Please. Act.

There are two serious issues that need an immediate response. I am pleading with anyone that reads this post to contact your congressional leaders, and the Obama administration requesting action.

This past weekend Dick Cheney opened a door that can not be shut. On ABC's This Week he said "I was a big supporter of waterboarding," a public statement that he conspired to torture. Section 2340 of the federal criminal code makes it an offense to torture or to conspire to torture.

(The following are excerpts. The complete text can be found at http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/18C113C.txt.)

-HEAD-
 Sec. 2340. Definitions

-STATUTE-
   As used in this chapter -
     (1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under
   the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical
   or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering
   incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his
   custody or physical control;
     (2) "severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged
   mental harm caused by or resulting from -
       (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of
     severe physical pain or suffering;
       (B) the administration or application, or threatened
     administration or application, of mind-altering substances or
     other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
     the personality;
       (C) the threat of imminent death; or
       (D) the threat that another person will imminently be
     subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the
     administration or application of mind-altering substances or
     other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
     personality; and

     (3) "United States" means the several States of the United
   States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths,
   territories, and possessions of the United States.

-HEAD-
 Sec. 2340A. Torture

-STATUTE-
   (a) Offense. - Whoever outside the United States commits or
 attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or
 imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to
 any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be
 punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
   (b) Jurisdiction. - There is jurisdiction over the activity
 prohibited in subsection (a) if -
     (1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
     (2) the alleged offender is present in the United States,
   irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged
   offender.

   (c) Conspiracy. - A person who conspires to commit an offense
 under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other
 than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the
 offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

By making this statement Dick Cheney has publicly admitted to a crime under U.S. law, and under international law. He has publicly opened the door to prosecution. This door swings both ways. If we prosecute we have set the precedence that no one is above the law, and that we hold our own leaders to the same legal standard that we hold foreign leaders.

If we do not prosecute, a precedence has also been set; a precedence that those in the White House are no longer are subject to our law, nor to international law. If we do not prosecute we will have no standings internationally to require other world leaders to abide by international law. If we do not prosecute we will have lost our moral standing to request that our citizens be treated humanely when captured by other nations.

For this reason Dick Cheney's public statement admitting his actions requires us to take action against him. We must put pressure on our congressional leaders, on the President, and on Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately start a public investigation of Dick Cheney. I ask Attorneys General across this country to examine state laws to see if Cheney can be detained if he travels into your state. I ask world leaders to immediately issue arrest warrants for Dick Cheney, and to request extradition, thus forcing our government to address this issue.

The other important issue requiring immediate action is the revelation that the Israeli government has again stolen the identity of travelers to Israel, and used this stolen identity to commit murder in a third country. Innocent people have Interpol arrest warrants out for them. Innocent people could have a knock on their door and end up arrested, or worse, they could end up dead as a consequence of something they did not do.

I have not heard of any U.S. Citizens, or Americans with dual citizenship being caught up in Israel's crimes against foreigners . That limits what direct actions our government can take. But, our government has a responsibility to protect American travelers. For that reason the State Department needs to issue a travel warning against traveling to Israel. For that reason the State Department must warn Americans not to present their passports to any Israeli citizen. For that reason the U.S. government needs to make a clear statement: No government has the right to steal the identities of real people. No government can commit crimes using the identity of innocent people.

Dick Cheney and Israel have raised the stakes. How long can our great American experiment last if our leaders are above the law? Passports are only as good as the trust placed in them. Without a strong responses that trust has been severely damaged.

Please contact your government. Please tell our leaders that we must prosecute Dick Cheney. Please tell our State Department that travels to Israel can cost you your freedom or your life.

Please. Act.

Michael Moore Interview

Democracy Now interviewed Michael Moore today. Can you imagine a White House that would ignore almost 12,000 nurses volunteering to go to Haiti? Can you imagine them getting so desperate that they contact Michael Moore to see if he could get the President's attention?

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/26/michael_moore_on_haiti_the_supreme

When you look at this last year, besides better words from the President, what has changed? Did we vote Barack, or Jeb?

Stanford

Quotes about Haiti

I have collected quotes about Haiti. Most are from the last few days. These are provided without comment. Following the quotes I have a brief list of important events in the history of Haiti.

“Haiti is Like Gaza” - Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Producer, Democracy Now!, reporting on the damage after the earth quake, January 19, 2010

"Children In Gaza Donate To Haiti" - Headline, News One January 22, 2010 5:30 pm

"They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.' True story. And so the devil said, 'Ok it’s a deal.' And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another." - Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, January 13, 2010

"We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax" - Rush Limbaugh, January 13, 2010

"(President Obama will use Haiti to) build 'credibility' with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country." - Rush Limbaugh, January 13, 2010

The U.S. government response should be bold and decisive. It must mobilize U.S. civilian and military capabilities for short-term rescue and relief and long-term recovery and reform. President Obama should tap high-level, bipartisan leadership. Clearly former President Clinton, who was already named as the U.N. envoy on Haiti, is a logical choice. President Obama should also reach out to a senior Republican figure, perhaps former President George W. Bush, to lead the bipartisan effort for the Republicans. - Conservative Think Tank, Heritage Foundation

"Obama isn't that naive Good joke though. Repube conservatives are the most disgusting people on the planet. I hate that I even responded to this crap!" - Comment left on Open Left blog about the previous quote

“Amidst the Suffering, Crisis in Haiti Offers Opportunities to the U.S. In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the image of the United States in the region.” - Heritage Foundation (within hours they changed the wording, and worked to get this language out of Google's cache.)

"Now, I don’t know whether things are improving or not, because it took the Heritage Foundation thirteen days before they issued thirty-two free market solutions for Hurricane Katrina. We put that document up on our website, as well. It was close down the housing projects, turn the Gulf Coast into a tax-free free enterprise zone, get rid of the labor laws that forces contractors to pay a living wage. Yeah, so it took them thirteen days before they did that in the case of Katrina. In the case of Haiti, they didn’t even wait twenty-four hours." - Journalist and author Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

"The helicopter came down to the ground, landed, and they should have given to the responsible on the ground to distribute to the rest of the people here, and not when they go back up in the air, throw the bread out like they were throwing bones to dogs." - Man on the streets of Leogane, Haiti after a helicopter landed, took off, and then threw food out to the people.

"It’s a private plane from New Mission. New Mission is an institution of United States. You know, it’s a church." - Mayor Santos Alexis of Leogane when asked who's helicopter it was

"I don’t see any problem, except, you know, like things happen and people try to steal things from stores, you know, food maybe. That’s about it. But there’s no violence really in Léogâne." - Mayor Santos Alexis of Leogane when asked if it was safe for aid workers

"Soldiers spread out to other ravaged towns outside the capital, to Leogane to the west and Jacmel on the southern coast, to guard and supply aid distribution points there." - Reuters

"I am appalled by the decision of the Bush administration to pick up
fleeing Haitians on the high seas and forcibly return them to Haiti before
considering their claim to political asylum.... If I were President, I
would -- in the absence of clear and compelling evidence that they weren't
political refugees -- give them temporary asylum until we restored the
elected government of Haiti." - Candidate Bill Clinton, May 27, 1992

"For Haitians who do seek to leave Haiti, boat departure is a terrible and
dangerous choice.... For this reason, the practice of returning those who
fled Haiti by boat will continue, for the time being, after I become
President. Those who do leave Haiti...by boat will be stopped and directly
returned by the United States Coast Guard." - President Clinton, January 14, 1993

In a previous post I suggested studying the history of Haiti. Understanding the history is important to understanding why Haiti is not prepared to deal with natural disasters, and is important in understanding what we need to do to help that country be self sufficient.

January 1, 1804 - Haiti declares it's independence from France.

1825 - France recognizes the Haiti independence in exchange for 150 million gold francs (later reduced to 90 million) as payment for lost property. Haiti agrees to pay because it will end a crippling embargo imposed by France, Great Britain, and the United States. Haiti must borrow the money at a high interest rate.

Before 1860 - Haiti is recognized by Great Britain, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Hanover and Austria

1864 - The United States recognizes Haiti

1910, 11 - United States State Department backs the purchase of Banque National d'Haïti which is the government treasury

February 1915 - Vilbrun Guillaume Sam established a dictatorship. Bankers in this country worried about their investments in Haitian debts convince President Woodrow Wilson to invade Haiti. We stay there until 1934.

1937 - The United States gave up control of Haiti's external finances

1945 - Haiti pays off the debt from 1825

1980's - Haiti's farmers supplied all the rice needed by the country

1990 - Aristide was elected President with 67% of the vote. Aristide is a radical populist which alarmed the countries elite.

1991 - Aristide was overthrown in a military coup. There is evidence that the coup was backed by the U.S.

1994 - The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank negotiated loan agreements that reduced rice tariffs to 3%, lower than other regional governments. U.S. rice producers get significant government subsides, and rice starts to be sold to Haiti at below the actual cost of production.

September 1994 - Large numbers of Haitian were fleeing Haiti's violence, and arriving in Florida. President Clinton orders U.S. troups into Haiti to restore democracy. Many believe that the real motivation was to stop the emigration into the U.S.

It should be noted that President Clinton and both Presidents Bush supported the "free market reforms" that moved Haitians into the cities to work for low wages, and at the same time destroyed their agricultural self sufficiency.

In one of the classes I took while studying for my masters degree we studied a theory that economies mature through stages. We start out hunter/gatherers, progress to an agriculture based economy. Further progress enables us to become industrial. Then the next progression is to a service economy. That bothered me. How can an economy survive without the production of food, and how can it prosper without production. How can an economy survive without a visible means of support?

This weekend I was waiting to check my own groceries when, years later it finally hit me. The theory is correct. We have progress to a service economy. I service my own groceries. I service my own gas for my cars. I no longer have “retirement” through work, I service my own. Health care? I have a High Deductible Health Saving Account; I service my own.

But, I can’t complain. My money is still serviced by the Federal Reserve! My time is serviced by my employer! My constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are serviced the Federal Government.

