Black Lives do Matter 4-28-2016

28, April 2016                      Black Lives do Matter

President Obama displayed uncharacteristic insensitivity in criticizing the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. He urged African-Americans to ‘work within the system and cease shouting’. Perhaps, this admonition came when one prominent member encountered the Clintons and demanded an apology for using the derogatory term ‘super predators’. That term could more aptly describe rogue cops that prey on poor African-Americans hurling racial epithets with guns blazing. Every 36 hours, a black person is killed by a police officer. This year a staggering 1136 blacks have been killed by police officers. Comprising only 2% of the total US population, African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 accounts for than 15% of all deaths logged this year by an ongoing investigation into the use of deadly force by police. The rate of police-involved deaths was five times higher than for white men of the same age. Specific examples are too numerous to mention. However, the tragic death of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old African-American fatally shot by police within two seconds on arrival, is especially disturbing. When Tamir’s 14-year-old sister rushed to her brother’s side she was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. No effort was made to administer first aid to Tamir. African-Americans have tried to seek justice within the system to no avail. President Obama’s high office has insulated his family from the harsh realities confronting his brothers and sisters. He owes Black Lives Matter an unconditional apology.

Dennis Hastert 4-28-2016

28, April 2016                           Dennis Hastert

The delayed punishment of Dennis Hastert whose unusual rise to political fame, becoming the longest speaker of the House of Representatives - two heartbeats from the presidency – raises some troubling aspects of our current justice system. He was not charged with sexual abusing young members of his wrestling team, successfully stonewalling until the statute of limitations of 3 years had long passed which seems odd given the publicity and travails of Bill Cosby who is fighting charges of sexual abuse filed by his victims’ decades after the alleged abuses occurred. Then again, Anita Hill’s, charges of sexual harassment against Supreme Court Clarence Thomas seems to be a never ending saga.

In a flimsy attempt to punish Hastert, the justice department sentenced him to 15 months for illegally restructuring his bank transactions to pay off his victims. But how can he be punished for restructuring his own bank funds? Surely the money belonged to him and he should be at liberty to manage his own money without federal interference.

This case is full of anomalies the most egregious of which is the short statute of limitations period on sexual abuse whose revelations often only comes to light decades later. Remember the movie classic ‘The Boys of St. Vincent’ based a real story of horrific child abuse? Apparently, efforts to eliminate the statute of limitations have encountered strong opposition from an extremely powerful special interest group, the Catholic Church!

Israel’s Chief Speaks Out 4-27-2016

27, April 2016                      Israel’s Chief Speaks Out

In a recent public statement, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, Israeli chief of staff, made the following startling defense assessments. He observed, “two existential threats to Israel are declining – non-conventional weaponry, including Iran’s nuclear program and Syrian chemical weapons. Israel faces no existential threat because of the Iranian nuclear accord has removed Israel’s greatest threat.” Prime Minister, Netanyahu earlier inflammatory statements denouncing the Iranian accord should pay more attention to his own highest military officer. He owes President Obama and the American people an unconditional apology for fearmongering and sowing the seeds of discord between our two countries based on an erroneous threat from Iran. Hillary Clinton, who made no effort to challenge Netanyahu on his public statements, once again exposes her own poor judgment of foreign affairs. In order to ingratiate herself to the Jewish lobby and pandering for votes, she declared the first foreign dignitary she would invite to the White House, is Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu. Clinton is not the only war hawk seeking high office. Lindsey Graham, earlier statement - “the Iranian nuclear deal is akin to declaring war on Sunni Arabs and the P5 + 1” (China, France, Russia, Britain, U.S. and Germany).

Goldman Sachs 4-24-2016

24, April 206                       Goldman Sachs

In a perverse game of smoke and mirrors reminiscent of the great magician, Houdini, Goldman Sachs will pay considerably less than the original fine of $5.1 billion to settle accusations of wrong-doing which led to the financial crisis in 2008. Buried in the terms of the settlement, Goldman will be able to write down a minimum of $1 billion through a combination of tax credits and government incentives. For example, the Government has called for Goldman to spend $240 million on affordable housing but will only have to spend 30 percent to fulfill the terms of the agreement through generous tax credits for each dollar it spends on affordable housing. The fines were a concerted effort on the part of the Justice Department to mute simmering public outrage over the shenanigans and outright fraud of Wall Street Banks. This is precisely why  Bernie Sanders has galvanized the youth of the country. His distrust of the titans of Wall Street and backroom deals was echoed by Dennis Kelleher, the founder of the advocacy organization “Better Markets”, who commented “the settlement amount was grossly inflated for P.R. purposes to mislead the public, while the fine print, enabled Goldman Sachs to pay 50 to 75 percent less.”  Other Wall Street banks received similar fine print incentives to lessen the severity of the penalties. With huge speaking fees she has garnered from Wall Street Banks, there appears little hope that much will change under a Clinton administration. 

