Month: September 2009

Wait, no electronic bracelets?  No manacles? Terrorists left to roam free and go shopping? Given free lessons in civics and cookery?  The end of civilisation in Ireland is nigh…

Whilst US politicians are apparently terrified at the prospect of Guantánamo inmates being transferred to supermax security prisons in their State, the Irish government is letting former inmates roam free and treating them <shock, horror> as human beings!

Former US detainees begin Irish integration – The Irish Times – Thu, Oct 01, 2009

TWO FORMER Guantánamo Bay detainees who arrived in Ireland for resettlement last weekend have begun a 10-week integration programme and are adjusting slowly to their new environment, according to a Government official.

The Uzbeks, Oybek Jabbarov (31) and Shakhrukh Hamiduva, who is in his mid-20s, travelled to Ireland last Saturday after spending seven years in the US-run detention centre in Cuba.

To help them prepare for their new lives in Ireland, the Department of Justice has organised a 10-week series of intensive courses in civics, cookery and other subjects.

Former US detainees begin Irish integration – The Irish Times – Thu, Oct 01, 2009

Under an agreement between the Government and the US administration, the men have been granted humanitarian leave to remain, a legal status that gives them the right to work and access State services.

While they nominally enjoy the right to travel within the EU, the men have not been issued with travel documents and, as Uzbek nationals, would require visas to visit other European states. Officials say they will be eligible to apply for Irish citizenship after five years.

The men flew into Baldonnel aerodrome on Saturday and were brought directly to the west of the country to begin the integration programme. One of the men has a wife and daughter, and officials expect them to join him in Ireland in due course.

As well as taking courses, the men will be assisted in opening bank accounts and dealing with State bureaucracy.

Three officials from the Department of Justice have been assigned to co-ordinate their resettlement, and while interpreters have also been made available to the men, officials say they have been communicating with staff through English.

A source in the Department of Justice said the men were in good health and slowly adapting to their new circumstances. “It’s a major change of circumstances for these people. They have been incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay for seven years, and they’re suddenly in an entirely new environment, in an alien country with different weather,” the source said.

“They didn’t have many clothes when they arrived, so arrangements were made to bring them to buy new shoes. One of the men went, but the other got nervous and decided against . . . We’re taking small steps at a time.

“They’re in a centre now, but even to leave the centre and go down to the local shop is a major adjustment because they haven’t been outside for a long time.”

Plans for the men’s long-term resettlement have not yet been finalised, but it is expected that they will be helped to find social housing elsewhere in the country before Christmas.

“They don’t pose any security threat, and they’re as well adjusted as you can be after spending the period of time they did in Guantánamo Bay,” the source said.

I suppose its the least we can do, given that we quite possibly connived in their extraordinary rendition to Cuba through Shannon.  Quite why they were flown into the military airbase at Baldonnel has not been explained. Perhaps the US Air Force feared saboteurs might attack their plane in Shannon.

Let us recall that these men have never been given a trial, never been convicted of anything, and may quite possibly have been victims of mistaken identity or local bounty hunters seeking US rewards for turning in local “terrorists” who just happened to be people they didn’t like.  Quite why it took 7 years to release them from the ‘land of the free’ is difficult to understand.  Many Nazi war criminals served less time.  Lets hope they get used to weather and settle in well here in Ireland.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is a freshman from Orlando. He’s probably most well known in the blogosphere for hiring Matt Stoller to serve on his staff. His district is highly competitive but I believe he joined the Progressive Caucus and he’s made it a habit to use his seat on the Financial Services committee to ask uncomfortable questions. He’s basically violating every rule the consultants have written about how to get reelected as a Freshman from a competitive seat. That’s good, because we’ll get to find out if you can be aggressively partisan in a swing-district and get away with it. Yesterday, he took to the House floor with some giant charts and said that the Republicans health care plan was ‘don’t get sick’ and if you do, you should ‘die quickly’ in order to save the insurance companies money. Over the top? Yeah, a bit. The Village is horrified.

Personally, I think Grayson should adjust his message slightly. I like his aggressiveness. I like the substance of what he’s saying. But he’s probably making himself more a lightning rod than he needs to to get his message across. He’s putting his seat at risk. That’s good and bad. It’s good that he’s willing to lose and unafraid to stick up for people in need. But there might be a degree of recklessness involved, too, that isn’t necessary.

I hope the people from his district reward him for his honesty. But, if they don’t, at least he will have provided some seriously good entertainment.