So, how can someone flipping hamburgers afford a cell phone made half way around the world? How can a car jack that is able to lift a two ton car be so cheap that it is cheaper to buy it than fix it? It is simple. We are a service economy. The U.S services the money.

The U.S. Government borrows money from China, Japan, and others, and loan it to developing economies. Then we tell these economies that they will loan the money to U.S. corporations, and the corporations hire local people to do the work. And if a developing country doesn’t go along with the idea we overthrow their government. The U.S. companies keep wages low. We get cheap merchandise.

We can afford to buy the cheap goods because the Federal Reserve loans money to U.S financial companies, and they loan us the money to buy the cheap good.

We know what happens when the financial companies are in trouble. The Government loans them money.

We are a service economy. The developing countries serve us. The countries with cash serve us. We serve the rich. We are a service economy.

I have two questions.

1. Is our place in this economy moral? The computer I am posting this with and the computer you are reading this on most likely enslaved someone in another country. The clothes we wear most likely enslaved someone. Almost every thing we use has some component created in low wage factories.

2. Our economy is based upon borrowing from other governments and giving this money to corporations. The money ends up in the hands of the super rich. If the money stream stops our economy collapses. Do you think that the super rich will give a damn, or will they leave the tax paying public holding the debt?

We are a service economy, and we are an integral member of it. We oppress the majority of the world, and in the process we agree to be oppressed. It is time to throw off the shackles. It is time to digress into a manufacturing economy. It is time to make the car jack too expensive to throw away, and raise the price of a cell phone. It is time to digress into an agricultural economy. It is time for the food to become more important than the stock price. It is time to take back our economy.

King's Birthday and Haiti's Crisis

"You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery." Martin Luther King Jr.

Within 24 hours after speaking these words Rev. King was dead.

I have a question: Why is Haiti the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere? I am not answering that question. I am hoping that you will research the answer for your self. Read the history back to 1802. Read what Pat Robertson said. Read what Rush Limbaugh Said. Then reread Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote above.

A letter to the President

I sent the following the the President. I encourage everyone to contact our government.

Mr. President

Tonight look at your girls and ask yourself "what kind of world am I going to leave them?" Are you going to leave your children and me my grandchildren a world with nations drowning, or are we going to invest in repairing what we have done to the climate? Are we going to leave them with a world without glaciers, or are we going to accept our liability to the world.

You alone do not have the power to change our direction before it is too late. But, you do have the power to tell the people the truth. You do have the power to believe in our system of government; that a well informed public will make the right decisions. You can name names. You can point out that Hill & Knowlton, hired by Exxon to raise doubt about climate change, was hired in 1953 to counteract the claims that tobacco was dangerous. You can tell the world that they hire "Nurse Navirah" to present concocted testimony to congress leading up to the first Iraq war. You can point out that the studies raising doubt about climate change are being done by the same groups that raised doubt about the dangers of tobacco. Tell the world how many people have died from their actions. You have the stage.

As a child I remember singing in church James Russell Lowell's words:

Once to Every Man and Nation,
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with false-hood,
For the good or evil side

Written with diminishing hope:
Stanford Smith

A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall

In 1962 Bob Dylan performed A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall for the first time one month prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1963 in response to a question about if the hard rain was a reference to nuclear fallout. He answered with this.

"No, it's not atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen... In the last verse, when I say, 'the pellets of poison are flooding the waters', that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers."

The Copenhagen Climate Summit has come to an end with a weak non-binding agreement. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change the agreement attempts to cap the warming to two degrees Celsius, though a leaked document from the same organization states that it could lead to a three degree rise.

Here is what was done to get this accord. 1. Invited participants from environmental groups were blocked from entering the conference, and in many cases were arrested because there was a suspicion they might break the law. 2. Developing and third world countries reported that they received extreme pressure from the U.S. and other developed nations to accept higher limit to CO2. This included Hillary Clinton offering a $100 billion fund to help developing nations, but only if a particular accord was accepted (the funding source was undefined). 3. Poor nations were not included in the final negotiations.

So, what do we have? Amy Goodman of Democracy Now reported this.

"In an all-night session that followed Obama’s announcement, delegates from around the world denounced the US-led deal as an undemocratic sham that sacrificed the interests of poor countries. Ambassador Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, who chairs the largest grouping of developing countries called the G-77, though it represents more than 130 countries, condemned the agreement as 'extraordinarily flawed.'”

This agreement sentences nations to extinction. Maldives will cease to exist if we do not do more. Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands: the same. The number of climate refugees will increase as large parts or all of nations drown. The glaciers around the world will melt, turning off the tap for millions. History has told us that this will lead to more regional conflicts.

Unless the United State accepts that our use of fossil fuel is a form a genocide, selectively killing millions of people based upon national origin; unless the United States invests in improving the world rather than attacking sovereign states; unless the citizens of this country force our government and industry to change, if humanity survives my grandchildren will witness the greatest extension of species since the Ice Age.

Literally with tears in my eyes I give you this.

A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall, Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.