Activism

Why a City Should Oppose Attacking Iran

davidswanson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:00:42 -0400

By David Swanson

Tonight, Monday, October 6, 2008, a group of citizens in Charlottesville, Va., organized by the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, will attend the City Council's meeting to urge the Council to take up at its November meeting a resolution opposing a U.S. attack on the nation of Iran. Some members of the Council and of the public can be expected to respond with some well-intended but confused reasons to resist taking such a step. In hopes of clarifying the issue, let me suggest briefly three things: 1.-Why the United States should not attack Iran; 2.-Why there is a serious danger that the United States will attack Iran; 3.-Why Charlottesville City Council should pass a resolution opposing such an attack.

1.-Why the United States should not attack Iran.

We can begin with the fact that wars of aggression are illegal under international law and under treaties, including the United Nations Charter, that are the supreme law of the land under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. Were the nation of Iran to attack the United States, everything I'm saying could be ignored. But nobody, as far as I know, is even fantasizing about the possibility of such a suicidal action.

Wars are illegal because nothing is worse than them, and because wars do not work as a tool for preventing wars. If the United States attacks Iran -- and let's say it honestly: if WE attack Iran -- at a very minimum millions of people will very probably die, be wounded, be displaced, and have their environment rendered uninhabitable.

Numerous claims have been proven false that alleged the Iranian government was participating in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, but let's assume for the sake of argument that Iran is conducting such attacks. We already know that Saudi Arabia is doing the same. Should we attack both Iran, which powerful people in Washington have long wanted to attack, and Saudi Arabia, which powerful people in Washington would never attack in a million years? And as we occupy Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, having reinstituted the draft here at home, what should we do if additional nations aid the resistance there? You can see where this leads. Legally, morally, and practically aiding a population against a foreign occupation is not grounds for war. The United States aided France against a German occupation and considers that action its most legal, moral, practical, and glorious ever engaged in.

And, yes, the United States at the time was developing nuclear weapons. Possession of weapons is simply not grounds for war. The United States has more nuclear weapons and more illegal chemical and biological weapons than anyone else. This is not grounds to attack the United States. A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate in 2005 said that 2015 was the earliest Iran could possibly have a nuclear weapon. An improved National Intelligence Estimate in 2007 said that Iran had actually not worked on developing nuclear weapons at all since 2003. The best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon is not war. U.S. threats and provocations are boosting support in Iran for a militaristic leader. Bombing would do the same, as well as resulting in massive death and destruction and likely retaliation against U.S. troops in Iraq and against U.S. client state Israel.

It's not always remembered that inspections worked in Iraq. Our government declared the inspections flawed, ordered the inspectors out, and bombed the nation flat, later dishonestly claiming that Iraq had ordered the inspectors out. If we want to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, we need to keep the inspectors in, and we need ourselves to begin adhering to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bars new nations from developing nuclear weapons and requires that existing nuclear nations disarm.

Iran is open to negotiations. In 2003, Iran proposed negotiations with the United States with everything on the table, including its nuclear energy technology. President Bush refused. This past month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited New York. While he is not the top of the government in Iran and does not control the Iranian military, he is an important member of that government. While presidential candidate John McCain claimed falsely during a debate that Ahmadinejad was in New York proposing the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad while in New York actually told the radio program Democracy Now that he was open to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. He said that such a solution should be up to the Palestinian people to accept. We already know that most Palestinians are, indeed, open to a two-state solution. You'd think all Americans would consider this good news, but there are Americans who want war.

During his visit to New York, Ahmadinejad also met with U.S. peace activists. Phil Wilayto of the Virginia Antiwar Network attended the meeting and reported that Ahmadinejad made a very similar statement on Israel and Palestine and also said the following:

"Neither the Iranian people nor nation will start a war … We've helped security in Iraq. The best help for security by the U.S. is to withdraw its troops from the region. … The Iranian people have good relations with people around the world. … The American people are friendly and lovable. One million Americans should visit Iran, and a million Iranians should visit the United States."

Perhaps Charlottesville should form a twinship with a town in Iran and create a student exchange. We do this with other nations. Why not Iran?

Polls show that strong majorities of Americans are opposed to attacking Iran, and you can be certain that a strong majority of Iranians are opposed to being attacked. Make no mistake that an attack on Iran would not be motivated by humanitarian concerns. The motivation for attacking Iran was laid out in 2000 by the Project for a New American Century, and as early as 1992 in defense planning guidance -- written for then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney by then-Pentagon staffers I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, World Bank Chief Paul Wolfowitz, and Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad.

The people promoting an attack on Iran are the same ones who lied to us about Iraq. The results of those lies have been disastrous, including for Charlottesville.

2.-Why there is a serious danger that the United States will attack Iran.

The two major candidates for president of the United States have refused to commit to not aggressively attacking Iran. One of them has excited his supports by singing "Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran."

Our representatives in Congress seem intent on escalating conflict with Iran, up to and including authorizing acts of war. A resolution that would encourage a blockade of Iran has enough cosponsors in both houses to pass if brought up for a vote. Thus far, public opposition has prevented that from happening.

However, the House this past month passed a bill requiring sanctions and divestment against Iran, including by local governments like the City of Charlottesville. The bill passed by a voice vote, so we do not know how our representative in the House voted, but I can guess. The bill failed to pass the Senate last week, but it is a safe bet that it will return. The Democratic leadership in the House has publicly expressed outrage at the Senate's action.

So, local governments may soon be banned from making certain investments because there are those in Washington who want to antagonize Iran. I have not heard any voices in Washington objecting to this on the grounds that local governments are separate entities from Congress.

3.-Why Charlottesville City Council should pass a resolution opposing such an attack.

In February 2003, the Charlottesville City Council was wise and responsible enough to pass a resolution opposing an attack on Iraq. In retrospect, that was the right thing to do. At the time only 60 some cities had taken that step. Now hundreds have opposed the invasion and/or occupation. And while the occupation of Iraq continues, these actions by city, county, and state governments have helped to educate the public and to increase and organize citizen involvement on behalf of peace and justice. It is that citizen involvement that has prevented the resolution on blockading Iran from coming up for a vote.

Citizens of Charlottesville has thus far paid over $64 million for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. That's not counting further expenses already authorized, the cost of veterans' care, the effects of the rise in oil prices, the debt payments that will have to be made, etc. Based on the calculations in Joseph Stiglitz' and Linda Bilmes' book "The Three Trillion Dollar War," it is a very conservative estimate to place the true cost to Charlottesville citizens at closer to $640 million. I wonder if Charlottesville City Council Members can think of some useful things they might be able to do with $640 million.

