ProgressOhio

This letter to the editor appeared recently in the Boston Globe.

REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN Lynch (my congressman) writes in a Feb. 17 op-ed that the United States must preserve the rights of Afghan women by avoiding any reconciliation with the Taliban (“The price of appeasing the Taliban’’).

But the warlord-dominated regime that the United States currently supports in Kabul has brought nothing but disaster for Afghan women. Eight years after the US military intervention in Afghanistan, Afghan women still die in childbirth more than women in any other country, women’s life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world (about 42 years), and UNICEF has just announced that Afghanistan has replaced Sierra Leone as the worst place in the world for a child to be born today.

Lynch must not use Afghan women as a cover for continued US occupation of their country. He should vote to deny funds for the Afghanistan war, to bring all the troops home and end the bloodshed. Afghan women’s struggle for rights will be a long one, but it cannot be waged by our military. Let’s get out of their way.

Cole Harrison
Roslindale
The writer is the organizer of a task force on Afghanistan in association with United for Justice with Peace, a coalition of more than 100 Boston-area groups.

Watch It:

Representative Dennis Kucinich

“America is in the fight of its life and that fight is not in Afghanistan -- its here. We are deeply in debt. Our GDP is down. Our manufacturing is down. Our savings are down. The value of the dollar is down. Our trade deficit is up. Business failures are up. Bankruptcies are up.  

“The war is a threat to our national security.  We’ll spend over one $100 billion next year to bomb a nation of poor people while we reenergize the Taliban, destabilize Pakistan, deplete our army and put more of our soldiers’ lives on the line.  Meanwhile, back here in the USA, 15 million people are out of work. People are losing their jobs, their health care, their savings, their investments, and their retirement security. $13 trillion in bailouts for Wall Street, trillions for war; when are we going to start taking care of things here at home?”

How can anyone argue with the truth?

White House Eyes Afghan Exit by 2017

War Not Going to Last Forever, Spokesman Assures
by Jason Ditz,
November 25, 2009 Anti-War.Com In an effort to reassure Americans ahead of next week’s speech in which President Obama will announce the escalation of the Afghan War, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs wants Americans to rest safe in the knowledge that the war is not going to last forever.
“We are in year nine of our efforts in Afghanistan,” Gibbs noted, “we are not going to be there another eight or nine years.” This would mean that the administration is at least hoping at this point to be out of Afghanistan by 2017.
Recent polls have shown Americans increasingly opposed to not only the Afghan War, but to President Obama’s handling of it. In spite of this President Obama is expected to commit another 34,000 troops to the conflict in next week’s speech.
When the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the military presence was comparatively limited, and even in summer of 2008 only about 28,000 American soldiers were on the ground. When the latest escalation is approved the US will have over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.

 http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/25/white-house-eyes-afghan-exit-by-2017/

Climate Emails Stoke Debate

The New York Times

By KEITH JOHNSON

The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents -- posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center -- that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.

The correspondence between dozens of climate-change researchers, including many in the U.S., illustrates bitter feelings among those who believe human activities cause global warming toward rivals who argue that the link between humans and climate change remains uncertain.

In all, more than 1,000 emails and more than 2,000 other documents were stolen Thursday from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University in the U.K. The identity of the hackers isn't certain, but the files were posted on a Russian file-sharing server late Thursday, and university officials confirmed over the weekend that their computer had been attacked and said the documents appeared to be genuine.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125883405294859215.html#articleTabs=article

The Noble Peace recipiant prepares the US for our next war.

Obama Threatens Iran with New Sanctions 

STEVEN ERLANGER
The New York Times
November 20, 2009

Senior officials from Western powers discussed the possibility of new sanctions on Iran on Friday for flouting the United Nations Security Council’s demands and expressed disappointment that Iran had not yet accepted a draft agreement to export most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

 The officials met in Brussels to discuss where matters stand with Iran and the possibility of new sanctions should Iran continue to play for time. While a joint statement after the meeting was expressed in diplomatic language, the meeting itself was a sign of exasperation with Iran.

Even President Obama, who has been most willing to give Iran time to decide on the proposal, as a means to broader negotiations with the United States, said Thursday in South Korea that because Iran had not agreed to the proposal, the United States would begin “developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/world/middleeast/21nuke.html

 Wonderful isn't it? The war pigs are still at the helm.

Having watched this last night, I highly recommend it for those who want insight into the decisions facing the President over Afghanistan.

Watch the Trailer:

From Frontline:

Tens of thousands of fresh American troops are now on the move in Afghanistan, led by a new commander and armed with a counterinsurgency plan that builds on the lessons of Iraq. But can U.S. forces succeed in a land long known as the "graveyard of empires"? And can the U.S. stop the Taliban in neighboring Pakistan, where U.S. troops are not allowed and the government is weak?

