material being shipped from Niger. It certainly comes as no surprise that Bush reneged on his promise to fire anybody who leaked this information.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s decision not to seek indictments of any other White House officials is baffling in view of his earlier statement, - “there is a cloud over the vice president... a cloud over the White House over what happened.” Dennis Collins, one of the jurors, expressed disbelief and outrage that Karl Rove and his bosses had escaped punishment.
It is ironic that the Bush administration feigns outrage whenever their dark illegal activities are revealed in the media but unhesitatingly reveals the name of a CIA operative. What hypocrisy!
6, March 2007 GAO’s Warning, US heading for bankruptcy
Americans would do well to readjust their financial investments and long term goals in preparation for the economic realities envisioned by US’s head accountant, David Walker. Walker is the highly respected head of the General Accountability Office, or GAO, He issued a dire warning when he appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes last Sunday (March 4, ’07). He stated that a far greater threat than “a man hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan’, is our own fiscal irresponsibility." Walker, whose job is to audit the government’s books, has concluded that we are heading for a serious financial meltdown, a “dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows”. Politicians are ignoring the inconvenient truth lest they get tainted with recommending unpopular remedies such as raising taxes and/or trimming back entitlements.
Walker is now on a cross country ‘fiscal wakeup’ crusade hoping to stir up the citizenry to pressure politicians to take remedial action to save our ship of state from bankruptcy. He warns of a lack of leadership and truth telling intended to lull our people into a deep slumber and continued delusion of our financial well-being. But, a far greater threat than the obscene Defense budget and our penchant for waging wars, is the massive entitlement programs which if left unchecked will most surely cripple us financially. 60 years ago, an important demographic change occurred with an upward shift in the nation’s fertility rate spawning a ‘baby boom’ generation. These boomers will be receiving their first entitlement checks beginning January 2008 when 78 million Americans will be become ‘dependents’ of the US taxpayers. Just 3 years later, the massive new entitlement of Medicare will ‘kick in’. With medical costs rising at twice the rate of inflation, the system is unsustainable. This will serve as a death knell for all other government programs such as national defense (more appropriately call the ‘national war’ department). homeland security, education etc. The only silver lining in this doomsday scenario, is the decline of US hegemony which should usher in a period of relative global calm. No longer will the US be able to flex its economic muscle and military might to force nations to bend to its imperial will. Furthermore, the welfare checks to repressive governments, such as Egypt, Jordon, Pakistan and Israel will cease and the citizens of this country will be forced to adjust to a much lower living standard. Social unrest may well result during this period of economic adjustment.
6, March 2007 GAO’s Warning, US heading for bankruptcy
David Walker, the highly respected head of the General Accountability Office, or GAO, issued a dire warning when he appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes last Sunday (March 4, ’07). He stated that a far greater threat than “a man hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan’, is our own fiscal irresponsibility." Walker, whose job is to audit the government’s books, has concluded that we are heading for a serious financial meltdown, a “dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows”. Politicians are ignoring the inconvenient truth lest they get tainted with recommending unpopular remedies such as raising taxes and/or trimming back entitlements.
Walker is now on a cross country ‘fiscal wakeup’ crusade hoping to stir up the citizenry to pressure politicians to take remedial action to save our ship of state from bankruptcy. He warns of a lack of leadership and truth telling intended to lull our people into a deep slumber and continued delusion of our financial well-being. But, a far greater threat than the obscene Defense budget and our penchant for waging wars is the massive entitlement programs which if left unchecked will most surely cripple us financially. The economic reality is fast approaching when the baby boomers generation will be jumping on the entitlement bandwagon in January 2008. Three years later, these new retirees will be entitled to Medicare coverage further draining the dwindling resources of the US treasury.
5, March 2007 Captured British soldiers
The capture of 15 British sailors and subsequent confessions aired on Iranian television, demonstrates the complete fallacy and danger in our own policy of condoning torture and allowing confessions obtained during torture. The Guantanamo detainees recently tried under the Military Commission Act, have all recanted, claiming they were tortured or coerced into making confessions. The British government and our own Administration are hardly in a position to criticize Iran when the Iranians can claim they were merely adopting the ‘American way’ of extracting confessions.
All forms of torture must be abolished. The Military Commission Act, which allows the President to decide what interrogations techniques constitute torture, must also be abolished. For example, President Bush has refused to outlaw “water boarding”, an extremely cruel method of torture that produces an overwhelming sense of drowning. The U.S. sentenced a Japanese officer to 15 years of hard labor for water boarding American servicemen during World War 11. If Congress fails to act, our government will continue sending prisoners to countries that practice torture. Torture produces lasting physical, psychic and emotional scars on the victim, perpetrators and society at large. Human Rights Watch has conducted considerable research on the victims of torture and conclusively states that torture does not yield a shred of useful information. It is totally ineffective and violates all norms of civilized conduct. It is time for the American people to raise their collective voices to condemn this hideous assault on human life.