Of course, we haven't seen our taxes raised this amount -- yet. Much of the money has been borrowed and will be paid back to China and other lenders by our kids. But some of the money has been found by cutting back on useful spending here at home. I'm sure the city council members know what I'm talking about.

If a federal action has a significant negative impact on a city, then it is appropriate for the city to defend itself, its budget, and the lives of local members of the military and the National Guard. In fact, the National Guard should be available to protect this city and surrounding areas from natural disasters, and should not be sent to invade and occupy foreign nations.

Now, it is true that we are supposed to be directly represented in Congress. But our representative in Congress represents over 650,000 people and was not elected by a majority of the citizens of our city. He, like all members of Congress, is further removed from us than are our locally elected officials. He must represent more people than anyone can ever reasonably represent, and he must do so while also dealing with the enormous influences of money, party, and media. Local elected officials are under the same influences, especially if they aspire to grander things within a party structure, but the influences are much reduced, and responsiveness to people is much greater.

And this is as it should be. This is how our republic is supposed to work. Corrupting influences should be removed from all levels of government. But if they were, our local governments would remain more responsive to us. Our Mayor has admirably and appropriately supported a resolution against attacking Iran at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. At least 15 cities, large and small, that I know of have admirably passed resolutions opposing an attack on Iran. Charlottesville ought to get on this list early, once again, rather than late. And we ought to consider our city council members' willingness to do so during our next local elections.

Most city council members in the United States take an oath of office promising to support the U.S. Constitution. In the state of Virginia, public officials, including at the local level, typically take this oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all of the duties incumbent on me as
_____________ according to the best of my ability."

City Council members don't take an oath to fix potholes. If the Constitution is in danger, then their primary duty is to defend it. If it is safe, and they have time on their hands, then they can fix potholes. Right now it is in danger.

Cities and towns routinely send petitions to Congress for all kinds of requests. This is allowed under Clause 3, Rule XII, Section 819, of the Rules of the House of Representatives. This clause is routinely used to accept petitions from cities, and memorials from states, all across America. The same is established in the Jefferson Manual, the rule book for the House originally written by Thomas Jefferson for the Senate.

In 1798, the Virginia State Legislature passed a resolution using the words of Thomas Jefferson condemning federal policies penalizing France.

In 1967 a court in California ruled (Farley v. Healey , 67 Cal.2d 325) in favor of citizens' right to place a referendum on the ballot opposing the Vietnam War, ruling:

"As representatives of local communities, board of supervisors and city councils have traditionally made declarations of policy on matters of concern to the community whether or not they had power to effectuate such declarations by binding legislation. Indeed, one of the purposes of local government is to represent its citizens before the Congress, the Legislature, and administrative agencies in matters over which the local government has no power. Even in matters of foreign policy it is not uncommon for local legislative bodies to make their positions known."

Abolitionists passed local resolutions against U.S. policies on slavery. The anti-apartheid movement did the same, as did the nuclear freeze movement, the movement against the PATRIOT Act, the movement in favor of the Kyoto Protocol (which includes at least 740 cities), etc. Our democratic republic has a rich tradition of municipal action on national and international issues.

Karen Dolan of Cities for Peace writes:

"A prime example of how direct citizen participation through municipal governments has affected both U.S. and world policy is the example of the local divestment campaigns opposing both Apartheid in South Africa and, effectively, the Reagan foreign policy of “constructive engagement” with South Africa. As internal and global pressure was destabilizing the Apartheid government of South Africa, the municipal divestment campaigns in the United States ramped up pressure and helped to push to victory the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. This extraordinary accomplishment was achieved despite a Reagan veto and while the Senate was in Republican hands. The pressure felt by national lawmakers from the 14 U.S. states and close to 100 U.S. cities that had divested from South Africa made the critical difference. Within three weeks of the veto override, IBM and General Motors also announced they were withdrawing from South Africa. This movement also serves as a model for the current local divestment campaigns from Burma and Sudan."

Charlottesville City Council Member Holly Edwards recently wrote in a letter to the Daily Progress:

"I don't think it's appropriate to get involved with national issues when locally there is so much work to be done to stop gun violence here at home. My prayer is let there be peace on earth, let it begin with me and my neighborhood."

Edwards expressed a desire to eliminate racism and violence in Charlottesville first, and only then to comment on national matters. But there is no local solution to either of those problems. Our representative in Congress, Virgil Goode, is perhaps the leading proponent of racism in the nation. For our city council not to formally condemn his racism is shameful and harmful. Similarly, Goode should be thanked for his vote against Paulson's Plunder and censured for his votes on war. The same goes for our senators, who should be censured for their votes on both the so-called bailout and wars. Both major presidential candidates have said they would cut money for education in order to pay for Wall Street, rendering hopeless any argument that spending military levels of money on non-military matters is any less a local issue than wars are.

Gun violence cannot end with guns coming into the city from outside it, with state and national governments failing to control guns, with funding being cut for jobs, health, and education, and with our federal government daily teaching us that the best way to solve disputes is to shoot people. So, I think Council Member Edwards' proposal to solve Charlottesville's problems first is admirable but quixotic. And were it not, were we able to create an island of paradise in Charlottesville in the short run, nothing would protect Charlottesville from global warming or nuclear war. We might long to be an island. But such a dream is not humble or wise.

Over 1,500 people in Charlottesville have signed a petition advocating for passage of a resolution opposing an attack on Iran. There is no doubt that a majority of the people here oppose such an attack. Passing such a resolution is the work of five minutes at zero public expense. The Charlottesville City Council could draft its own resolution or use this one from the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice:

RESOLUTION:
OPPOSING PRE-EMPTIVE U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN IRAN

WHEREAS, the President and members of his administration have alleged that Iran poses an imminent threat to the United States, U.S. troops in the Middle East and U.S. allies; and

WHEREAS, these allegations are similar to the lead-up to the Iraq War and U.S. occupation, with the selective use of information and unsubstantiated accusations about Iran’s nuclear program and its supply of weapons to Iraqi forces as centerpieces of a case to the American people for aggression against Iran; and

WHEREAS, Iran has not threatened to attack the United States, and no compelling evidence has been presented to document that Iran poses a real and imminent threat to the security and safety of the United States that would justify an unprovoked unilateral pre-emptive military attack; and

WHEREAS, we support the people of Iran who are struggling for freedom and democracy, and nothing herein should be misconstrued as support for the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but it should be understood that a unilateral, pre-emptive U.S. military attack on Iran could well prove counterproductive to the cause of promoting freedom and democracy there; and