It is getting real frustrating defending a guy who does not want to be defended, PERIOD. The secret service investigation of all of these death threats, regardless of the bull shyt cover used, should be spear headed by the DEPT OF JUSTICE, again PERIOD. Why isn’t the DOJ involved? Because Obama doesn’t want them to get involved. If I were to define OBAMA by any animal it would be an ostrich, because in the midst of all of these threats daily swirling about on AM, FM, TV, and CABLE, he refuses to see any danger to his person as a black President of the United States. More below the fold.
Believe me just a handful of DOJ arrests and court complaints issued against those calling for death to a sitting President would have a lasting and CHILLING effect on this expanding problem of the President’s safety. What is so astounding about this is those people calling for death to the President are all on public RECORD in one way or another. There are video and audio tapes of broadcasts where these threats were publicly uttered, so no huge earth moving forensic investigation will be required to tie these people to their public statements.

The tragedy here is that Obama refuses to classify this as a national problem, and continues to play the role of the macho guy sticking to his principles that ALL CONFLICTS can be solved in compromise. The crazies out there are beginning to see this message, “you can SCREAM KILL OBAMA from the roof tops and no punitive action will be taken against you whatsoever”. So as with any unregulated social behavior, a race is triggered to see who can escalate the situation by creating the next most outlandish event. This race continues until someone does something so outrageous that society becomes sufficiently roused and steps in to legally curb/regulate the respective behavior. This is the situation that President Obama has inadvertently created by his stubborn reluctance to take definitive action to curb these death threats, and until he does it’s only going to keep on growing.

Obama’s argument is that he has sooooo many important things to do that he doesn’t have time to worry about every demagogue making idle treats on Faux or Talk Radio Network. But my question to him is, “Mr. President have you stopped for just a minute to think what would happen to this country is someone actually was successful in carrying out a threat against your life?” If you actually love this country as you often state that you do in your speeches, you would recognize that your HIGHEST PRIORITY is to secure YOUR SAFETY to assure leadership continuity for your nation in these turbulent times. Yes Mr. President, THIS IS JOB #1.  

I don’t like to think about how much Newt Gingrich loves porn. It’s like having an eyelash on my cerebral cortex that I can’t rinse off.

Rep. Alan Grayson has been a key figure in fighting for financial transparency defending civil liberties. He recently made a statement on the floor of the House saying that the GOP health care plan is “don’t get sick.”

Reward Rep. Grayson for telling the truth. Donate here:
http://www.actblue.com/page/standbygrayson

The Republicans are now likening it to Joe Wilson’s outburst in which he called the President a “liar.” The difference being, of course, that Wilson was heckling the President during the State of the Union speech, and Grayson was not saying anything nearly as bad as what Republicans have said about the Democratic health care bill in the past.

Rep. Tom Price is introducing a resolution to censure Grayson in the House. It is important that progressives not cower in the face of this blatant hypocrisy and watch him be sacrificed to a right-wing hissy fit like Van Jones, Yosi Sargent and MoveOn have been before him.

Please send a powerful message to those seeking to silence progressives by donating Alan Grayson. Donate here:
http://www.actblue.com/page/standbygrayson

The UK under Labour avoided few of the indignities that America suffered under Bush and Cheney, so it doesn’t surprise me at all to see they have slipped into third-place in the polls. The Tories will be the main beneficiaries but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to punish Labour for poor financial regulation and senseless warmongering by moving to the right. Therefore, we can expect to see the Liberal Democrats get a major boost.

We don’t have a three-party system here. With the Democrats ascendent, the left in this country is a very broad coalition stretching far into the middle. Unhappy lefties have nowhere to go and are unlikely to rally around an independent candidate. But the right is another story. Without a single Republican representative from New England, there is a huge need for an alternative ideology to the southern-driven contemporary GOP. However, I don’t think a Ron Paul independent candidacy fits the bill. A more likely model is John B. Anderson, who launched a very credible independent candidacy in 1980.

There isn’t much of a bench in the GOP for such a candidate today. But imagine what would happen if Olympia Snowe decided to run for president as an independent. A business-friendly, pro-environment, pro-choice, Republican in the Nelson Rockefeller mode (and a woman from New England, as well) would certainly attract an interesting bisection of the national electorate.

One interesting thing to watch for would be whether Republican candidates for office in New England and northern/coastal suburbs would endorse Snowe or whomever (Huckabee, Romney, Jindal, Pawlenty) the Republicans nominate.