Dark Money 4-24-2016

24, April 2016                              Dark Money

According to the Intercept, there appears to be a pervasive intersection of money and politics. For example, many of the Democrats’ super delegates work as lobbyists for banks, oil companies, foreign companies and payday lenders. In a close race these super delegates could determine the party's nominee. Many of these groups, such as fossil fuel companies and Wall Street Banks are pouring huge sums of money to the Clinton companies in mortal fear that a Sanders presidency could severely impact their bottom line. What is largely ignored is the influence of foreign money on our domestic politics. The pro-TPP op eds appearing in many of the media often bears a strong resemblance to draft reports from foreign governments.  For example, one such article promoting TPP was lifted verbatim from a draft report by the Japanese government. Citizens United is only one insidious component of the influence of dark money into politics. PR consultants or think tanks can easily be paid off to place articles favorable to TPP or mute criticism of foreign governments. Witness the brilliant PR conducted by Pakistan’s General Yaya Khan to tilt US support in its favor during the genocide in 1971; or witness how Saudi’s Prince Bandar cultivated close chummy relationships with the Bush’s to mute criticism of their human rights abuses and seek favorable treatment following 9/11.

Saudi Arabia & 9/11 4-22-2016

22, April 2016                 Saudi Arabia & 9/11

President Obama would do well to listen to human rights organizations and block further arms sales to the Saudi Kingdom in the wake of their military strikes in Yemen. The United Nations estimates more than 3,000 civilians have died since the Saudi’s began bombing last March. As William Hartung, senior adviser to the Security Assistance Monitor opinioned “We should not be trading Saudi friendship for cluster bombs (banned by international law).”

Hartung latest book, "Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex" describes the incestuous relationship between our current and past governments, war profiteers, and the kings of Saudi Arabia.  Successive Saudi monarchs have contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East and much of the world by promoting their austere brand of Islam (Wahhabism), indoctrinating your children in religious schools. They have failed to resist the growing menace of ISIS and ignored the plight of refugees, the majority of whom are Muslims. Obama is wrong to oppose lawsuits of victims of 9/11 seeking compensation of possible Saudi involvement. 28 pages of the 9/11 report have still not been released. Perhaps readers will recall how special permission was granted to Saudi officials to leave the US while all other transport was grounded following 9/11.

The U.S. should not be intimidated by Saudi threats to sell off U.S. assets.  Let Senator Schumer’s proposed legislation holding Saudi Arabia for possible involvement in 9/11 go forward. If they were not involved they have nothing to fear.

Pakistan’s blasphemy law 4-18-2016

18, April 2016                      Pakistan’s blasphemy law

Last Monday, the Islamic scholar, Arafat Mazhar, gave an interesting talk at Stanford University to clarify Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Mazhar has been on a personal crusade to educate the public on how the law has been hijacked and misinterpreted by self-styled imams to suit their own political agendas. Much to his amazement he discovered that the much revered imam in Pakistan who is responsible for the current interpretation of blasphemy, is not versed in Arabic, and could not therefore accurately interpret the original texts. It appears that in an effort to encourage group thought and create mortal fear for doubters or ‘apostates (non-believers),’ Pakistan deems a just punishment for insulting the prophet and apostates is death. Simply stated, – you blaspheme, you die. The option of life imprisonment was made defunct after a 1991 Federal Shariat Court judgement. According to Mazhar, the law’s original text forbade such punishment. Junaid Jamshed, a pop icon and widely heard Islamic evangelist, went viral on the Internet, in which his remarks were perceived as blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Ayesha. He was sentenced to death but in spite of recanting in public and re-affirming his faith his death sentence has not been overturned. If this climate of intolerance continues, there is little hope of Pakistan surviving as a democratic society.