13, March 2013
GM RECALL
It took 13 deaths and hundreds of
complaints for the Justice Department to finally launch a criminal
investigation into why the largest automaker, General Motors, ignored deadly
safety defects in its compact cars Contrary to earlier assertions that the
problem was first discovered in 2003,
GM now admits that the ignition
switch on its Saturn Ion stalled in 2001. The faulty ignition switch suddenly cuts
off power leaving bewildered drivers with no engine power, no power steering, no breaks and no air bags.
Six GM models made from 2001 to 2007 are affected. Federal regulators also
failed to take action despite receiving hundreds of complaints from angry
drivers. Last month GM finally announced a massive recall of 1.6 million
vehicles. Long time consumer advocate,
Ralph Nader commented that “timidity exists in the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration”, which encourages a laissez-faire culture. It is also
grossly underfunded - $45 million a year, compared to, say, $650 million a year
that taxpayers pay for guarding the embassy in Baghdad. Another key factor that
contributed to GM’s apparent lack of concern was its bankruptcy and subsequent
tax-payer bailout in 2009 which immunized it from all product liability lawsuits.
It is tragic that it took so many deaths and near fatalities for GM to respond.
It seems once again profits take precedence over peoples’ lives.
13, March 2013
GM RECALL
It took 13 deaths and hundreds of
complaints for the Justice Department to finally launch a criminal
investigation into why the largest automaker, General Motors, ignored deadly
safety defects in its compact cars Contrary to earlier assertions that the
problem was first discovered in 2003,
GM now admits that the ignition
switch on its Saturn Ion stalled in 2001. The faulty ignition switch suddenly cuts
off power leaving bewildered drivers with no engine power, no power steering, no breaks and no air bags.
Six GM models made from 2001 to 2007 are affected. Federal regulators also
failed to take action despite receiving hundreds of complaints from angry
drivers. Last month GM finally announced a massive recall of 1.6 million
vehicles. Long time consumer advocate,
Ralph Nader commented that “timidity exists in the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration”, which encourages a laissez-faire culture. It is also
grossly underfunded - $45 million a year, compared to, say, $650 million a year
that taxpayers pay for guarding the embassy in Baghdad. Another key factor that
contributed to GM’s apparent lack of concern was its bankruptcy and subsequent
tax-payer bailout in 2009 which immunized it from all product liability lawsuits.
It is tragic that it took so many deaths and near fatalities for GM to respond.
It seems once again profits take precedence over peoples’ lives.
6, March 2013 IRAN
Haven’t we been snookered enough by bogus threats to our national security?
Author Nick Turse, “Kill Anything That Moves” reminds us that the sad saga of the Vietnam War was started on the false accusation that the North Vietnamese fired on our naval ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. He reports serious war crimes were committed in the killings of large number of civilians at the behest of the power elite in Washington who used body counts to measure progress.
Fast forward to 2003 when former President Bush- Cheney- Rumsfeld-Condoleezza Rice snookered us into another war based on the bogus testimony of a thoroughly unreliable ‘Alice in Wonderland’ fortune hunter called ‘Curveball.’ His doodling on a scrap piece of paper was the basis for General Powell’s proof that Saddam Hussein’s was manufacturing WMD’s.
And now, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has been vigorously denounced by six former leaders of his own security agency, the Shin Bet, (see the documentary, ‘The Gatekeepers”), is trying to goad us into another conflict with Iran based on bogus allegations of the impending Iranian nuclear bomb. Israel continues to act coyly on its own huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. It is time to stop threatening Iran with bombs and bombast and start a respectful dialog however distasteful the Iranian regime might be.
19, February 2013
Dear Editor, John Brennan and drone warfare
The confirmation hearings of John Brennan to head the CIA were profoundly disappointing. There was no discussion of the so-called signature strikes which has resulted in the death of so many innocent victims. Jeremy Scahill, of the Nation magazine, recently returned from a visit to Yemen and reported the massacre of 40 villagers, including many women and children with U.S. cluster bombs. A US independent fact finding mission visiting Pakistan reported horrific killings by US drones. The study conducted by NYU and Stanford Law School, ‘Living Under Terror –Under Drones’, highlights the terror inflicted on entire populations being exposed to drones buzzing overhead 24 hours a day disrupting entire communities and according to General McCrystal” unleashing visceral hatred of the U.S.” The entire Senate Intelligence Committee has abdicated its responsibility by failing to demand an oversight role and has allowed the CIA to become a ‘007 license to kill’ death squad. The checks and balances of our government have been seriously eroded.