I think such a candidacy would do a lot more to divide the Republican Party than a Ron Paul campaign. It would put some cleavages in the Democrats’ coalition, too, with a not-insignificant number of women and tax-averse moderates lining up to make a statement. I think the overall effect would be positive.

Ron Paul, on the other hand, would have the potential for a bit of Perot-effect, where, for example, states like Montana suddenly become ripe-fruit for the Obama reelection campaign. It’s likely that Paul’s campaign would become a repository for some of the crazier fringe that has infected the GOP, but that would probably benefit Republicans down-ticket who would get a boost in turnout.

However you slice it, I’d be surprised if we don’t see a major third-party candidacy from the right (maybe more than one) in the 2012 election. The Republicans in Washington are making no moves to the center, and they cannot wage a serious run at the Electoral College with the cast of misfits they have now battling each other to be the most ideologically pure. The last time we had a truly lost cause presidential race was 1996, when Bob Dole never got any traction whatsoever. That was still the era of Perot’s Reform Party. I expect to see a new iteration in 2012. It will be different, but I can’t imagine that no one will step up to make a run at changing the nature of the Republican Party by splintering their shrinking coalition.

Our mother land is getting slowly plagued by undisciplined, unlawful, inhuman activities and we should be responsible personally to save our country. I am very much depressed by seeing the daily robbery, murders etc. As per the latest statistics the  Los Angels city encounters 33,555 car theft,  25,115 burglary, 515 murder, 1226 forcible rape and this list goes on increasing and which is not healthy for the city and hence to the safety of our country. It is the duty of each and every citizen of America to be responsible in protecting their mother land.

It is our duty to provide the right support to the right persons at the right time. It is our country and it is our duty to applause for every good activity made for the protection of our country. Our mother land is more precious than our own life and hence the solders in our country border protecting our country by risking their own lives. They are the first person to be honored and next come the police department who serve to maintain the law and order in the country. The support can be provided to a group or to an individual if there is a genuine reason behind that. Now it’s time for us to provide support to the person who has served a lot to the country by even risking his own life. He is LAPD Deputy Chief Terry Hara. Some of his achievements are, he is the first motor officer to rise to the rank of Deputy Chief,  he is the only candidate to receive an award from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and much more to say about him. He is very fast in his work and hence many cases got resolved quickly than normal time and hence he is the right person to get the honor of the next Chief of Police for the Los Angeles Police Department.  Being a Deputy Chief, the areas under Hara’s control are Wilshire, Southeast, Southwest, Newton and Harbor Areas, South and Central Traffic Divisions, Detective Support Division, Internal Affairs Group, Training Division etc.

He has undergone many training in his field to be the successful one and those training and degrees are Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from National University, graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police Program from the Police Executive Research Forum at Boston University, the FBI Explosives Unit-Bomb Data Center Hazardous Devices School, Deputy Chief Hara served as past president of the Japanese Optimist Club of Los Angeles, a civic organization, board member of the Board for the Los Angeles Police Historical Society  etc. He is receiving support from every part of the country both from organizations like The Downtown Los Angeles Japanese American Citizens League  and also from individual citizens. So he is the right person eligible for the post and now he needs support from us to save us and our mother land. It is the duty of each and every one of us to support him.

The Lisbon Treaty is being debated to death in Ireland ahead of the referendum on Friday 2nd. October and is probably inducing a yawn of indifference in most readers at this stage.  But what has been remarkable in the debate is the lack of focus on the actual content of the Treaty itself. Most people have been put off trying to read the Treaty by its length and complexity that so many of its more positive features have been lost in the debate.

However many parts of the Treaty are very readable and cogent – for example the Charter of Fundamental Rights which has nevertheless been subject to much ill-informed comment by nationalist xenophobes and religious fanatics chiefly because they don’t want the European Court of Justice having any role in determining social issues. Articles 191 and 194 of the Treaty deal specifically with the Environment, Climate Change and Energy and they deserve some consideration by anyone concerned with these issues.

The reference to Climate Change was included at the request of Ireland at the 2007 Inter-Governmental Conference and makes provision for “promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change”.

The Lisbon Treaty is also the first EU Treaty to make specific reference to Energy and aims to ensure:

1. The functioning of the energy market
2. Security of Supply
3. Promote energy efficiency and energy saving
4. Promote the development of new and renewable forms of energy
5. Promote the interconnection of energy networks.