2, March 2007 India’s Human Scavengers
It is gratifying that in the midst of the rapid economic engine propelling India’s growth, humanists are emerging to offer a healthy blend of social activism to help India’s largely forgotten and ignored underclass. A Stanford University graduate student recently visited India to document the pioneering work of Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, a modern day Mahatma Gandhi, who has provided much needed relief and dignity to India’s scavengers. These ‘untouchables’ have traditionally been condemned to a life of servitude carrying and disposing human excreta. It is estimated that 700 million Indians defecate in fields, roads and even along railway tracks scenes that were graphically encapsulated by V.S. Naipaul and Ronal Segal. A staggering 110 million homes have no toilet facilities and 10 million homes have only bucket toilets. The lack of adequate sanitation is responsible for rampant disease especially amongst India’s children. It is estimated 1 million children die every year from dehydration caused by open defecation.
Women would be restricted to early morning hours or late evenings when they felt their modesty would not be compromised. The appalling lack of sanitation and institutionalized caste discrimination prompted Pathak to abandon his ‘safe’ teaching position as a social scientist and seek a solution to India’s lack of sanitation facilities. Although, Pathak did not possess the necessary technical skills, it seems like an unseen divine hand guided his work and gave impetus to his missionary zeal. What has emerged from his efforts, was a low cost pilot called Sulabh Shauchalaya (two-pit pour flush toilet) based on a UN model of a human waste hygienic water disposal system that he modified and implemented.
Initially, Pathak encountered stiff resistance and derision and the public shunned his facility. However, he was able to overcome this inertia when he reminded the public that the sanitation facilities would offer a safe and dignified place for their womenfolk. He charges a nominal fee of only R2 and uses the profits to expand his facilities and offer free education and training to India’s untouchables. Since his humble beginnings, Pathak’s plants have generated bio-energy and produced bio-fertilizers, liquid solid waste management and integrated rural development. He has gained international fame for his work to lift India’s poor and integrate them to mainstream society. It is laudable that Pathak has rejected all the trappings of fame and fortune and remains firmly committed to his social cause in offering succor to India’s social outcastes.
Dr. Pathak traveled all over the country, visited and lived with scavengers in their bastis, studied their habits and social mores (he did his Ph. D. on scavenging), their history and geographical spread to eventually declare that scavengers were a special class united in their miseries and social degradation
Dr. Pathak observed after studying scriptures that scavenging has no religious sanction and, hence, those who practice untouchability commit a sin; it is unproductive and revolting to manually clean excreta and we are wasting the waste which can be profitably used to raise farm production and produce biogas.
Dr. Pathak lived with scavenger families, and did rigorous research, before he launched the movement. Following rapid adoption of the Sulabh technology of pour-flush toilet system, more than 240 towns have been freed from scavenging and 50,000 scavengers liberated and resettled in other professions. It was possible by converting 10,00,000 bucket latrines into Sulabh toilets. Moreover, Sulabh has built 3,200 community toilets with bath, laundry and urinal facilities operated on pay-and-use basis. Sulabh is now operating in 338 districts of 25 states with over 50,000 trained and experienced workers.
Now Sulabh is operating and maintaining more than 5,500 community complexes in 1075 towns across the country. One such complex is in Bhutan. These complexes have electricity and 24-hours water supply. The complexes have separate enclosures for men and women. The users are charged nominal sum for using toilets and bath facilities. Some of the Sulabh complexes are also provided with bath with shower facility, cloak-rooms, telephone and primary healthcare. These complexes have been widely welcomed both by the people and the authorities due to their cleanliness and good management. Pay-and-use system ensures self-sustainability without any burden on public exchequer or local bodies. The complexes have also improved the living environment considerably.
Sulabh has set up a number of vocational training institutes. Here liberated scavengers, their sons and daughters and persons from other weaker sections of society are given training in various vocations like computer technology, typing and shorthand, electrical trade, woodcraft, leather craft, diesel and petrol engineering, cutting and tailoring, cane furniture making, masonry work, motor driving etc. The purpose of imparting vocational training to them is to give them new means of livelihood, alleviate poverty and bring them into the mainstream of society.
Sulabh has set up an English medium School in Delhi for children of the scavengers, the first of its kind in India. Half the number of children are from scavenger families and the remaining half from other castes. This heterogeneous composition ensures that there is enough interaction between kids of scavengers and others. The school aims to prepare children from weaker sections of society for a better life. It brings quality education within the reach of boys and girls from scavenger families.
1, March 2007 US funding al-Qaeda?
According to Seymour Hersh’s explosive new article in the New Yorker Magazine, it now appears that our tax dollars are being used to fund our arch nemesis, al-Qaeda. US Covert actions, devoid of any Congressional oversight, include funding radical Sunni groups with possible ties to al Qaeda, to counterbalance Shiite groups supported by Iran. This grotesque strategy bears a strong resemblance to the US illegal funding of the Contras by revenue generated by illegal arms shipments to Iran during the Reagan years! The Pentagon has been running amuck for years planning covert and clandestine operations under the radar of Congressional and public scrutiny, invariably with disastrous results. It is time to reign in these illegal activities which is raising the ire of much of the world. These new covert operations are certain to inflame the majority of Shias in Iraq and possibly provoke the Saudis to come to the aid of the minority Sunnis in Iraq thus widening the conflict and further destabilizing the whole Middle East.
