Montgomery County, MD Green Party Blog

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s interrogation at the hands of the US was remarkably effective; so effective that he even confessed to plotting an attack on a building that was not even established until three years after Khalid’s capture.

I was responsible for planning, training, surveying, and financing for the New (or Second) Wave of attacks against the following skyscrapers after 9/11: …Plaza Bank, Washington state.

But Plaza Bank was not established until 2006, three years after Khalid was already in custody.

Torture brings out remarkable amounts of information indeed.

Part IV: The Case for Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald

If the first three parts of this series have made a reasonable if not airtight case for the resignation or firing of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, and with his legal and political failings becoming clearer by the day, it seems only fitting that this final part make the case for a particular successor.

Clearly, the next head of the Department of Justice must be many of the things that Gonzales is not. The new chief must be strong and independent — and with a long history of being a successful federal prosecutor. He or she must not be beholden to the White House or be an ideologue. He or she must possess the respect of the foot soldiers within the Department of Justice and thus be able to restore some of the lost credibility, confidence and morale that marks the current regime. And, of course, he or she must be a Republican (or at least an existing Republican-appointee, thanks commenters for pointing this out).

*

*

*

The next attorney general, Fein said Thursday, should immediately “issue a memorandum to the Congress and to the White House” informing both “that any gripes about prosecutors they may have should be funneled through the Attorney General and not through the prosecutors themselves.” Another memo Fein would write, he told me, would be to remind U.S. Attorneys that they must immediately report any improper conduct or pressure–of the sort that occurred here with at least one federal prosecutor–brought by members of Congress or executive branch officials. And, for good measure, Fein would want the next Attorney General to get a public commitment from the President to abide by those rules.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzopart_ivmeet_your_new_atto.html#more

This comes courtesy of Scott “News Junkie Scott” Loughrey (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/News_Junkie_GP/)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070315/bs_afp/francetransportrailtgvluxembourggermany_070315062058

Amnesty International reports that the Bush administration has turned a blind eye to human rights abuses around the world in the name of national security.

Amnesty International’s report reveals that the United States, in the context of the war on terror, has been silent on human rights abuses committed by many of its new allies. In the Balochistan province of Pakistan, for example, Amnesty International has documented torture, possible extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings and disappearances. In January, Amnesty International issued an urgent action on behalf of Baloch political leader Akhtar Mengal, currently being held incommunicado in solitary confinement in Karachi without access to needed medical care. The administration has thus far failed to take any effective public action on his case.

In Egypt, the government has arrested and detained hundreds of activists affiliated with the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, generally for periods lasting several weeks. Yet Egypt remains one of the United States’ largest recipients of foreign assistance and a key landing pad for U.S.-sponsored “extraordinary renditions” of terror suspects. Amnesty International has reported that President Hosni Mubarak has expanded Egypt’s emergency laws to suppress freedom of speech and expression. Recently, an Egyptian student was sentenced to four years in prison for expressing his views on his blog. In 2006, the Egyptian government cracked down on NGOs.

The chaos in Iraq has spawned numerous human rights problems, but one group that has suffered particularly has been women. A study by the human rights group, Madre, claims that widespread gender-based violence has been largely overlooked. Iraqi women are enduring unprecedented levels of assault in the public sphere, “honor killings,” torture in detention, and other forms of gender-based violence. Women—in particular those who are perceived to pose a challenge to the political project of their attackers—have increasingly been targeted. The report documents the use of gender-based violence by Iraqi Islamists in the government, brought to power by the US overthrow of Iraq’s secular Ba’ath regime, and highlights the role of the United States in fomenting the human rights crisis confronting Iraqi women today.

Under US occupation, Iraqi women have endured a wave of gender-based violence, including widespread abductions, public beatings, death threats, sexual assaults, “honor killings,” domestic abuse, torture in detention, beheadings, shootings, and public hangings. Much of this violence is systematic—directed by the Islamist militias that mushroomed across Iraq after the US toppled the mostly secular Ba’ath regime.

Attacks on women began within weeks of the US invasion in 2003. US authorities did nothing to stop the violence, and soon the attacks spread.

Women have been systematically attacked by theocratic militias on both sides of the sectarian divide, but the most widespread violence has been committed by the Shiite militias affiliated with the US-backed government—the Badr Brigade and Mahdi Army. These groups have waged their campaign of terror against women with weapons, training, and money provided by the US under a policy called the “Salvador Option.”

Contrary to its rhetoric and its legal obligations under the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the Bush Administration has refused to protect women’s human rights in Iraq. In fact, it has decisively traded women’s rights for cooperation from the Islamists whom it boosted to power.

Back in the U.S. President Bush has requested legislation creating a guest worker program for foreign workers to enter the U.S. to work on a temporary basis. But the United States already has a guestworker program for unskilled laborers — one that is largely hidden from view because the workers are typically socially and geographically isolated.