So what do articles 191 and 194 actually say?

TITLE XX
ENVIRONMENT

Article 191

1. Union policy on the environment shall contribute to pursuit of the following objectives:

— preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment,

— protecting human health,

— prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources,

— promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change.

2. Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity of situations in the various regions of the Union. It shall be based on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay.

In this context, harmonisation measures answering environmental protection requirements shall include, where appropriate, a safeguard clause allowing Member States to take provisional measures, for non-economic environmental reasons, subject to a procedure of inspection by the Union.

C 115/132 EN Official Journal of the European Union 9.5.2008

3. In preparing its policy on the environment, the Union shall take account of:

— available scientific and technical data,

— environmental conditions in the various regions of the Union,

— the potential benefits and costs of action or lack of action,

— the economic and social development of the Union as a whole and the balanced development of its regions.

4. Within their respective spheres of competence, the Union and the Member States shall cooperate with third countries and with the competent international organisations. The arrangements for Union cooperation may be the subject of agreements between the Union and the third parties concerned.

The previous subparagraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

———-

TITLE XXI
ENERGY

Article 194

1. In the context of the establishment and functioning of the internal market and with regard for the need to preserve and improve the environment, Union policy on energy shall aim, in a spirit of solidarity between Member States, to:

(a) ensure the functioning of the energy market;

(b) ensure security of energy supply in the Union;

(c) promote energy efficiency and energy saving and the development of new and renewable forms of energy; and

(d) promote the interconnection of energy networks.

C 115/134 EN Official Journal of the European Union 9.5.2008

2. Without prejudice to the application of other provisions of the Treaties, the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish the measures necessary to achieve the objectives in paragraph 1. Such measures shall be adopted after consultation of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Such measures shall not affect a Member State’s right to determine the conditions for exploiting its energy resources, its choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply, without prejudice to Article 192(2)(c).
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the Council, acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, shall unanimously and after consulting the European Parliament, establish the measures referred to therein when they are primarily of a fiscal nature.

So what’s not to like?  Obviously there is some legal jargon to cover the process by which new measures will be adopted (unanimity for primarily fiscal measures, weighted majority for others), but the intent of the articles seems clear enough.  They set out policy objectives for the EU as a whole and it is remarkable (to me at any rate) that an international Treaty should go into such detail in mandating particular policy initiatives.

I would be interested in finding out what environmentalists with a more specialised knowledge of energy and environmental law think of these measures and whether they think that the Lisbon Treaty will have a significant impact on driving EU environmental and energy policies in a more sustainable direction.

I guess today is Irony Day. I’d like to praise the Mustache of Understanding for using his column today to rail against the eliminationist rhetoric of the far right. But there’s a problem:

Sometimes I wonder whether George H.W. Bush, president “41,” will be remembered as our last “legitimate” president. The right impeached Bill Clinton and hounded him from Day 1 with the bogus Whitewater “scandal.” George W. Bush was elected under a cloud because of the Florida voting mess, and his critics on the left never let him forget it.

And Mr. Obama is now having his legitimacy attacked by a concerted campaign from the right fringe. They are using everything from smears that he is a closet “socialist” to calling him a “liar” in the middle of a joint session of Congress to fabricating doubts about his birth in America and whether he is even a citizen. And these attacks are not just coming from the fringe. Now they come from Lou Dobbs on CNN and from members of the House of Representatives.

Did you find the problem? It’s right there in the first paragraph. Tommy Friedman said that ‘the right hounded Clinton from Day 1 with the bogus Whitewater scandal.’ But the main venue for hounding Clinton about Whitewater was Friedman’s own New York Times. It was a relentless investigation that went on for year after year of the Clinton administration. You can read about it for $2.95.

Congress can come up with some really messed up nomenclature. Orrin Hatch is prattling on-and-on about ‘non-Hyde abortions.’ It’s a reference to the Hyde Amendment. In its current form, the Hyde Amendment looks like this, and it applies to all federal funding:

None of the funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended for any abortion except when it is made known to the federal entity or official to which funds are appropriated under this Act that such procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother or that the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.

So, a non-Hyde abortion is an abortion where there is no rape or incest involved and the life of the mother is not threatened. The ironic result of this definition is that a Hyde abortion is often the result of rape or incest. That seems like a somewhat cruel but perhaps just tribute to Henry Hyde.