President Obama would do well to reflect on his earlier speech in 2000 – “the Bush policies failed to rely on our legal traditions and our time-tested institutions and have failed to use our values as a moral compass.” The White House should do some soul searching and re-calibrate its own moral compass. Contrary to Obama’s earlier promise to be ‘the most open administration in U.S. history’, the White House is shrouded with unprecedented secrecy which is the enemy of an open democratic society.
16, February 2013 Israel
Three great documentaries shed new light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The Gatekeepers" is a collective narrative of six former heads of Israel’s internal security who voice their frustration with successive Israeli government policies. All six heads are now critical of the methods they were assigned to use and they warned that successive governments have undermined Israel’s future by refusing to make peace. A former head, Carmi Gillon, admits that “We are making the lives of millions unbearable, into prolonged human suffering. Another - Avraham Shalom adds, “ we have become a brutal occupation force. “Five Broken Cameras” - tells the story of Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer, who partnered with an Israeli film maker Guy Emad to chronicle Emad’s life in his village, Bil’in. Israeli Defense Forces tried to halt the filming by breaking a number of cameras – hence the title. This is now available from Netflix. Finally, an American Jew, Anna Baltzer, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer and author (http://vimeo.com/6977999), traveled to Israel to capture the lives of ordinary Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. She has appeared on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’, and lectured at more than 500 universities, schools, religious institutions, and policy institutes around the world with her acclaimed presentation, "Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos." I urge readers to see all three documentaries to broaden their understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
1-30-13 Israel’s Military Speak Out
An Oscar-nominated documentary, "The Gatekeepers" provides a stark admission by six former heads of Israel’s internal security (akin to our FBI and CIA) of their agency’s methods of targeted killings of militants and civilians in the Occupied Territories, including torture and the suppression of mass protests during two intifadas. All six former heads are now critical of the methods they were assigned to use to subjugate the Palestinians and they warned that successive governments have undermined Israel’s future by refusing to make peace. A former head, Carmi Gillon, admits that “We are making the lives of millions unbearable, into prolonged human suffering. Another - Avraham Shalom adds, “ we have become a brutal occupation force similar to the Germans in World War II." Israeli forces have begun the year with a spate of killings of unarmed Palestinian civilians. A 21-year-old Palestinian woman was the latest victim – gunned down at a West Bank School. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem castigated Israeli Defense Forces accusing them of "extensively and systematically violating their own rules of engagement when suppressing protests in the West Bank.” Dror Moreh’s powerful documentary might jump start the moribund peace process aided by Israel’s recent election which tilted power from right wing extremists to the center. It is now up to President Obama to show leadership in brokering a lasting peace and usher in an independent Palestinian state. Failure to do so will surely lead to unending conflict.
21, January 2013 Obama’s second term – drones
President Obama deserves credit for making strong statements against assault weapons which have aborted the lives of some many Americans. However, such statements and policies are incongruent with his policies to equally vulnerable and innocent people in far-away lands who fall victims to our remote weapons of mass destruction. General McChrystal, Ex-Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, became the highest-ranking military official to excoriate Obama’s Drone Warfare. He stated that "the resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who’ve never seen one or seen the effects of one." Michael Boyle, a former adviser to Obama on security issues, has forcefully come out against drone warfare, saying it is encouraging arms proliferation worldwide while causing unknown civilian casualties. He stated that “Obama has been just as ruthless and indifferent to the rule of law as his predecessor. ... The consequences can be seen in the targeting of mosques or funeral processions that kill non-combatants and tear at the social fabric of the regions where they occur.” These statements by high profile experts largely confirms the Stanford University/NYU study which estimated that 98% of the drones miss their intended targets and kill innocent men, women and children. President Obama has created a dangerous and an illegal precedent. He would be wise to heed his critics and call an immediate halt to these illegal and immoral weapons.