In Obama's War, veteran correspondent Martin Smith travels across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see first-hand how the president's new strategy is taking shape, delivering vivid, on-the-ground reporting from this eight-year-old war's many fronts. Through interviews with top generals, diplomats and government officials, Smith also reports the internal debates over President Obama's grand attempt to combat terrorism at its roots.

"What we found on the ground was a huge exercise in nation building," says Smith. "The concept's become a bit of a dirty word, but that's what this is. We started with the goal of eliminating Al Qaeda, and now we've wound up with the immense task of re-engineering two nations."

Watch The Full Program Online

Speaking for the first time to the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama attempted to distance himself from the policies of his predecessor and pushed for more international cooperation.

Specifically, he put forward four pillars that are fundamental to the future that we want for our children in the 21st century: non-proliferation and disarmament; the promotion of peace and security; the preservation of our planet; and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.

The President acknowledged that we have reached a pivotal moment, and that the countries of the United Nations must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and that work must begin now.

"Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside," Obama said, in a significant turnaround from the policies of President George W. Bush. "I admit that American has often been too selective in its promotion of democracy."

Each nation must find its own path, rooted in its own culture, Obama said, but lauded democracy as "essential." "Governments of the people and by the people are more likely to act in the broader interests of their own people, rather than the narrow interest of those in power," he said.

He also called for more cooperation across borders. "When our destiny is shared, power is not a zero-sum game ... The time has come for the walls to come down," he said.

Obama closed his speech with a call to delegates to live up to the UN charter.

"The United Nations can either be a place where we bicker about outdated grievances, or forge common ground; a place where we focus on what drives us apart, or what brings us together; a place where we indulge tyranny, or a source of moral authority," Obama said.

Watch The Full Address:

We have eight years distance from the worst American tragedy of our lifetimes. We memorialize the September 11th attacks, but it never seems quite adequate.

I wrote about my pre-9/11 impressions of New York as a newbie PO blogger two years ago. I regret that I failed to mention that nearly 3,000 American civilians were cruelly murdered that day. I apologize.

Moving on from personal reflections, I have a theory. My thesis is that the September 11th attacks are directly related to Saudi Arabia's gender apartheid.

It only takes wiki-research to establish these facts:

1. Fifteen of nineteen 9/11 hijackers plus Osama bin Laden were Saudi citizens.

2. The paternal kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- coddled by the Bush administration and corporate interests -- has a deplorable human rights record when it comes to women.

"It is [Saudi] women who are degraded systematically from birth to early death, utterly and totally and without exception deprived of freedom. It is women who are sold into marriage or concubinage, often before puberty; killed if their hymens are not intact on the wedding night; kept confined, ignorant, pregnant, poor, without choice or recourse. It is women who are raped and beaten with full sanction of the law. It is women who cannot own property or work for a living or determine in any way the circumstances of their own lives. It is women who are subject to a despotism that knows no restraint. Women locked out and locked in," according to Andrea Dworkin.

Could there be a link between a theocratic government which regards women as property and incubators and its citizenship's propensity for terrorism? I think so.

Christopher Hitchens hints at my thesis in his book God Is Not Great when he writes about repression and ignorance among young Saudi males "who are often kept apart from all female company, taught in effect to despise their mothers and sisters."

Our complicity in this oily misogynist terrorist network is reprehensible. Bush never wagged a finger at Saudi King Abdullah for the September 11th attacks. Instead, Dubya held his hand and kissed him.

Corporate America is no better. "One of the (still) untold stories, however, is the cooperation of U.S. and other Western companies in enforcing sexual apartheid in Saudi Arabia. McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and other U.S. firms, for instance, maintain strictly segregated eating zones in their restaurants. The men's sections are typically lavish, comfortable and up to Western standards, whereas the women's or families' sections are often run-down, neglected and, in the case of Starbucks, have no seats. Worse, these firms will bar entrance to Western women who show up without their husbands," writes Colbert King.

Mainstream media, including Newsweek, have compromised their journalistic integrity by accepting big Saudi money to publish "Special Sections" and other propaganda.

The repressive Saudi regime was the perfect breeding ground for anti-American terrorists eight years ago, and it still is. As long as women are virtual slaves there, they'll keep on breeding.

Discuss -- please.

First there was genocidal Erik Prince, founder of military operative Blackwater, "who views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe." (Um, you might check with the American people before pursuing that mission, Mr. Prince.)

Then we find out about The Family, a Sopranos-like Christian orgnization of Washington elitists and powerbrokers. Their connections to congressional mistresses and illegal payoffs doesn't cover half the scandal. It's not so much sexism that pervades The Family, it's the total absence of women -- except as wives, daughters, financiers and sex objects. With their powerful military connections, Family congressmen could easily get us caught up in a war. (For example, Erik Prince's personal war.) At least Tony Soprano wouldn't do that.

