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.
