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Labor Day

Labor Day

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Have a good Labor Day, America! Labor Day is meant to celebrate the contributions of the working class. The labor unions promoted it as a testament to the cause of worker’s rights. I don’t expect to see much on the origins of the holiday in America’s media this year.

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it “the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed…that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.”

The original parade in 1882 organized by the Knights of Labor had a loose affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, which was one of the reasons why the more progressive supporters of a labor parade preferred to join the rest of the world in celebrating it on May Day. The legislation sanctioning the holiday was shepherded through Congress amid serious labor unrest. President Grover Cleveland feared that the May 1 holiday would end up memorializing the Chicago Haymarket riots in early May of 1886. He moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day. It’s an interesting episode in American history.

We don’t talk about it much anymore. All of this is pretty much unknown/forgotten/not considered important to the majority of Americans, who celebrate Labor Day weekend as the last bit of summer before school starts – or at least they did until school started opening in August.

It’s a long weekend anyway, even if there’s not much to celebrate if you’re a worker in America.

Enjoy your day of rest.

Other news of the day:

Daredevil zoologist Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin has died in a tangle with a stingray. “He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart.” Freakish accident, to be impaled by a stingray. I liked the zany guy. His antics covered real love and knowledge, and I always enjoyed watching him introduce us to the other lifeforms of our planet.

Burning Man is over. I wish that I could have gone this year. The art theme was “Hope and Fear: The Future.” Take a look.

Hamed Jumaa Al Saeedi, al Qaeda second in command behind Abu Ayyub al-Masri in Iraq, has been captured without recourse to bombs.

Poppies! Poppies! Poppies will put them to sleep. – Wicked Witch of the West, Wizard of Oz. It’s a banner year for the opium harvest in Afghanistan – the highest levels ever recorded, and almost 50% more than last year.

Anyone know why atheletes are being targeted in Iraq? Ghanim Ghudayer, a popular soccer player on Iraq’s Olypic team, has been kidnapped – just before he was going to leave the country.

The Education Department has admitted it shared the personal information of hundreds of student loan applicants with the FBI as part of a five-year program called Project Strikeback. Those are in-depth applications. Sigh.

Yesterday, six children were burnt to death in a Chicago apartment fire that was apparently caused by a candle used for light because there was no electricity. Fire officials say none of the homes and apartments of the 29 people who have died in Chicago fires this year had smoke detectors that worked.

And for the more trivial… In a bit of what looks like damage control, Tom Cruise has finally apologized to Brooke Shields for his nasty comments about her taking meds for post-partum depression. Could it be that he had a taste of what post-partum depression actually looks like? Or was this somehow connected to a coincidence of location (Brooke Shields and Katie Holmes gave birth down the hall from one another)? I didn’t have any problem with Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch – hey, when you’re in love, exhuberance is part of the package. It’s somehow very American, too, and I’m not sure why people seemed upset about it. His nasty remarks about Brooke Shields, however, were so mean – and so obviously streaming from his Scientologist fanaticism – that I was shocked. They should probably leave the PR to Travolta and others. Kudos to Brooke Shields, again, for the way she handled the whole thing. Nice that there’s an adult in the mix once in a while.

That’s it for me today. It’s beautiful outside, and while I’m not participating in any parade or protest, I am looking forward to spending the rest of the day with my family.

Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld, Ms. Rice

Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld, Ms. Rice

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Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld, Ms. Rice:

We are America’s citizens. We are not defeatists. We are not pessimists. We are not appeasers.

I don’t hear anyone arguing that the militant anti-USA movements in the middle east are not a threat.
Not “Dean democrats,” not anyone.

Many of us simply have come to believe that you back-alley players are the last people in America who should be making decisions on how to deal with that threat.

You seem to escalate the problems.

You and a few others have formed a cabal that has taken over much of our government.

If you’re going to invoke Nazis and their appeasers, you might want to be pretty careful where you draw those lines.

It’s not only Arab extremists who hate us now. They spell Bush with a swastika or a dollar sign in South America. Take a look at world polls, and ask yourself how the view of our country can have so changed over the course of just a few years.

Here at home, we don’t appreciate your dishonorable use of the discourse of freedom while you move toward an increasingly fascistic (i.e. totalitarian, corporatist) regime with our own government.

Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld – You’ve done well for yourselves since the Nixon days, that’s for sure. Ms. Rice – I had hoped for better when I first heard that a black female academic… well, never mind. None of you lack intelligence.

But your words ring hollow. There is no truth in you.

Don’t stand up and try to tell us about morality and freedom and dreams.
What you’ve actually stood for has nothing to do with anything like that.