The program allowed about 121,000 guestworkers into the United States in 2005 — approximately 32,000 for agricultural work and another 89,000 for jobs in forestry, seafood processing, landscaping, construction and other non-agricultural industries.

These workers are bound to the employers who “import” them. If guestworkers complain about abuses, they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation. Instead, they are bound to the employers who “import” them. If guestworkers complain about abuses, they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation. Federal law and U.S. Department of Labor regulations provide some basic protections to H-2 guestworkers — but they exist mainly on paper. Government enforcement of their rights is almost non-existent. Private attorneys typically won’t take up their cause.

Guestworkers are routinely cheated out of wages; forced to mortgage their futures to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs; held virtually captive by employers or labor brokers who seize their documents; forced to live in squalid conditions; and,ndenied medical benefits for on-the-job injuries.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel remarked that, “This guestworker program’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center has extensively documented these abuses and argues that the guestworker must be completely overhauled before it is expanded.

When: Thursday, April 19th, at 7PM

Where: Wheaton Regional Library

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Apps/Libraries/branchinfo/wh.asp#dirs

Don’t miss the fun and fireworks! Be there, or be square!

Never thought I’d end up agreeing with this guy…..

…I have had the rich satisfaction of knowing and working with many openly gay and lesbian Americans, and I have come to realize that “gay” is an artificial category when it comes to measuring a man or woman’s on-the-job performance or commitment to shared goals. It says little about the person. Our differences and prejudices pale next to our historic challenge. Gen. Pace is entitled, like anyone, to his personal opinion, even if it is completely out of the mainstream of American thinking. But he should know better than to assert this opinion as the basis for policy of a military that represents and serves an entire nation. Let us end “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This policy has become a serious detriment to the readiness of America’s forces as they attempt to accomplish what is arguably the most challenging mission in our long and cherished history.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301507.html

To tell you the truth, this whole thing rather stunned me. I know the government has regulated daylight saving time (on and off) since the First World War, but this latest modification strikes me as unnecessary and somewhat — I know no better word — socialistic. Here’s the government, the government for crying out loud, deciding on its own when the sun should come up. I mean, it’s bad enough that the feds tap our phones and keep changing the definition of torture so that even the rack would not apply, but now they just come in (without a warrant or anything) and take away an hour of morning sunlight. It’s enough to make a conservative out of a person. I’m thinking of subscribing to the Weekly Standard (How’s the war going, boys?) or joining one of those right-wing Christian groups that hate the government, evolution and, I suppose, me. On second thought, maybe not.

“Socialistic”, huh?  While this column is quite hilarious on one level, (that’s why I linked to it, by the way) this night owl must disagree with the morning bird about government regulation.  Here in the D.C. area (and indeed, throughout much of the State of Maryland) power rates are going up — in part — due to demand beginning to outstrip supply (Yes, I know that there are plenty of other reasons for the spike in power rates, but supply vs. demand is also one of them.).  Japan learned long ago that when resources are scarce, then the Government must step in and regulate the allocation of those resources.  Because energy is becoming increasingly scarce, it is entirely proper that the Government step in to regulate its use (in this case, through daylight savings).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031200990.html

Trying to Untie Property Owners’ Hands, Voters Also Ended Some Checks on Sprawl

A voter initiative in 2004, however, undermined the state’s land-use law. With the overwhelming approval of Measure 37, which has been upheld in the courts and is shredding the anti-sprawl status quo, Oregonians unwittingly replaced land-use quirkiness with land-use chaos.

Many here are now suffering from voter’s remorse and want the law fixed, according to opinion polls, newspaper pundits and a number of powerful state politicians.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001184.html?nav=hcmodule

Green stronghold, and independent to the core, Maine has launched an effort to force the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. On March 1st, 80 people gathered in Brunswick, Maine to launch a petition drive to motivate the Maine Legislature to vote on an impeachment investigation resolution. With a goal of 10,000 signatures, the drive has so far collected $3,000 for advertising and over 2,500 signatures.

Pennsylvania citizens have also launched an impeachment petition.

Local communities have passed impeachment resolutions in California, Connecticut, Massachussets, New Hampshire, New York, Washington and Vermont.

Impeachment resolutions have been introduced in state legislatures in Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico,  and Washington.

The groundswell for impeachment is growing and, although it is flying under the radar, it is only another disaster away from breaking into the open.

Tokyo experienced it’s first snowless winter on record, although meteorologists blame El Nino in part.

Shanghai had the highest winter temperature ever recorded, 2.6 degrees celcius above average, highest since record keeping began in 1873.

Two weeks ago the Chinese Meteorological Bureau reported that a third of its climate observation stations on the Tibetan plateau had registered all time high temperatures.

Europe also experienced some records this winter.  The Alps experienced the warmest winter on record, with average temperatures 3 or 4 degrees celsius above average.  Zurich saw only two days of snow compared to an average 16.

Around the world, records continue to fall, and skepticism about global warming becomes increasingly untenable.