WHEREAS, a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) representing the consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, concluded that Iran froze its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and an earlier NIE concluded that Iran’s involvement in Iraq “is not likely to be a major driver of violence” there; and

WHEREAS, an attack on Iran is likely to cause untold thousands of American and Iranian casualties, lead to major economic dislocations, and threaten event greater destabilization in the Middle East; and

WHEREAS, a pre-emptive U.S. military attack on Iran would violate international law and our commitments under the U.N. Charter and further isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world; and

WHEREAS, an attack on Iran is likely to inflame hatred for the U.S. in the Middle East and elsewhere, inspire terrorism, and lessen the security of Americans; and

WHEREAS, the Iraq war and occupation has already cost the lives of over 4,000 American soldiers, the maiming and wounding of over 38,000 American soldiers, the death and maiming of over one million Iraqi civilians; and

WHEREAS, the Iraq War and occupation has cost Charlottesville taxpayers more than $61 million before adding the costs of interest payments, care for veterans, or the increased price of oil, thus depriving us of much-needed funds for services and infrastructure; and

WHEREAS, except at our peril, we cannot ignore the history of U.S. government mis-information used to inspire U.S. aggression in Vietnam, and again in Iraq, as embodied in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and more recently in the false claims of weapons of mass destruction; and

WHEREAS, any conflict with Iran is likely to incur far greater costs and divert more precious national resources away from critical human needs; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, hereby urges the Bush Administration to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran on nuclear issues and ending the violence in Iraq; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, urges Congress to prohibit the use of funds to carry out any military action against Iran without explicit Congressional authorization; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that suitable copies of this resolution be forwarded to President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Senator John Warner, Senator James Webb, and Congressman Virgil Goode.

This makes a beautiful, if horrifying, poster. Click it for large, high-resolution version:

Designed by Rian Chandler-Dovis.

No Weapons in Space

davidswanson — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:38:31 -0400

SPACE WEEK ACTIONS EVERYWHERE
October 4 – 12, 2008
Keep Space for Peace Week: International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space

No Weapons in Space! Stop U.S. First-Strike Star Wars Deployments in Poland and Czech Republic! Convert the Military Industrial Complex! Fund Human Needs!

* Adelaide, South Australia (Sept 24) Monthly vigil on steps of Parliament House with leafleting by Women in Black and South Australian branch of WILPF cpicone@westnet.com.au

* Adelaide, South Australia (Oct 11) Presentation and discussion at local Australian Section of WILPF cpicone@westnet.com.au

* Baltimore, Maryland (Oct 3) Peace vigil by Jonah House at the new Northrop Grumman weapons production plant in Linthicum Heights (1570 W. Nursery Rd) at 11:00 am disarmnow@verizon.net or (410) 233-6238

* Baltimore, Maryland (Oct 4) The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will hold a demonstration at the Headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA) between 5-6 PM. (410) 366-1637 mobuszewski@verizon.net

* Bath Iron Works, Maine (Oct 4) Vigil across from administration building on Washington Street 11:30 am Smilin’ Trees Disarmament Farm 207-763-4062

* Bath Iron Works, Maine (Oct 18) Veterans for Peace march & rally at Aegis destroyer “Christening” featuring Granny D. Aegis is outfitted with "missile defense" systems Assemble Waterfront Park on Commercial St. at 9:00 am jafabussell@gwi.net

* Bend, Oregon (Oct 10) Presentation by Jackie Hudson at Central Oregon Environmental Center jackiehudson123@yahoo.com

* Blair, Nebraska (Oct 7) Former editor of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Mike Moore, speaks at Dana College about his new book The Twilight War: The Folly of US Space Dominance in the Durham Classroom Center 7:00 pm walterinne@neb.rr.com

* Boston, Massachusetts (Oct 4) Vigil and leaflet at Park Street train station (Park Street at Tremont) with WILPF at 2:00 pm clagos@verizon.net

* Boston, Massachusetts (Oct 11) Posters and leafleting at regional anti-war mobilization on Boston Common clagos@verizon.net

* Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Oct 4) Presentation and discussion at local Australian Section of WILPF cpicone@westnet.com.au

* Cambridge, Massachusetts (Oct 2) Showing newly revised space video “A Space 4 Peace” at Central Sqauare Library by WILPF and Cambridge Peace Commission 6:45pm clagos@verizon.net

* Colorado Springs, Colorado (Oct ) Panel discussion at Colorado College on the “Military Influence in Colorado Springs” bsulzman@juno.com

* Colorado Springs, Colorado (Oct 7) Bannering in downtown area at noon bsulzman@juno.com

* Copenhagen, Denmark (Oct 4) Presentation and discussion at "The Poetic Bureau" (Griffenfeldsgade 52) 20:00 juhauski@gmail.com

* RAF Croughton, England (Oct 4) “No Missile Defence” march and rally at U.S. Space Communications Base with speakers and music oxonpeace@yahoo.co.uk

* Damascus, Syria (Oct 11) Public meeting on space issues at cultural center ghassan.dr@gmail.com http://www.anrolm.org/an/

* Fylingdales, England (Oct 11) Demonstration at U.S. Star Wars radar facility by Yorkshire CND info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk

* Grand Rapids, Michigan (Oct 5) Marywood Campus Health Center presentations by Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert disarmnow@verizon.net

* Grand Rapids, Michigan (Oct 6) Aquinas College presentations by Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert disarmnow@verizon.net

* Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Oct 7) Film showing of Arsenal of Hypocrisy space video at the Just Us Café tlorincz@dal.ca

* Hampton, Florida (Oct 5) FCPJ’s “Remember our Roots” Day on the coalitions’s land. FCPJ was a co-founder of the Global Network bob@fcpj.org

* Jalgaon, India (Sept 23) Address in the North Maharastra University jnrao36@sify.com

* Jalgaon, India (Sept 24) Address in the Nutan Marathi Mahavidyalaya jnrao36@sify.com

* Kirtland AFB, New Mexico (Oct 4) Demonstration at Space War Center Truman Gate in Albuquerque Stopthewarmachine@comcast.net (505) 401-4808

* Las Vegas, Nevada (Oct 4) Peace Concert and Fair jim@nevadadesertexperience.org

* Mankato, Minnesota (Sept 29) “A Space 4 Peace” video showing at the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation meeting with the School Sisters of Notre Dame gschmitz@ssndmankato.org