You have pursued aggressive actions in the world at large, and done what you could to destroy the benefits of citizenship at home. You have worked quite hard – yes – but only for the interests of big business (yes, especially oil), not for the interests of the American public. You have have rammed through no-bid contracts for your friends. This administration and its rubber-stampers in Congress even allowed insurance and pharmaceutical companies to write legislation.

Hey, we know that we don’t count as human unless we make at least $200,000 a year. You’ve made that clear in so many ways. How about all those accounts in Dubai and the Caymans? Tax giveaways to the rich, and to corporations that appear to have developed a stronger bill of rights than we could ever hope for. The attempted abolition of social security. On and on, and I can’t bear to think this week about Katrina anymore. The little speeches make me physically ill. What hypocrisy.

Take odds on who’ll win after Katrina – the oil industry or the luxury real estate developers. Admit it, you love the smell of crude in the morning.

We know what you stand for.

You’ve broken our trust. You’ve done little to make us safer while you’re manipulating us with fear.

Our ports and monuments and other targets are still quite unprotected.

You’re watching us (in violation of the Constitution) more than you’re “protecting” us.

America stuck our nose into the Middle East with boots on the ground in Saudi Arabia, protecting the tyrannical “royal family” – not democracy and freedom. We’ve propped up dictators and pulled down democratically-elected leaders for years. Are democracy and freedom near the top of America’s list? The evidence suggests we have other, competing, interests. Perhaps we should have a little national pow-wow about what, exactly, those interests really are.

We didn’t stay with the peace process in Israel, although we probably gave the go-ahead for the recent attacks. (Were those our bombs?)

The face of America to the world used to be the Peace Corps. Not anymore.

What is America known for now?
The carnage of Fallujah.
The torture of POWs and “detainees,” many of whom were rounded up randomly for a fee.
Abu Graib. Guantanamo.
The theft of natural resources from other countries.
Diamond-mining pseudochristians rushing toward their apocalypic visions.
Death cults spinning off your lead of hatred, the resurgence of the KKK and others.

Oh, and we do see the camps prisons you’re building in Texas. Who are they for again?

You tried to make us believe that Iraq was an immanent threat. It was not. The “pre-emptive” war was based on lies.

You tried to make us believe that Hussein was tied to 9-11.
Untrue, but you’re still using 9-11 to try to rationalize our invasion of Iraq.

You “sold” us this illegal and unethical invasion of Iraq. Then you banned the media from Fallujah, and after Abu Graib, you banned camera phones from military bases. No more evidence. No more reporting.

Judging from recent events, routine maintenance of the pipelines isn’t a prerequisite for corporate welfare.

Still, I’m wondering why clearly-permanent bases are always built on the oil pipeline?

We are not heroes to the people of Iraq. They want us to leave.

In the name of fighting terrorism, you’ve simply created more reasons for people to become terrorists. Terrorism is a method. We can’t wipe out terrorism. But we can and should look at why and how people become terrorists. Our ethical and strategic failures to legitimately address the issues of our world have contributed to that process. There are many more terrorists now.

In Iraq, we’ve simply jump-started civil war.

You said Iraq would be able to pay for the war. Check our national debt.

Another involuntary call-up for Marines… back-door drafts…

And now you’ve started softening us up for Iran. I’m not defending Iran, but if I were in their shoes, I’d probably want to have some kind of deterrant against US aggression too. Is Syria next? Endless war is the plan, then? When does the draft start, or are we planning to use the nukes again?

How many of our own will you label terrorists? The last time I checked, the ACLU was on the list!

It has become abundantly clear from your actions (and their consequences) that you have no idea what strategic negotiation is, what collaborative work is, what diplomacy is, how to gather actionable intelligence, how to create alliances. The US has become a throwback.

I wonder if you have a sense of what democracy and freedom even mean.

You have hurt the middle class, the blue-collar workers, the poor. The schools. The environment. The economy.

The reversal of FDR’s progress has always been a stated goal. The services of a previously rich nation are already being cut – and our treasury, such as it is now, is being handed to (surprise, surprise) the rich. Should anyone mention this, you accuse us of “class warfare.”

Orwellian language aside (does anyone still believe in the truth-value of “No Child Left Behind” “Clean Air Act” “Patriot Act”?), let’s recall the rallying cry of this administration, the promise of “compassionate conservatism.” That demeanor was dropped – what – three days after the election? Where is the compassion? Where is the conservatism?

This administration is self-centered, hard-hearted, and wasteful with the resources of this land and its people. It has a fundamental disregard for the value (and values) of this country. We will be paying for the destructive policies of this administration for many, many years and in many, many ways.