Ohio, thank goodness, seems relatively immune to abusive Christian power-brokering. At least I thought so until I read about Gov. Strickland's former director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives getting thrown in jail for promoting child prostitution. -Sigh-

Suggestion for the governor: scrap the faith-based offices of state government and go with something logic-based.

The Breakthrough Institute points out that China is set to unveil a renewable energy stimulus plan expected to weigh in between $440 and $660 billion over ten years.

How does this stack up to the US?

Breakthrough Institute analysis shows that "the House climate legislation would invest just $800 million to 1.4 billion in R&D" with "total investments in clean energy... likely to be just $6-9 billion annually between 2012-2025."

Not only does the scale of US investment pale in comparison to China's proposed US $44-66 billion per year, it also falls short of the investments that energy experts recommend to spur innovation to meet the climate and energy challenge. It's time for America to join the race.

The Center for American Progress also recently tackled this issue and adds some important texture to the discussion. While no one would hold China's current energy practices, on the whole, up as an ideal, it seems clear that from CAP's exhaustive list of Chinese energy projects and goals that they are taking the issue very seriously. 

The question is, will we?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers a 4th of July message, which was given to U.S. Embassies worldwide to play at their 4th of July celebrations.

Watch It:

Hello everyone. I am delighted to welcome you on behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States as we celebrate our nation’s 233rd birthday.

For Americans, the 4th of July is a day to reconnect with loved ones, to remember our history, and to renew our commitment to democracy, tolerance, and justice. As President Obama said in Cairo last month, these are not just American values, these are core principles we share with people everywhere. So it is fitting that we open our doors and share this day with our friends and neighbors around the world.

Our fates and our fortunes are intertwined like never before. No one nation can meet today’s global challenges alone. We all share responsibility for working together to ensure a more peaceful and prosperous future.

So I hope that today’s celebration will become tomorrow’s partnership. There’s nothing we can’t accomplish, no challenge we can’t meet, if we work together toward common goals and seek common ground.
Thank you so much for joining us and have a wonderful 4th of July.

A site called Rethinking Schools has a pretty neat map game, which challenges you to correctly label countries in the Middle East.

Even if you're shaky on your geography, the task can be less daunting than it initially looks if you try and logic your way through. (e.g. India is at odds with neighboring Pakistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan, which must be adjacent to the other -istan countries, and Turkmenistan is probably the one closest to Turkey, etc).

Just about everything I read about Saudi Arabia seems to be written or at least edited by a PR agency. Of course, we coddle Saudi King Abdullah and his dictatorship (i.e., monarchy) regime because we need his oil.

Considering Saudi Arabia produced most of the 19 criminals who perpetrated the most horrific crime in American history, we sure kiss Saudi ass.

If the main export of Saudi Arabia was, say, tulips, I think the U.S. would take issue with the kingdom's oppression of women. In the trilogy book series The Princess Diaries: The True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson -- "must-reading for anyone interested in human rights," according to USA Today -- there is story after story of solitary confinement of teen girls, ritual drownings of daughters in the family swimming pool, and other abuses.

Keeping in mind the author is from a wealthy, privileged family, here are a couple of snippets:

"I was eighteen years old at the time of my first child's birth. I met girls as young as thirteen nursing their young. Other young women no more than my own age were delivering their fourth or fifth infant."

"[T]he hospital staff had been dismayed to see a young girl about to deliver, shackled in leg irons and handcuffs, escorted to the maternity ward by armed guards. A group of angry mutawas, followed by the frightened administrator, had accompanied the guards; they, not the administrator, had appointed a physician to her case. To the physician's consternation, he had been informed that the girl had been tried in the Shari'a (the law of God) courts and found guilty of fornication....The usual punishment for fornication was flogging, but in this instance, the father insisted upon death for his daughter. The girl was to be guarded until she delivered, at which time she was to be stoned to death."

Add to the misogynist mix a paternalistic government style and some serious sexual hangups, and I don't see how the Saudis can compete in the 15th century, let alone the 21st century.

This week's Newsweek has a glowing review of King Abdullah, age 85, "racing to reform Saudi Arabia." He appointed a woman as deputy education minister, making her the highest-ranking female official in the country's history. (I guess that's progress, however pathetic.)

The Newsweek puffpiece notes that shaking hands with Abdullah "is like shaking hands with a tree trunk" and that he is "very straightforward, very honest, and hates injustice." Abdullah's father, the studmuffin, "had more than 50 sons by various wives, and not all the half-brothers-in-waiting have the present king's cool wisdom," we're told.

Later in the article: "Whatever you do, don't make King Abdullah angry." What, is he The Incredible Hulk?

Saudi Arabia probably doesn't care about our tourism business, but you can bet my various husbands and I will not be visiting this homeland of terrorists. I just wish the smarmy kowtowing to the Saudis would stop because it compromises our integrity.