* Mankato, Minnesota (Oct 6) Afternoon showing and discussion of “A Space 4 Peace” video with the School Sisters of Notre Dame and open to the public. gschmitz@ssndmankato.org

* Mankato, Minnesota (Oct 8) Weekly noon vigil will include signs to Honor the Space Treaty, and Keep Space for Peace gschmitz@ssndmankato.org

* Mankato, Minnesota (Oct 8) Evening showing and discussion of “A Space 4 Peace” video with School Sisters of Notre Dame and open to the public. gschmitz@ssndmankato.org

* Menwith Hill, England (Oct 4) Demonstration at NSA Spy Base in Yorkshire www.caab.org.uk mail@caab.corner.org.uk

* Nagpur, India (Oct 4) Meeting in the Matru Sewa Sangh Institute of Social Work at 2:30 p.m. jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 4) Joint demonstration at Variety Square at 5 p.m. jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 6) Meeting in the Providence Jr. College at 9:30 a.m. jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 6) Space issues forum at Dharampeth Science College yugalrayalu@yahoo.com

* Nagbhir, India (Oct 10) Meeting organised by the Municipal Council at noon jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 11) Meeting in the Mahila Mahavidyalaya at 1:30 p.m. jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 11) Meeting in the BP National Institute of Social Work at 3 p.m. jnrao36@sify.com

* Nagpur, India (Oct 12) Round table discussion of intellectuals on space security issues at Panch Sheel Library jnrao36@sify.com

* New York, New York (Oct 3) Joel Landy’s musical presentation at The Yippie Museum Café will include space issues joellandy@yahoo.com

* New York, New York (Oct 5) Film showing of Arsenal of Hypocrisy space video in the Bronx ag@annegibbons.com

* New York, New York (Oct 6) Protest at L-3 Communications, a prime contractor in space Command, Control and Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, 600 Third Avenue (at E. 39th) 12:00-1:30 pm ag@annegibbons.com

* New York, New York (Oct 21) Space issues forum at United Nations hosted by Reaching Critical Will of WILPF and others. Begins at 1:15 pm ray@reachingcriticalwill.org

* Oakville, Canada (Oct 8) Public educational forum on space issues at St. Jude’s Anglican Church by Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology, and Human Rights 7:30 pm (905) 849-5501

* Omaha, Nebraska (Oct 7 & 9) Demonstrations at Quest Center, home of annual aerospace Strategic Space & Defense convention mmwells1@cox.net

* Omaha, Nebraska (Oct 7) Former editor of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Mike Moore, speaks at Creighton University about his new book The Twilight War: The Folly of US Space Dominance 3:30 pm in Skutt Center walterinne@neb.rr.com

* Omaha, Nebraska (Oct 8) Former editor of Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Mike Moore, speaks at University of Nebraska-Omaha in Milo Bail Student Center about his new book The Twilight War: The Folly of US Space Dominance 7:00 pm walterinne@neb.rr.com

* Omaha, Nebraska (Oct 8) “Die-In” CD/Nonviolent direct action at Quest Convention Center during annual aerospace Strategic Space & Defense convention cwomaha@gmail.com

* Oswestry, England (Oct 25) Market stall to promote awareness about the militarization of space mgt2800@hotmail.com

* Oxford, England (Oct 2) No Missile Defence public meeting at Friends Meeting House with Caroline Lucas MEP oxfordcnd@btinternet.com

* Penny Farms, Florida (Oct ) Forum at Penney Memorial Church

* Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia (Oct 2) Peace Concert at Temple University edaguilaresq@aol.com

* Portland, Maine (Oct 8) Showing newly revised space video “A Space 4 Peace” and talk by Mary Beth Sullivan at Meg Perry Center 7:00 pm danny@peaceactionme.org

* Prague, Czech Republic (Oct 8) Protest happening tour in front of Russian, Chinese and U.S. embassies 11:00 am (CET) toni@vol.cz http://www.nenasili.cz/en/1781_keep-space-for-peace-week

* Rome, Italy (Oct 12) Video presentation and discussion at Centro Umanista La Svolta - via degli equi, 25 at 5.00 p.m. isabelstella@gmail.com

* Queensland, Australia (Oct 6) Demonstration at University of Queensland’s Center for Hypersonics technology at noon maxigar@iinet.net.au

* Saco, Maine (Oct 5) Showing newly revised space video “A Space 4 Peace” at First Parish Congregational UCC 9:00 am tkircher@maine.rr.com

* Sacramento, California (Oct 8) Space issues leafleting by Peace Action, WILPF, and Grandmothers for Peace from 11-1 pm at rail stations in city downtown. Will also have people use cell phones to call White House opposing space militarization. ellen@nicetechnology.com sacpeace@dcn.org (916) 835-4330

* San Mateo, California (Oct 7) Lecture with Andy Lichterman from Western States Legal Foundation at Unitarian Universalists at 7:30 pm smpa@sanmateopeaceaction.org

* Santa Rosa, California (Oct 7) War in Space presentation at Santa Rosa Junior College Newman Auditorium by Physics Instructor Lynda Williams spinor64@hotmail.com

* Santa Rosa, California (Oct 8) Sonoma County Astronomical Society will show “A Space 4 Peace” video at the Proctor Terrace Elementary School in a public event at 7:30 pm (1171 Bryden Lane) spinor64@hotmail.com

* Seoul, South Korea (Oct 9) Showing of Arsenal of Hypocrisy with Korean translation in script, Neutinamu Hall, PSPD with Korean Committee of Int’l Meeting armha5156@gmail.com

* Sebastopol, California (Oct 18) “Cosmic Cabaret” live multimedia musical theater with Lynda Williams at Sebastopol Center for the Arts at 7:30 spinor64@hotmail.com

* Sunnyvale, California (Oct 24) Vigil at Lockheed Martin weapons production plant http://wevigil.org/

* Tampa, Florida (Oct 10 & 11) Holly Gwinn Graham will be talking about Keep Space for Peace Week on two WMNF radio shows at 9am and 10am on those two days. hollypatrice@comcast.net

* Tampa, Florida (Oct 12) Holly Gwinn Graham will sing space for peace songs in her show at Unitarian Church Dome Concert at 3:00 pm hollypatrice@comcast.net

* Toledo, Ohio (Oct 4-12) Daily space issues leafleting at Lucas County Courthouse rkmarovitz@hotmail.com

* Traverse City, Michigan (Oct 4-12) Space week posters put up around the region, flyers and Space Alert newsletters put in several local churches and handed out throughout the week. Plans to go to Sen. Carl Levin's office to give him materials, including latest Space Alert. ipjn.1@charter.net

* Tucson, Arizona (Oct 3) Space Ecology: The Final Frontier of Environmentalism talk led by physics instructor Lynda Williams. University of Arizona Steward Observatory, Room 204 at 5:00 pm spinor64@hotmail.com

* Tucson, Arizona (Oct 4) Showing newly revised space video “A Space 4 Peace” and Raging Grannies will sing at Martha Cooper Library at 2:00 pm patbirnie@gmail.com

* Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (Oct 4) Nonviolent resistance at Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons corporation and space weapons contractor brandywine@juno.com www.brandywinepeace.com

* Vandenberg AFB, California (Oct 11) Vigil at front gate of Star Wars missile launch base 1:00 pm (831) 206-5043 macgregoreddy@gmail.com www.vandenbergwitness.org

* Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (Oct 9) Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council shows “A Space 4 Peace” video at Grace Church 6:30 pm kingraye@hotmail.com

* Walpole, Massachusetts (Oct 4) Lemonade Stand Informational on the corrosive effects of the MIC ericlee45@comcast.net

* Washington, D.C. (Oct 6) Weekly vigil at the Pentagon to incorporate Keep Space for Peace theme. Dorothy Day Catholic Worker (202) 882-9649

* Washington, D.C. (Oct 10) Weekly vigil at the White House to incorporate Keep Space for Peace theme. Dorothy Day Catholic Worker (202) 882-9649

* Wellington, Florida (Oct 4) Rally against space weapons at Wellington Green, 2:00 pm by Palm Beach WILPF and Peace & Justice Coalition susanm4peace@yahoo.com

Use this link to view the Space Week poster
http://mpjen.org/uploads/docs/keepspaceforpeace2008poster1.pdf

and this link to see the flyer
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/GN%20Flyer%20KS4Peace%20Week%202008%2...

Vincent Bugliosi's Lock-Bush-Up Tour

davidswanson — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:11:42 -0400

He's coming to Virginia next. Why not set up a tour in your state too?

Vincent Bugliosi in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Prosecutor of Charles Manson
Author of Bestsellers including "Helter Skelter" and his latest:
"The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder"

WHAT: Vincent Bugliosi to Speak and Take Questions from Audience

WHEN AND WHERE:

Richmond: Monday, October 13, 2008, 7:00 p.m., The Camel, 1621 Broad Street, Richmond, 804-347-7945, www.thecamel.org

Norfolk: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 7:30 p.m., NARO Cinema, 1507 Colley Avenue, Norfolk, 757-625-6275, www.narocinema.com

Charlottesville: Thursday, October 16, 7:00 p.m., Albemarle Co. Office Building, 401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, 434-961-6278, www.charlottesvillepeace.org

Washington, D.C.: Friday, October 17, 6:00 p.m., David A. Clark School of Law, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC, Building 38, 2nd Floor, R.S.V.P. -202-274-7341, Virginia@washingtonpeacecenter.net, www.washingtonpeacecenter.net

In his new book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder," Vincent Bugliosi makes a devastating, well documented case that President George W. Bush is guilty of the murder of U.S. soldiers as a result of the lies he told to justify the invasion of Iraq, and can be prosecuted by any state attorney general or county prosecutor.

As a Los Angeles prosecutor, Bugliosi represented the state in 106 major cases and won 105, including each of his 21 murder cases. Since his first book, "Helter Skelter," he's been one of the top true crime writers with three number one best sellers and numerous awards.

In his best known case, Bugliosi convicted Charles Manson of murder even though Manson was not present at two of the crime scenes when the victims were murdered.

Bugliosi's argument is simple. Bush wanted a war with Iraq. He had to show that a preemptive invasion of Iraq was justified. To do this Iraq had to be an imminent threat to the United States. There were two major problems. Bush couldn't prove any connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. More importantly, Bush's own 2002 classified intelligence estimate found that Saddam was not an imminent threat to the United States. Bush simply reversed the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002, and sent men and women off to fight a fraudulent and unnecessary war, knowing full well that some of them would come home in boxes.

More on how to lock Bush up:
http://convictbushcheney.org

No Surprise in the Senate Bailout Vote

dlindorff — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:30:41 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

The US Senate did what the Founding Fathers expected it to do when
they devised the idea of an upper house of Congress. Playing the role
of Britain’s House of Lords to the House’s House of Commons, it ignored
the rabble (that’s us, the voters) and voted the opposite way of the
House of Representatives, which on Monday had voted down the Bush
Administration’s proposed $700-billion to $1-trillion give-away to Wall
Street financial companies.

The Senate vote in support of the measure, which went 74-25 (the
ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy missed the vote), reflects the fact that, first
of all, Senators, who run representing entire states, are very
difficult to unseat because of the huge cost of mounting a media
campaign against an incumbent, and second that two-thirds of them even
don’t face voters this November, (and one third not for another four
years).

The House, in contrast, which defeated a similar bill earlier in
the week by 228-205, while still largely an incumbent’s sinecure, is
still a place where every member faces the voters every two years.

So now the bill goes back to the House for a second round of voting
tomorrow, this time in a version devised in the Senate to try and
convince 12 of Monday’s nay voters to switch to yea. The sweeteners: a
rise in the size of bank deposits insured by the (already
over-stretched) Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. from the current
$100,000 to $250,000, and some $115 billion in new tax breaks, some for
business, and some for wealthy taxpayers (a raising of the threshold
for applying the alternative minimum tax).

In other words, the minimum cost of this bailout, has been raised
from the $700 billion that the House rejected last time to $815
billion! And it’s a fair bet that more sweeteners will be added once
the bill goes to the House floor. (It should be noted that neither of
the measures added in the Senate has anything to do with a rescue.
Moreover, the first, upping the FDIC insured deposit limit, is simply a
time-saver for the rich, who could have simply moved around money to
separate banks to accomplish the same thing, while the second only
succeeds in driving the US budget further into the hole.)

The pressures on House members from lobbyists, House leaders of
both parties, and from the White House, will be enormous. The question
is whether public pressure, which was unprecedented over the past week,
jamming the Capital switchboard and crashing the Capital website, will
be equally enormous.

If voters again flood their representatives with calls and emails
demanding that they not support this rip-off bill, it is still possible
that the bailout will die and Congress and the White House will have to
go back to square one to work out a more reasonable and fair way to
salvage the US financial system than simply putting the results of 15
or more years of reckless Wall Street greed all on the backs of average
taxpayers.

As I have written earlier, the proper way to go about this would be
for both the Senate and the House to schedule and hold hearings on the
crisis and on ways to develop a rescue of the economy and the financial
system. Such hearings should include testimony from the victims of Wall
Street’s misdeeds—the homeowners who are losing their houses, the small
businesses that can no longer borrow funds to finance expansion or to
meet short term cash needs, the retirees and workers who are seeing
their pensions pillaged. They should include testimony from the
hundreds of economists, including Nobel Laureates like Joseph Stiglitz,
who are warning that the bailout as currently designed will not work
and could make things worse. And they should grill executives of the
major financial institutions about how they drove things to this
perilous state.

Then they should craft a response that meets the needs of the
public, not just the bankers and their investors, that will help to
rebuild the economy and the financial system on a sounder footing, and
that will punish those who abused the system and who have brought it to
its knees.

The Senate vote (which included yes votes from both major party
presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, both the
beneficiaries of large campaign donations from Wall Street interests)
was a victory for those who caused this crisis, and who hope to receive
all the money being put on the table.

The House vote will be a test of whether the public still has any
power at all to have its interests considered in what is still referred
to as this American democracy.

The advocates of this ripoff, from the President on down, have been
using cheap scare-mongering to try to win the day, claiming that if a
bill isn’t passed immediately, the country will spiral into a
depression like the 1930s. This is ridiculous. The country has been in
a credit crisis for months, and if Congress spend another month or two
deliberating and devising a good bill, it would not put the country in
any greater danger of collapse than it is already in. In fact, this
rush to pass a bad bill is far more likely to lead to disaster.

So once again, whether or not you have called your US
representative, get on the phone and do it again. Demand that they vote
“No” and say if they do not, you will vote against them in November.
The numbers to call are: 202-225-3121, 202-224-3121 or 800-828-0498. If
you cannot get through, look up in your local phone book blue pages the
number of a local constituent office for your representative, and call
there. In fact, do that anyway, too. You can also send an email to your representative.

Today and tomorrow are the last chance to stop this travesty from happening. Act today, and don't forget to spread the word.
_____________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

digg_url = 'http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/36551';
digg_title = "No Surprise in the Senate Bailout Vote";
digg_bodytext = "By Dave Lindorff\r\n\r\n The US Senate did what the Founding Fathers expected it to do when they devised the idea of an upper house of Congress. Playing the role of Britain’s House of Lords to the House’s House of Commons, it ignored the rabble (that’s us, the voters) and voted the opposite way of the House of Representatives, which on Monday had voted down the Bush Administration’s proposed $700-billion to $1-trillion give-away to Wall Street financial companies.\r\n\r\n The Senate vote in support of the measure, which went 74-25 (the ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy missed the vote), reflects the fact that, first of all, Senators, who run representing entire states, are very difficult to unseat because of the huge cost of mounting a media campaign against an incumbent, and second that two-thirds of them even don’t face voters this November, (and one third not for another four years).\r\n\r";
digg_skin = 'standard';

Project Uncensored

davidswanson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:16:11 -0400

By David Swanson

Project Censored has released a valuable new book called "Censored 2009: The Top 25 Stories of 2007-08".

The book includes summaries of the censored stories, in some cases citing multiple small and independent sources that told the stories, plus updates on new developments in the stories. Also included are substantial updates on the top censored stories of the previous year, most of which are still making news except that they're not making news: they're still ignored by the U.S. corporate media cartel. Meanwhile it's so easy to waste our energy complaining about how the corporate media reports stories, while greater harm is done by it not telling stories at all.

"Censored 2009" also includes hundreds of pages of analysis of corporate media conduct on a variety of issues from numerous talented authors. Here are the best recent concrete examples of how debates are conducted in a manner that completely shuts out important and popular positions.

This week we're being lied to about a bankers' bailout. We're being told that the stock market is the same thing as the economy, that both are about to implode unless we borrow more money than most national budgets and give it to banks with no questions asked. And the public is being ridiculed for interfering in our democracy by telling our representatives that we don't believe the lies.

Yet, too many of us do believe the lies. After the media outlets told us Monday's No vote was a disaster, they polled us on which party was more responsible for it, not on who should get the most credit for it. Then they reported that huge numbers of us blamed this party and huge numbers blamed that party. And I don't need a poll to tell you that huge numbers of people heard those reports and FORGOT the possibility that someone might be given credit rather than blame for a vote that, for once, matched the will of the public.

Small and independent media outlets are trying to do the work of a democratic communications system right now on this issue, as always. And grassroots groups that understand the problem are buying advertisements stating their admirable viewpoints in the New York Times, funding a company that daily defends the military-banker complex. They hate to do it, of course. They feel really, really bad about doing it. But what choice do they have? The smaller outlets are too small. And all the money we aren't giving to message ads we're giving to political campaigns to spend on election ads on corporate television -- more than enough money every election to have gone out and created new television networks from scratch.

Here's an idea that must be more brilliant than it sounds, since nobody seems capable of grasping it: small media outlets are small because WE DON'T FUND THEM. The right-wingers have the Washington Times and Fox News because THEY FUND THEM.

Think about it.

I'm serious.

Stop.

Now.

And think about it.

Here are some media outlets that show up in "Censored 2009" as having reported the news: Truthout, Alternet, The Progressive, Global Research, In These Times, The Nation, Pacifica Radio, Inter Press Service, Common Dreams. Why not support these media outlets? Why not advertise with them? Why not hold events to promote them, and Seven Stories Press, the publisher of "Censored 2009" and many other great books? How can the thrill of seeing your ad in the New York Times begin to compare to the importance of this?

I was happy to see that the first story honored by "Censored 2009" was one that I published on After Downing Street, which -- yes -- operates on your generous donations! Here's that story:

Is The United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month? Or Is It More?
By Michael Schwartz
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/24310

Other sources of the story of Iraqi deaths cited by Project Censored were also posted on After Downing Street. So was this other story that made the top 25:

The FBI Deputizes Business
By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/30856

In fact, readers of After Downing Street, despite its relatively narrow focus, have been well informed by multiple stories and discussions of several other topics that made Project Censored's top 25 list:

Bush claiming the right to seize private assets
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/25497

The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/29063

Human trafficking
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/36296

Secret laws
http://afterdowningstreet.org/comment/reply/35227

Winter soldier
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/31447

The American Psychological Association's support for torture
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/31608

$9 Billion Lost in Iraq
http://afterdowningstreet.org/comment/reply/26694

NATO's consideration of first-strike nuclear policy
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/30338

Eliot Spitzer, Bush, and Predatory Lending
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/32010

But these stories have all been better summarized by this new book, and added to by a collection of critical but censored news from a wide variety of areas. Below is the list. Check out how timely #25 is.