Given all this, it’s not surprising to see you all default to the usual tactics. You’re backed into a corner now – tight enough to defend Joe Lieberman!

Your reaction to the people who bring some of our disagreements into the public sphere for democratic discussion is predictable:

“Swift-boating,” whisper campaigns, intimidation, blowhard radio liars, the propaganda industry that used to be our free press, and the further corruption and manipulation of our religious communities. All of it.

What’s next? Disappearings, black bags? Americans don’t like intimidation tactics. I’m not afraid of you, despite the fact that you’ve put the guy who used to be in charge of dissident roundups (and death squads!) in charge of surveillance on the American people.

The things you stand for and represent do not strike me as the best America has to offer to its own citizens or to the world.

How small and select does the crowd have to be for you not to get booed these days?

You do have to answer to your boss. I don’t think you particularly believe in God or anything like that. I’m referring to your boss in this world.

In case you’ve somehow forgotten, that’s us, the American people – not that pathetic man in the white house.

Returning Soldiers Facing Radiation Effects

Returning Soldiers Facing Radiation Effects

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These soldiers are sick of it. Literally.

Eight sick soliders from the 442nd Military Police put the pieces together.

A shell coated with depleted uranium pierces a tank like a hot knife through butter, exploding on impact into a charring inferno. As tank armor, it repels artillery assaults. It also leaves behind a fine radioactive dust with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

Depleted uranium is the garbage left from producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and energy plants. It is 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium. The United States has an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of it, sitting in hazardous waste storage sites across the country. Meaning it is plentiful and cheap as well as highly effective.

Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was med-evaced out in July 2003, nearly unable to walk because of lightning-strike pains from herniated discs in his spine. Then began a strange series of symptoms he’d never experienced in his previously healthy life.

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C, he ran into a buddy from his unit. And another, and another, and in the tedium of hospital life between doctor visits and the dispensing of meds, they began to talk.

“We all had migraines. We all felt sick,” Reed says. “The doctors said, ‘It’s all in your head.’ “

Then the medic from their unit showed up. He too, was suffering. That made eight sick soldiers from the 442nd Military Police, an Army National Guard unit made up of mostly cops and correctional officers from the New York area.

But the medic knew something the others didn’t. Dutch marines had taken over the abandoned train depot dubbed Camp Smitty, which was surrounded by tank skeletons, unexploded ordnance and shell casings. They’d brought radiation-detection devices. The readings were so hot, the Dutch set up camp in the middle of the desert rather than live in the station ruins.

“We got on the Internet,” Reed said, “and we started researching depleted uranium.”

Read the rest of the Wired article.

There’s a lot of depleted uranium out there – affecting everyone who comes near it. Remember Agent Orange? This is probably worse. I blog on this every once in a while. It’s still not a topic that’s getting picked up in the public realm very much. I suspect we’ll be talking about it at some point, though. The use of weapons with depleted uranium may well be considered a war crime.

According to military guidelines, our soliders should have been made aware of the dangers of working with and around depleted uranium, and trained on ways to avoid prolonged exposure to its toxicity and radioactivity. The soldiers in this article say they got nothing of the kind. It’s not even clear whether their unit ever tested for radiation in the area.

The use of depleted uranium transcends the general ugliness of this administration – so nothing’s stopping Republicans from standing up on this issue, right? Support the troops – right? Right? … right?

Violence in the Middle East

Violence in the Middle East

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If you’re wondering why I haven’t blogged on the current violence in the Middle East, it’s because my opinion is not as well-informed as it could be. I don’t feel qualified to stand forth with an analysis.

I don’t trust much of what I’m hearing in the news, especially knowing that there is a lot of history there. What we are getting is a snapshot viewpoint here and there. My overall feeling so far is that there is plenty of blame, and a fair bit of hypocrisy and spin, to go around. I would like to hear viewpoints from countries that are a lot less involved in that part of the world.

As the violence has escalated more and more people are being killed.

I hope there are people already there (and with greater skill than Condi) who can help negotiate an end to this bloodshed.

No Permanent Bases in Iraq – Sign Biden’s Petition

No Permanent Bases in Iraq – Sign Biden’s Petition

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I support Senator Biden’s Amendment to bar any funds from being used to establish permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq or to control Iraq’s oil. I disagree with Biden’s stated opinion on the following points: I don’t think it’s at all “obvious to most Americans” that we have no designs or Iraq’s oil or strategic control of bases, nor do I believe that such topics can so easily be pushed off into the realm of “conspiracy theory” tinfoil-hatland anymore. I don’t even believe that for many Americans the idea of our being there to get “our oil out from under their sand” is a significant ethical issue. Sometimes it seems that even “freedom and democracy” is just insider code for “steal our natural resources.” Maybe it’s just me… In any case, it’s significant that the provision that both the Senate and the House had separately approved was stripped from the bill. It’s significant that this administration will not say that we aren’t building permanent bases. By some accounts, they are already nearing completion.

