Sunday, June 21, 2009
"The Obama administration's adoption of the stonewalling tactics and opaque policies of the Bush administration flies in the face of the President's stated desire to restore the rule of law, to revive our moral standing in the world and to lead a transparent government....
It is true that these photos would be disturbing; the day we are no longer disturbed by such repugnant acts would be a sad one. In America, every fact and document gets known - whether now or years from now. And when these photos do see the light of day, the outrage will focus not only on the commission of torture by the Bush administration but on the Obama administration's complicity in covering them up." – Anthony Romeo, ACLU executive director
Iran: Ongoing. Twitter excerpts:
If you catch militia - do not use violence do not kill him - treat him as your brother
People of Iran - THIS IS THE DAWN - This is the new begining - have hope and prepare
Soon Mousavi will announce full national strikes, probably starting with Petrochemical - prepare for this
Expect food shortage - transport stoppage - money shortage in bank
The Challenge continues. Many posit that there is a split amongst the ruling clerics, though other conjectures include ‘The Assembly of Experts…has expressed its full support of Ayotollah Khamenei.’ Regardless, the system’s legitimacy is at question, challenging the political rule of Islamic jurists, the divine guardians of morality and politics. Rumors as to unrest outside of Tehran, but information remains oddly unreliable, yet plentiful.
The Iranian government and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi stepped up their war of words Sunday after at least 10 people were killed in clashes on Saturday, while an uneasy calm prevailed on the streets of Tehran on Sunday for the first time since Iran's worst political crisis in 30 years began a week ago.
Government media lashed out Sunday at Mousavi, suggesting that some of his actions were illegal and blaming "terrorists" for Saturday's violence, in which at least 100 people were injured. The semiofficial Fars News Agency, which has strong ties to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, quoted a law professor at Tehran University as saying that Mousavi's actions were criminal.
"Through uncivil and illegal means, he created an environment for unrest and hooliganism," Firouz Aslani told Fars News. "Contrary to his claims of lawfulness, he acted against the security of the nation and the interests of the system."
Some analysts in Tehran said those comments and others carried in the state-run news media questioning the legality of Mousavi's actions could be the government's way of preparing the ground for his arrest. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062100146_pf.html
Juan Cole:
The regime has arrested Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter of the former president, who spoke at a pro-Mousavi rally, along with 4 other members of that family. This step is typical of an old Iranian ruling technique, of keeping provincial tribal chieftains in check by keeping some of their children hostage at the royal court.http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/daughter-of-rafsanjani-arrested-death.html
Iraq: Our troops are slated to pull out of the cities in less than 10 days
Rescue and recovery operations are still under way in the Iraqi town of Taza, a day after a lorry bomb near a mosque killed 75 people and wounded about 185.
The suicide attack took place as worshippers were leaving the Shia mosque following noon prayers on Saturday.
Dozens of homes were flattened by the blast, the deadliest in nearly two months. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/20096211190147404.html
Health Care: Will Democracy Rule? Not if the insurance companies and their many captive politicians overrule the popular will. A NBC/WSJ poll last week found that 76% of Americans believe it's either "extremely important" or "quite important" to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance." This one’s another goodie:
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.
…The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Optimism:
President Barack Obama’s plans for health reform received a double boost over the weekend, with drugmakers agreeing to cut prescription charges and an opinion poll showing a significant majority of Americans want the option of public health insurance.
Pharmaceuticals companies agreed to cut about $80bn over the next decade in charges for prescription drug users aged 65 and over, the Obama administration announced on Saturday. These users of the Medicare government-backed scheme currently have to pay the full price of medicines that cost between $2,700 and $6,153 a year.
“The existence of this gap in coverage has been a continuing injustice that has placed a great burden on many seniors,” Mr Obama said in a statement. “This deal will provide significant relief from that burden.”
A second fillip for healthcare reform came from a New York Times/CBS poll on Saturday that showed 72 per cent of Americans supported the creation of government-administered health insurance available to all… http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/000052a4-5e93-11de-91ad-00144feabdc0.html
Pessimism: Slowing it down
“So we’re in the position of dialing down some of our expectations to get the costs down so that it’s affordable,” Mr. Grassley said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” “and most importantly, so that it’s paid for because we can’t go to the point where we are now of not paying for something when we have trillions of dollars of debt.”
The Finance Committee’s plan is expected to attract more bipartisan support than legislation being written by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut. The proposal by Mr. Dodd’s committee was estimated to cost $1 trillion over 10 years but would only increase the number of insured Americans by 16 million.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina who appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” said estimates on overhauling health care were “a death blow to a government-run health plan.”
Dianne Feinstein of California joined Republicans in voicing reservations. Ms. Feinstein, who appeared on “State of the Union,” said that controlling the cost of a new health-care system “is a very major and difficult subject.”
Ms. Feinstein also said that Mr. Obama might not have the votes in the Senate to pass his legislation. “I think there’s a lot of concern in the Democratic caucus,” she said.
Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, appearing with Ms. Feinstein, said that overhauling the health care system should be done slowly and not this year, as Mr. Obama has insisted. “I think it should be incremental steps,” Mr. Lugar said. Mr. Lugar also suggested a period of study to find and consider alternatives. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/health/policy/22healthcare.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Secrecy: Obama Administration Over-the-top: Downright embarrassing
A federal judge yesterday sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration that former Vice President Richard B. Cheney's statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney's political enemies or late-night commentary on "The Daily Show."
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan expressed surprise during a hearing here that the Justice Department, in asserting that Cheney's voluntary statements to U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald were exempt from disclosure, relied on legal claims put forward last October by a Bush administration political appointee, Stephen Bradbury. The department asserted then that the disclosure would make presidents and vice presidents reluctant to cooperate voluntarily with future criminal investigations.
But career civil division lawyer Jeffrey M. Smith, responding to Sullivan's questions, said Bradbury's arguments against the disclosure were supported by the department's current leadership. He told the judge that if Cheney's remarks were published, then a future vice president asked to provide candid information during a criminal probe might refuse to do so out of concern "that it's going to get on 'The Daily Show' " or somehow be used as a political weapon.
Sullivan said Bradbury, who was the acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel, was not obviously qualified to make such claims and that they were in any event unsubstantiated. Sullivan said the department needed new evidence, if it hoped to prevail, and said the administration should supply him with a copy of Cheney's statements so he could directly assess whether the claims are credible. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061803879_pf.html
Afghanistan: Suffering of the Villagers Graphic account of the casualties of the American drones, bombing. We have not been winning the ‘hearts and minds.’
“The people were afraid. About 10 to 15 families gathered in the same place to be safe together. This was in the evening and it was dark,” says the elder. He recalls a small “helicopter” with no pilot that made a “zzzz” sound. He appears to be describing one of the pilotless drones used by Nato troops to relay video film of the battlefield.
“My cousins, my sister, my nephews and also my nieces were all killed in this place,” he says.
“About 13 or 14 people related to my sister were killed here. I found my nephew’s body recently over there. A farmer found another body over there.”
On the hill, beyond the village, are traditional Muslim graves ranged as far as the eye can see.
The fresh ones number more than 70. The elder points to those of his sister and her children. Then at the far end of the cemetery he stands before one enormous grave stretching more than 50 metres across.
“This is the grave that almost 55 people are buried in because their bodies are in pieces,” he says.
The elder adds: “With this situation going on, the people are becoming more separate from the government. However, they hate the Taliban also.
“These are poor people. They hate the government, they hate the Americans and they hate to live in this place. We think that this country is like a prison for us.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0f45d0ce-5c25-11de-aea3-00144feabdc0.html
…leading to an announced (ostensible) shift:
The new American commander in Afghanistan said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes here, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths that he said were undermining the American-led mission.
In interviews over the past few days, the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, said the use of airstrikes during firefights would in most cases be allowed only to prevent American and other coalition troops from being overrun.
Even in the cases of active firefights with Taliban forces, he said, airstrikes will be limited if the combat is taking place in populated areas — the very circumstances in which most Afghan civilian deaths have occurred. The restrictions will be especially tight in attacking houses and compounds where insurgents are believed to have taken cover.
“Air power contains the seeds of our own destruction if we do not use it responsibly,” General McChrystal told a group of his senior officers during a video conference last week. “We can lose this fight.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/world/asia/22airstrikes.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
China Stimulus: It’s working for them
Despite bitter criticism out of Beijing in February when American lawmakers passed a stimulus package that contained a “buy American” provision, the Chinese government has directed its localities to do much the same.
State-run media in China began reporting on the “buy China” clause this week, complete with full-throated defenses of the measure even after calling the American version “poison” and warned that the American measure could spark a “trade war.”
According to those sources, the Chinese government’s economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, handed down an edict requiring any projects using part of China’s $586 billion package to obtain official permission before using any imported goods.
“Government investment projects should buy domestically made products unless products or services cannot be obtained in reasonable commercial conditions in China," says the order, dated June 1. "Projects that really need to buy imports should be approved by the relevant government departments before purchasing activity starts." http://www.economyincrisis.org/articles/show/3032
The World Bank raised its forecast for China’s 2009 gross domestic product growth to 7.2 per cent on Thursday, saying the apparent success of the government’s stimulus package had improved the outlook from March – when the bank predicted 6.5 per cent growth for the year.
But the World Bank said a sustainable recovery was not yet assured, in spite of the government’s Rmb4,000bn ($590bn) fiscal stimulus, and that Beijing might have little room for additional measures this year. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5f7abf38-5bc0-11de-be3f-00144feabdc0.html
Long-Term Jobless: Ranks are Growing
On the surface, the government seemed to signal Thursday that more Americans are finding jobs: The number of people receiving unemployment aid fell for the first time since early January.
But that doesn't necessarily mean more companies are hiring. Fewer people are receiving jobless aid largely because more of them have exhausted their standard unemployment benefits, which typically last 26 weeks.
Government figures, in fact, show the proportion of recipients who used up their jobless benefits averaged 49 percent in May, a record.
And while many analysts expect the recession to end by late summer, they warn that unemployment will stay high into 2010. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNiyJ905Ho0Ur96V2TQhsBX19lGwD98TCIH81
"Mainstream-media political journalism is in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant, but not because of the Internet, or even Comedy Central. The threat comes from inside. It comes from journalists being afraid to do what journalists were put on this green earth to do…” - Dan Froomkin, excellent journalist-blogger at the Washington Post, fired last week by the very conservative Fred Hiatt-led editorial board
-R