We Need to Demand Hearings!

dlindorff — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:03:19 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

With the Bush Administration, the two leading presidential
candidates, and the Congressional leadership, as well as a phalanx of
Wall Street lobbyists all pushing hard for a massive transfer of
taxpayer money to the coffers of banks and investment banks, the
American people need to demand a halt to this bums' rush to a bailout.

We've seen what happens when Congress forgoes the time-tested
process of deliberative and investigative hearings and simply takes a
floor vote on a Bush Administration-backed measure. First there was the
October 18, 2001 resolution for use of military force against Al Qaeda
in Afghanistan. Because there were no hearings on that measure, its
loose, deliberately ambiguous wording has been used ever since by the
Bush/Cheney crew as authorization for their global so-called "War" on
Terror, including the claim that the president has the dictatorial
power ignore treaties, US law, and bills passed by the Congress.
Shortly thereafter, there was the Patriot Act, a compendium of
anti-Democratic measures that had failed to win passage in Congress
over the years which were cobbled together in the dead of night by
Bush/Cheney zealots and passed on a voice vote the next day by a
Congress too cowed to hold hearings on the measure. Then, in October
2002, there was the second authorization for use of military force
resolution, this time against Iraq, which has ended up miring the US in
a disastrous five-year-long war without end that has killed 4500
Americans, chewed up 40,000 more, and killed in excess of one million
innocent Iraqi civilians.

Had there been serious hearings on any of these three terrible
measures, there is a chance none of them would have passed, or that at
least, had they been passed, they would have been reworded to tie the
administration's hands. The first AUMF could have limited military
actions to attacking Al Qaeda. Period. The Patriot Act's constitutional
overrides could have been exposed early, and challenged. And the
administration's lies about the alleged threats posed by Iraq could
have been challenged in public by other witnesses, plus a clear
requirement could have been included that any attack on Iraq would need
UN authorization.

Now Congress is being pressured to pass an equally horrific bill
with no hearings. We know that 200 leading economists, including at
least three Nobel Laureates, one of them former World Bank economist
Joseph Stiglitz, are opposed to the bailout, saying throwing a trillion
dollars at Wall Street won't work and will be a waste of taxpayer money
or worse. We know that it fails to address the root problem--the
housing and mortgage crisis. We know that it could be a crippling blow
to the dollar. Yet without hearings to expose this giant scam, the only
ones getting through to members of Congress are Wall Street lobbyists,
their pockets stuffed with campaign cash.

Citizens can't even get past the Capitol switchboard, which is
jammed with angry callers trying to get through to their
representatives and senators.

The point that needs to be made is that there is no great urgency to
pass a bill. The administration's claim that the bottom will fall out
of the economy and that the country will be plunged into a depression
if the bill isn't passed immediately is nonsense. The Great Depression
took years to develop after the 1929 stock market crash.

The current market could collapse, and there'd be plenty of time to
act to revive the national economy. Meanwhile, the credit crisis, which
is serious, has been underway for months and months. It is not
something that came up last week and needs to be resolved tomorrow (as
if that were possible by the mere passing of a give-away bill). There
is plenty of time to hold the kind of hearings that will let members of
Congress, and the American public, learn about the causes of the
crisis, of its impacts, and about what the various strategies are that
might most effectively address it.

So the public demand should not be for passage of a "good" bailout
bill. It should be for a halt to this rush to passage of any bill. The
demand should be for "No Bill Without Hearings!"

So call Congress (202-225-3121, 202-224-3121 or 800-828-0498) and
tell your representative and your two senators that you don't want them
railroaded. Tell them you demand hearings before legislation. And tell
them, again, that you will vote against anyone who votes for the
current bailout for Wall Street. (Hint: If you can't get through, then
call one of their local offices, which are listed in the blue pages of
your phonebook, or go visit a local office.)

Don't forget to write letters, too, to your local paper demanding hearings and a reasoned response to the crisis, not a bailout.
_________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Vincent Bugliosi in Charlottesville, Virginia, October 16th

davidswanson — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:14:26 -0400

Vincent Bugliosi: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

WHEN: Thursday. October 16, 2008 7 pm

WHERE: Albemarle County Office Building, 401 McIntire Road

COST: $5 Suggested Donation-no one turned away!

In his new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Vincent Bugliosi makes a devastating, well documented case that President George W. Bush is guilty of murder as a result of the lies he told to justify the invasion of Iraq.

As a Los Angeles prosecutor, Bugliosi represented the state in 106 major cases and won 105, including each of his 21 murder cases. Since his first book, Helter Skelter, he's been one of the top true crime writers with three number one best sellers and numerous awards.

In his best known case, Bugliosi convicted Charles Manson of murder even though Manson was never at two of the crime scenes when the victims were murdered.

Bugliosi's argument is simple. Bush wanted a war with Iraq. He had to show that a preemptive invasion of Iraq was justified. To do this Iraq had to be an imminent threat to the United States. There were two major problems. Bush couldn't prove any connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. More importantly, his own 2002 classified intelligence estimate found that Saddam was not an imminent threat to the United States. He simply reversed the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate (NEI) of 2002.

Sponsored by the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice

For more information visit www.charlottesvillepeace.org or call 434-961-6278

Lawyers, Guns, and Money

davidswanson — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:06:51 -0400

By David Swanson

Why would anyone phone the United States and ask for lawyers, guns, and money? Primarily because, other than bad movies, that's most of what the United States produces. What else could you phone home for if you wanted to? We produce weapons and movies about weapons and weapons that were in movies about weapons, and so on .

And we produce lawyers who push money around desks and into drawers and out of envelopes. They manipulate money all day and night, and they call that work, and we compensate them royally for it. But the money is increasingly play money because we're not producing anything else, except the lawyers and the guns.

We measure the play money with the stock market and report on its fate every day with the same solemnity used to report the weather, the sports scores, and the celebrity sex news, but with an even greater pretense that it somehow affects us. And, instead of refocusing on producing useful things through real work, when the whole phony system starts to teeter, we rush to the toy store, buy up all the board games, rip all the money out of the packages and give it to the lawyers.

Six years ago, Kevin Phillips wrote in "Wealth and Democracy":

"The wealthiest peoples of the last five hundred years have been among the most speculative -- Americans, British, Dutch. We have seen how a late stage of luxuriating in finance was clearly an important element in the Dutch and then British decline. … If Spain could be bled dry on the battlefields of Germany and Italy, the Dutch critically shorn of their trade routes, and British financial hegemony strangled by war debt, the extent to which the United States has let its economy become financialized stands to be a twenty-first-century Achilles' heel."

Today, Richard Cook wrote:

"[T]he problem stems from the fact that in 1913 Congress privatized our money supply by turning it over to the private banks that own the Federal Reserve System. This is also why we have lived under the mass delusion that a healthy financial sector leads to a healthy producing economy. Actually it's the other way around. The financial sector should support the producing economy, not bleed it dry through interest, fees, commissions, and the destruction that arises from financial profit-seeking. There is also the fact that while the producing economy has been hammered by job outsourcing and bled white by financial parasitism, it is still a powerful machine that can produce the goods and services people need. We are a strong, capable nation. And we are blessed with the resources we require for a decent standard of living, though not necessarily at a rate of consumption that forever outpaces the rest of the world. But what is wrong with that? The underlying strength of the producing economy was on display this morning, when the Dow-Jones defied the doomsayers by coming back strongly the day after the bailout was defeated."

I pair up these two quotes in an attempt to suggest that imperial greed and paper-pushing-as-work go together like guns and lawyers. We can maintain neither, and past empires have seen their home populations better served by ending both.

Here's a plan to invest in the real economy and improve global relations, without borrowing another dime. Our military acknowledges about 780 bases maintained in other people's countries, breeding hatred and resentment at huge financial cost. That's about one base per billion dollars in proposed bailout for weapon-selling, money-scamming lawyers. And don't think any of these bases don't drain billions of dollars from our shriveling real economy.

Here's the plan. Shut the bases down. Take all the money saved, wave it in front of the bankers' noses, and then tell them we're going to use it to pay off our national debt and create real sustainable jobs. Offer them a choice: they can face prosecution or they can fill out a job application and begin working for a living.

Surprise! Congress Listened to the Voting Public!

dlindorff — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:43:24 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

The most entertaining thing about this Wall Street crisis and the
refusal of the House of Representatives (not failure but refusal) to
pass a bailout bill negotiated by the Bush White House and the House
leadership is how shocked and upset those leaders and the pundit class
have been by the idea that members of Congress would actually heed the
wishes of their constituents!

The Founding Fathers always saw the lower house of Congress as
voice of the people—the elected body that, because its members had to
face the voters every two years, would be most responsive to public
sentiment.

Because of the power of money and the role of the corporate media
in filtering the information that voters get about what is actually
going on, that close connection between public and public servant in
the House has long ago broken down. This time, however, because the
crisis hit within five weeks of the national election, and because the
crisis involved something that everyone cares about—their money—it
worked.

The public is paying attention, and most of us got it. It was
obvious that Congress and the White House were out to screw us out of
our money in order to protect the millionaire and billionaire traders
and conmen who have been running the Wall Street casino for the last
decade and a half without any adult supervision.

Now that people are paying attention, it will be interesting to see
how these corrupt leaders, Democrat and Republican, will fashion that
bailout and get it passed. Once aroused from their TV-induced slumber,
the American public may not be willing to get rolled. If the anger
grows, and the calls and emails to Congress—which brought down the
Capitol website Monday and jammed the switchboard for several days
beginning last week—continue to flood in threatening an electoral
Armageddon for those who back a bailout, Congress may yet be unable to
pass a bill.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Now let’s make something clear. The stock market crash that
happened on Monday was no crisis. The market can rise and fall with
little or no significant impact on the broader economy, or even on
those who have their retirement income invested in equities. While
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and House
leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Minority Leader John Boehner may
point frantically to the falling Dow as a dire warning to members of
Congress to take action, it is all just scaremongering.

The real issue is not the stock market—it’s the credit markets. And
these have been shut down to borrowers—both individuals and
corporates—for months. Which means that there is no sudden urgency to
pass a lousy, rip-off bailout bill in days without proper hearings and
investigations into what is really needed.

The Bush Administration’s whole idea here from the start was to use
scare-mongering and high-pressure tactics honed in the 2002 campaign to
gin up a war against Iraq to get a bill through Congress that would
make a virtual dictator out of the Treasury Secretary, and to siphon a
trillion dollars or more out of taxpayers’ accounts and into the
pockets of the already stunningly rich financial class. It was to be
one final wrecking ball by the Bush/Cheney gang launched at the
American economic and political system, allowing the people who have
run the country into the ground over the last eight years, and their
financial backers to walk away with all the cookies.

It could still happen if the public doesn’t stay fired up and
angry. But for now, it’s at least exciting and deeply satisfying to see
the Administration, and the cowards who run the so-called Democratic
opposition in Congress, scrambling frantically to come up with a scheme
to get this ripoff passed.

What should happen? Congressional Democrats should put a hold on any action until after Election Day, which after all is only five weeks off. They should say that the voters must be heard on this critical national issue of how to rescue the economy and fix the financial system. Hearings should be scheduled in the relevant committees—oversight, banking, securities regulation, housing, the elderly, health and human services, etc. (yes, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is right in observing that given that most bankruptcies in the US are caused by medical emergencies, if the US had national healthcare, we wouldn’t have the housing foreclosure crisis)—and a special prosecutor should be established to look into the corruption behind all the recent financial sector failures. The real victims of the deregulatory orgy need to be heard, as do some of the 200 economists (including at least three nobel laureates) who have opposed this bailout. Then when the true nature and extent of the crisis and its causes have been laid out in clear public view, along with some real solutions for real people, appropriate legislative reforms should be drawn up, debated and voted upon, to be finally enacted into law.

No rush to judgment! No short-circuiting of the critical process of hearings!

The economy will survive this process.

What we cannot survive is a continuation of secret government, backroom deals and trillion-dollar bailouts.

BACK TO THE PHONES!
_______________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His
latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Weasel Watch

dlindorff — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:49:42 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

It is going to be entertaining, to say the least, to watch John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom endorsed the crooked, stacked rip-off bailout bill being scaremongered into law by the Bush Administration.

Now that it is clear that the American public overwhelmingly
recognizes this bill as a corrupt attempt to rob them and reward the
crooks and shysters on Wall Street, how will McCain and Obama weasel
out of their endorsement of the proposal?

They can certainly count their lucky stars that the vote was in the
House and not in the Senate, where they would have already had to take
a public stand up or down on the measure, but let's be clear--both men
have said they suppport the negotiated proposal that was put to the
House today, and which went down to a stinging defeat, 228-205, despite
the solid support of the House Democratic leadership.

Meanwhile, to see how your representative voted, click here. You'll know what do to...