No Permanent Bases in Iraq.
Sign Senator Joe Biden’s petition.

Last week, the Senate and House voted on a joint emergency spending bill to support our troops in Iraq. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Republicans stripped out a key provision proposed by me and Representative Barbara Lee – and that the Senate and House had each separately approved — that would bar any funds from being used to establish permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq or to control Iraq’s oil.

That will make life even more difficult for our men and women in uniform and undercut our nation’s broader effort against terrorism.

While it may be obvious to most Americans that we don’t intend to stay in Iraq indefinitely and that we have no designs on its oil, such conspiracy theories are accepted as fact by many Iraqis. In an opinion poll conducted by the University of Maryland in January 2006, 80 percent of Iraqis – and 92 percent of the Sunni Arabs — believe we have plans to establish permanent military bases.

These views extend well beyond Iraq. In a 2004 Pew Charitable Trust survey, majorities in all four Muslim states surveyed — Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, and Morocco — believed that control of Mideast oil was an important factor in our invasion of Iraq.

Why do Iraqis and the rest of the region believe we want permanent bases? Why do they think we would subject ourselves to the enormous ongoing costs in Iraq? Do they think we want their sand? No, they think we want their oil.

Osama bin Laden and like-minded jihadists use the U.S. “occupation” and their assertion that we aim to steal the region’s oil as rallying cries in their regular calls to arms.

Before we dismiss the resonance of their propaganda, we must remember what Iraqis have been through in the past three decades: three wars and a tyrannical regime that turned paranoia into a way of life. And there’s a longer history, too: 400 years of British and Ottoman occupation have led to a deeply ingrained suspicion of foreign military presence.

Our military leadership understands the importance of this issue. Last September, General John Abizaid, the commander of all US troops in the Middle East, told Congress: “We must make clear to the people of the region we have no designs on their territory or resources.”

No Permanent Bases in Iraq.

Against this backdrop, I had hoped the Congress would speak clearly because the Bush Administration has not.

To my knowledge, President Bush has never explicitly stated that we will not establish permanent bases in Iraq. And both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State have left the door open to do just that.

In February, Secretary Rumsfeld told the Senate Committee on Armed Services: “We have no intention, at the present time, of putting permanent bases in Iraq.”

That same month, in response to a question about our policy on bases from my colleague Senator John Kerry, Secretary Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “I don’t want to in this forum try to prejudice everything that might happen way into the future.”

Just last Thursday, columnist Helen Thomas asked the White House press secretary to unambiguously declare that the United States will not seek permanent bases in Iraq. Again, the press secretary could not unequivocally declare this to be the case.

The failure to speak clearly on this issue feeds the conspiracy theories and vindicates those who ascribe the worst intentions to the United States. They also make it that much more difficult to win the battle for the hearts and minds of 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. Our success in that battle will determine our success in the struggle between freedom and radical fundamentalism.

I’ve introduced the amendment again, to the Defense (Authorization) bill that is now being debated by the Senate. It may not immediately change a lot of minds on the ground or in the region. But it can mark the beginning of a sustained effort to demonstrate through words and deeds that we have no intention of controlling Iraq’s oil or staying there forever.

It’s beyond time for the American people to have spoken clearly on this important issue. The Bush Administration has not.

But we can.

Please sign the petition to support our efforts to convince the world that we have no desire for permanent bases in Iraq or to control that country’s oil.

No Permanent Bases in Iraq.

Iraq for Sale

Iraq for Sale

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Private military contractors are earning billions of dollars in Iraq — much of it from U.S. taxpayers. “Lucrative U.S. government contracts go to firms called on to provide security for projects and personnel — jobs that in previous conflicts have been done by the military” (and under military regulations).

From Hunter at Daily Kos, on the Aegis contractor video (complete with Elvis soundtrack):

And so the circle — or spiral — continues. For those with short memories, it was the alleged misconduct of armed contractors in Iraq that led to the killing and public display of four of them, hanging from a bridge… which led to two separate massive retaliatory assaults against Fallujah… which led to a widespread backlash in Iraq… which led to, among other things, a widened insurgency… which contributed to a situation in Iraq in which armed contractors are necessary for protection of private clients… which led to the alleged misconduct of several of them…

Keep an eye out for Robert Greenwald’s Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers in the fall. The argument of the film wil be that the ones who benefit from the war are Bush’s and Cheney’s friends in construction, security, services, and oil. Here’s a taste: