Oh, Yes, You Can Blame Bush for the Disaster in New Orleans

Even before Katrina hit the coast, the right-wing pundits (Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.) knew that George Bush was vulnerable on the tragedy that would probably follow. So using a tactic characteristic of many reactionaries, they transformed the likelihood of perfectly sound and valid criticism into a prediction of liberal mischief. “The liberals will politicize the storm,” they said in so many words, as if the mere act of predicting the obvious political consequences of George Bush’s neglect and bizarre national priorities would somehow make him politically immune.

But one must give the reactionaries credit: this demagogic trick is effective with some. Consider Delaware’s own Mike of Down with Absolutes. Katrina barely became scattered showers before he began to facetiously distance himself from his liberal brethren:

I find it easiest to just blame George Bush for everything any more. Try it. It’s quite a relief. 648 dead in Iraq due to stampede? Blame George Bush. He got us into the mess. US Poverty Rates Rising? Put it all on Bush! Hurricane Katrina? Well, we know how the corporate conservatives feel about environmental protections and global warming, the OBVIOUS cause of the storm. So, I just blame George Bush for that one, as well. See how easy it is, everyone? Take all of your problems in life and just blame George W. Bush. (link)

The subject matter of my article is Bush, Katrina and the ruin of New Orleans, so I will not deal with the other events mentioned by Mike now.* But before I take up this matter, I want to suggest that my fellow Delaware blogger and occasional dining partner Mike could be suffering from a misinterpretation of the 1st amendment, a malady that seems to afflict many liberals. I would like to dub the affliction "The Malady of the Misplaced 1st Amendment Imperative.” Applied to the right, the malady consists in the following error: although people on the left have the imperative to protect the 1st amendment rights of political lunatics to throw tantrums, we don’t possess the imperative to take any of their tantrums seriously. Sure, the rightwing will often throw tantrums in advance of individuals soundly criticizing Bush, but so what? That’s what the lunatic right does and, let’s admits it, does well. But when Bush is blameworthy, there’s no point in letting a few petty tantrums stop us from telling the truth.

Of course, no serious thinker could say that Katrina itself was the result of Bush’s ozone-destroying manufacturing policies. But that the ocean is warming (a warm ocean being one causative factor in the creation of hurricanes) and that a warming ocean is attributable to human activity are now beyond serious dispute. Yes, that means the tantrums about global warming thrown by the flat-earthers and tobacco-scientists at capitalist seminaries like the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute don’t count. After all, they have a dogmatic commitment to capitalism and their creed compels them to believe that some spectral “Invisible Hand of Capitalism,” if left unhindered by trifling considerations like justice and economic rights, must result in no harm, if not a New Jerusalem of universal benefit. The belief is quaint and kind of cute, somewhat reminiscent of Santa Claus, but their “scientists” and "science" should not be taken seriously.

Okay, now can we talk about how George Bush screwed New Orleans?

As you will see, showing how George Bush is responsible for New Orleans (and for a diminished rescue response throughout the damaged region) is easy just as Mike said.

Consider: why are there not enough available National Guard troops in the effected states to assist in the rescue? Well, because they are off fighting in a war to protect us from a nation that had WMD except that it didn’t:

While the National Guard has been taking part in rescue operations and law enforcement, some 6,000 members of the Louisiana and Mississippi Guard have been forced to watch the catastrophe from 7,000 miles away in Iraq. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. (link)

When these National Guard troops went to Iraq to prove that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, they took a lot of equipment with them that the victims of Katrina could use right about now:

When members of the Louisiana National Guard left for Iraq in October, they took a lot equipment with them. Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad, and in the event of a major natural disaster that, could be a problem."The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," said Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider with the LA National Guard. (link)

But George Bush thought it was far more important to put this equipment to use in Iraq for purposes other than helping American citizens during a catastrophic emergency:

[In Louisiana] there were precisely seven Coast Guard helicopters in operation. Where are the National Guard helicopters? Presumably strafing Iraqi citizens on the roads outside Baghdad and Fallujah. (link)

I told you it was easy, but there is more that Bush is responsible for

We all know by now that New Orleans is below sea level and surrounded by levies that keep back a massive lake (Lake Pontchartrain) and the Mississippi River from flooding the town. The levies have been in place for a long time and, like most old things, they need repair. Boy, did they ever need repair. They were actually sinking and Congress decided to fix it. But not on George Bush’s watch:

When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. (link)**

Now it’s important to note that scientists and engineers were talking about the looming tragedy in New Orleans in 2001:

New Orleans is sinking.

And its main buffer from a hurricane, the protective Mississippi River delta, is quickly eroding away, leaving the historic city perilously close to disaster.

So vulnerable, in fact, that earlier this year the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.

The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City. (link)

Why wasn’t there enough funds to meet this critical need? The unnecessary war in Iraq was one reason, but the other was that the top 1% of the income earners in the USA desperately needed 35% of Bush’s tax cut or so says the Corp of Army Engineers who were tasked with working on the levies project:

[A]fter 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. (link)

See, Mike, it is easy to blame Bush for this one. Here’s why: rightwing tantrums do not change the facts.
___________
* However, I have already demonstrated that the rise in poverty rates is attributable to Bush. What else could it be attributable to? Surely not the usual canard, Clinton’s blow job?

** A more detailed account can be found here.

St. Marks High School Student Receives Racist Threatening Notes

A student varsity football player at St Mark’s High School has received 2 threatening notes inside his locker. The notes explicitly threatened him with bodily harm and both were signed KKK. The police are investigating the matter as a felony hate crime (link).

The FBI’s most recent hate crime statistics indicate that there were nearly 8,715 hate offenses in the USA for 2003 and the overwhelming number of them was committed against African Americans, homosexuals, and Jews (link).

Many conservatives have argued that there is no need for hate crime laws.

Bush’s Recovery is a Fraud Unless You are Super Rich

We’ve all heard the hype. Bush’s recovery is reducing unemployment and people are now better off now than when Bush first took office. Don’t believe it. It’s all built on a tissue of lies, half-truths and distortions.

To begin with, the so-called improvement in the unemployment rate is a result of how the Bush administration has manipulated the statistics in ways that have not been calculated before:

Much has been made of this month's "improved" employment numbers, as well as the allegedly lower unemployment rate. However, these highly touted pseudo-statistics are misleading. The employment situation for American workers is not improving. In fact, it is getting worse.

July's inflation-adjusted hourly wages declined 0.1%. This certainly isn't a sign of a "healthy" job market or economy. There are still almost 8 million Americans who are unemployed. However, this administration has manipulated the labor force participation rate to reduce the calculated unemployment rate to 5.0%. If the same labor force participation rate was used today that was used from 1996 through December 2000, the calculated unemployment rate would be 7%, not 5%. (link)

Not only is the unemployment rate not really declining under Bush, but the underemployment rate is increasing as indicated by the rate of people who must work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

The most telling indicator of Bush’s failed economic policies is shown in the increasing poverty rate in the USA, which has increased under Bush each year for the last four years of his presidency:

An extra 1.1 million Americans dropped below the poverty line last year, according to the US Census Bureau. There were 37 million people living in poverty in 2004, up 12.7% from the previous year.

The report said non-Hispanic whites were the only ethnic group to experience an increase in poverty as well as a drop in income. (link)

The upshot is since the onset of the Bush regime unemployment has increased (as well as lying about that fact), more people must work longer, and more people are falling into poverty. So who is benefiting from Bush’s recovery? The super rich. A recent report shows that the salaries of CEOs have on average increased 431 to 1 over their production employees*:

In 2004, the ratio of average CEO pay to the average pay of a production (i.e., non-management) worker was 431-to-1, up from 301-to-1 in 2003, according to "Executive Excess," an annual report released Tuesday by the liberal research groups United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies. (link)

The report also demonstrates that if the minimum wage rate had grown at the same rate as CEOs, minimum wage earners would be making $23.03 an hour:

The report also compares the growth in average CEO pay – which was $11.8 million in 2004 – to the growth in the minimum wage. Had the minimum wage risen as fast as CEO compensation since 1990, the researchers calculated, it would now be $23.03 an hour instead of just $5.15. And the average production worker would be making $110,126 a year instead of $27,460. (link)

The CEOs who received the largest rate of increases were those who ran companies that benefited from the war profiteering provided by Bush’s war in Iraq:

The report found that CEOs are individually profiting from the Iraq War, with huge average raises at the biggest defense contractors.

At the 34 publicly traded US corporations among the 2004 top 100 defense contractors with 10% or more of their revenues from defense contracts – companies such as United Technologies, Textron, and General Dynamics – average CEO pay increased 200% from 2001 to 2004, versus 7% for all CEOs. (link)

CEOs whose companies engage in other slimy practices were among the big winners. Consider the CEOs whose companies underfunded their workers’ pensions:

The CEOs of those firms with the most underfunded pensions, on average, received 72% more than the average large company CEO. (link)

CEOs associated with companies that cheat in various ways also aren’t complaining, like those whose companies pay no income tax:

46 large companies paid no federal income tax in 2003, despite collectively earning $30 billion in profits. Some of the savings wound up in the pockets of their CEOs, who made $12.6 million in average pay in 2004. (link)

Running a company that cooks its books also merits a nice raise in America’s free market system:

In the last ten years, CEOs of firms with shady accounting appeared 18 times on the top ten lists of highest paid executives. This includes leaders whose companies were either later found to have committed fraud or were forced to make material restatements of earnings to correct previous overstatements of profits. (link)

Obviously, the most crucial question facing the American people is how much humiliation and abuse must they suffer from wealthy elites and their elected apparatchiks in government before they realize that they are the 21st century version of serfs

___________________
* Here is the entire study on CEO pay.

Martial Law Declared in New Orleans

New Orleans, LA (CBS) - Martial Law has been declared in parts of New Orleans as conditions continued to deteriorate. Water levels in The Big Easy and it's suburbs are rising at dangerous levels and officials stated they don't know where the water is coming from. Residents are being urged to get out of New Orleans in any way they can as officials fear "life will be unsustainable" for days or even weeks. (more here)

People in Jeff Parrish are ordered to stay away from their homes for a month.

In one area 200 people are trapped on their rooftops. It’s feared that as much as 87,000 people are trapped by the rising waters, which are expected to reach “lake level” in some parts of the city (link).

Many people fled to the superdome yesterday to find refuge from the storm. Now the numbers of refuges have reached as much as 20,000 people. One man in the dome killed himself as the water is rising around the dome itself (link).

As the situation worsens, looting has begun, mostly for items related to survival.

The death toll could be staggering:

"I talked with paramedics that are on the scene and the devastation is so great that they won't quit counting (bodies) for a while," said Mark Williams, operations supervisor for an ambulance service along the Mississippi coast. (link)

On WILM I heard a report that rescuers have stopped gathering corpses as they search for survivors.

Things have become so bad in the areas ravaged by Katrina that President Bush has decided to cut his vacation short and return to Washington (link). It must be Armageddon.

Now it’s Thermo Nuclear War: The Advent of FireNathan.com

The Casus Belli

DelDOT employees are fighting back. Here’s why:

In February, at least 10 state employees were either forced to resign or eventually terminated due to what was labeled pornography. In actuality, there was no pornography- only mildly inappropriate material that deserved nothing more than a reprimand. None of the employees in question had ever received any discipline in any form, and some had worked 10 to 15 years with the state. That these individuals were forced to resign or terminated without warning for these innocuous emails undermines even the most rudimentary sense of fairness. The word pornography was, no doubt, used to end all questions and research by the press. (link)

The Battle Plan

First, the fired DelDOT employees hired a general, Dover attorney Roy S. Shiels. He reviewed the material that served as the basis of the firings and stated that the Delaware not only has no clear standard for defining pornographic material but the material in question in this case isn’t pornographic at all.


The War Begins

The first salvo fired by the employees was a cluster bomb. It consisted of getting various politicos involved in the dispute. They responded by calling for a moratorium on state employee firings, then by publicly questioning the lucidity of the firings (see also here), and finally by calling on the state Legislature to cast a vote of no confidence on the firings.

The second salvo was the invasion of numerous DelDOT employees posting anonymous comments on a website about state issues. They have opened another front on Al Mascitti’s blog as well.

But the most recent salvo is the most entertaining and potentially the most devastating. It could be thermo-nuclear. It’s the website FireNathan.com, apparently the brainchild of an anonymous DelDOT employee. It features NathanBert (a Secretary Nathan Hayward comic strip), humorous photo-shopped photos of Hayward, news links about the firings, and (most devastating of all) copies of e-mails by Hayward that are arguably inappropriate like this one (click to enlarge):

Some War Punditry

All good stuff. But notice how much of it has been made possible by anonymous posting and blogging. In the USA employees, in both the private and public sectors, must resort to anonymous speech in order to keep their jobs, even if what they say is the truth. Of course, the reason why employees must resort to anonymous speech is because our nation and state government empower employers to act as censors under the rubric of “property rights.” It’s a way to exercise political and social control by making one’s well being, if not their survival, contingent on their silence. Therefore, employees must engage in anonymous speech.

I hope the outcome of the local pending Cahill v. John Doe 1-4 doesn’t have a chilling effect on anonymous political commentary.

_______________

A public meeting will be held tonight at 6:00 PM at Delaware State University. See here for more details.

Public Announcement: Hearing on No-Real-Cleanup Plan for Wilmington "Brownfield:"

Public hearing on no-real-cleanup plan for Wilmington "brownfield:"

Tuesday, August 30, 2005, at 6:00
Auditorium, Carvel State Building,
820 French Street, Wilmington

August 29, 2005

One of the ever-repeating environmental scandals of Delaware is the "redevelopment" of contaminated sites in the City of Wilmington without really cleaning them up. The Minner and Baker administrations, fronting for developers, are married to the "cover it up and forget about it" approach.

Contaminated groundwater from many of these sites eventually ends up in the Christina and Delaware rivers. Contamination ends up in fish people eat. But DNREC has a policy of considering the sites one-at-a-time, without regard to the "cumulative" impact. And little or no consideration is given to the biological impacts, including contamination of fish and shellfish.Green Delaware encountered a particularly disturbing example of this and asked for a public hearing, which DNREC, to its credit, promptly scheduled. The site in question is known as the "Boulevard Site" and the address is 100 S. Justinson Street.

Here is the letter we wrote to DNREC. It is a bit dry and technical, but the key point is that severe contamination problems were found and no real remedy is proposed. We hope state officials will be able to provide some meaningful explanations at the hearing. Comments from at least one Federal agency are expected.

Here is a link to the official public notice.

(We were not able to bring it up, but you might have better luck....)The above contains a link to limited online information about the site and the non-cleanup plans.Please consider attending the hearing.

**********************

Green Delaware
August 8, 2005

James D. Werner,
DirectorDivision of Air and Waste Management
VIA email and FAX

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

Regarding "PROPOSED PLAN OF REMEDIAL ACTION FOR THE BOULEVARD SITE (DE-1331)

Dear Mr. Werner

We have reviewed the above document and do not find it adequate.Concentrations of contaminants in "deep groundwater" (actually 20-25 feet bgs) included benzene at a concentration of 49,000 (49 thousand) ug/l. "NAPL" in the form of tar was also identified. No additional wells were installed and the size and geometry of the plumes is apparently unknown and was not further investigated.

(more here)

The Sunset Manifesto

Before the birth of my son, Tuesday nights were mine. I would nearly always attend the Tuesday night poetry readings in Newark held at the Newark Arts Alliance. The crowd was youngish relatively speaking, but I wasn’t by far the oldest one to attend. Some real codgers attended the readings like this guy:

That’s Bob Chartowich, a friend of mine. I made several other friends at the reading as well.

Many participants would often gather at the East End Café after the reading for conversation, long but cautious swigs of monosaccharides galactose and glucose (you never know when the cops might be about), and poetry games. Writing exquisite corpses were the rave.

But other group projects developed out of the readings. One was the Sunset Manifesto. It was the brainchild of four individuals, as I recall. I was not one of them. But I was asked to read the opening piece, The Second Epistle of Tan to the Puerto Ricans.

Check out the i fanblades website. All the material is original.

If you want to know what it all means, you tell me. I haven’t a clue. But understanding it isn’t the point. It is a Dadaistic experiment in language and sound. It’s your associations engendered by the pieces that matter.

I believe it came off rather nicely.
_______________________
Thanks to Nigel Baum, one of the authors, for sending me the link.

Today I Wish I Believed in the Power of Prayer

Today I wish I believed in the power of prayer because I would be praying for the people in Katrina’s path. Some news about it:

• Katrina could be the worst storm in history.
• Katrina could destroy New Orleans.
• Thousands of people have taken refuge in the superdome, but now the roof is coming off.
  

Welcome to Liberal Terrorism

By Ezequiel Adamovsky

(On How John Locke Murdered Juan Carlos de Menezes)

The United Kingdom is the cradle of liberalism and, indeed, one of the places in which Western civilization was born. Britons often take pride in the fact that the protection of individual rights and liberties does not even need a Constitution in the UK - such is the strength of liberal culture and values in the British Isles. Moreover, unlike the situation in the US, British society has the reputation of being fairly tolerant and multicultural.

But then Scotland Yard executes Juan Carlos de Menezes - a Brazilian immigrant mistakenly assumed to be a terrorist - according to a brand new principle of the police: first murder, then ask. The logic of this principle is impeccable: if a Muslim fundamentalist is ready to become a human bomb and kill himself alongside thousands of people, we might as well kill him before he can trigger the bomb he carries. But, of course, as there is no time to arrest that person so as to check if he is really a terrorist - and not, say, a Brazilian worker on his way to his job - we must be ready to accept some “collateral damage.”

Jack Straw made it very clear when he apologized before the Menezes family while supporting the behavior of the policemen involved; the first-murder-then-ask policy, he announced, is still applicable, which means that we all need to accept the fact that the police now have the right to murder without any motive or proof (not to mention a fair trial). (more here)

An Argument for Not Inviting Men to Baby Showers

I like babies but not baby showers. Still, it never occurred to me to behave this way at one:

A baby shower ended violently when one of the guests hit three others with an SUV, leading to stabbings and an assault with a tire iron….

The argument, which police said was over the expectant father's treatment of the pregnant woman, moved outside the home and 26-year-old John Young, the brother of the father-to-be, got into his sport utility vehicle and ran into three people, including the pregnant woman, police said.

Young then attempted to flee but crashed into a parked vehicle, police said. One of the male victims confronted Young after the crash, and then Young's brother Robert, the father-to-be, joined the fight and stabbed the man several times from behind, police said.

During the altercation, Thomas Wasdin, 29, struck John Young in the head with a tire iron and in turn was stabbed in the arms by 21-year-old Robert Young, police said. (link)

I don't know your theory, but I'm thinking bad gift.

Yikes!

Recommended Reading

I highly recommend that readers read Mike's piece at Down with Absolutes on the News Journal's forum on the Delaware's Freedom of Information Act & public access to state government information.

He attended the meeting and provides far more detail than did the News Journal's coverage of it.

Clear Channel Has Murdered WILM

The changes that the fellow-traveling Republican Clear Channel has brought to WILM have now come to seed. The result is that WILM is now perhaps one of the most right-wing reactionary radio stations in the nation. John Watson, who is quite reactionary in many ways except that he is pro-choice, is a veritable Karl Marx compared to the list of rightwing talking heads that now befoul the 1450 A.M. dial. In an obvious move to compete with WDEL's Rick Jensen's program, Watson now airs starting at 9:00 A.M. Reactionary vs. reactionary—it makes sense. Watson's program ends at 11:30 A.M.

Then Alan Loudell’s midday report begins—you know, the news—but it ends at 12:00 noon. The previous hour that Loudell provided with considerable intelligence, including his sophisticated interviews with people around the world, has shrunk. This is a bizarre change since Loudell is known throughout the industry as one of the best-studied and knowledgeable reporters on radio. Often those he interviews comment on the perceptiveness of his questions. Loudell's record of receiving many industry-related awards can now be expected to dwindle to a trickle. Clear Channel has lobotomized WILM's bright moment of intelligence to a mere half-hour. Why?

So that alleged drug kingpin Rush Limbaugh can bellow inanities for three continuous hours. He will be followed by his mini-me Mike Gallagher until 5:00 P.M. Demoted but not vanquished, apparently Gallagher didn’t sufficiently defame the Wilmington's protestors exercising their first amendment rights during his book tour to enflame Clear Channels’ interest. Oddly, from 5:00 – 7:00 P.M. we are permitted to eat. (It’s news but not news offered by Loudell.) I say “odd” because from 7:00 – 10:00 WILM will offer the not-recommended-for-a-full-stomach (arguable) homophobe and racist Michael Savage.

Clear Channel must hate us. Fine. Perhaps the most exciting and sane change will come from WDEL’s as yet unfilled 12:00 – 2:00 P.M. slot. WDEL should consider Jerry Fulcher and Al Mascitti who have been filing in for Jensen during his convalescence. Their excellent public reception might be the reason why Jensen’s bowels continue to be in an uproar. With any luck, they will have the same effect on the executives at Clear Channel as well.
______________
Some infamous remarks by Michael Savage:

"I'm beginning to think that women should be denied the vote. Their hormones rage; they are too emotional." (as quoted in San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 6, 1998)

With the population that has emerged, since they [Hispanics] breed like rabbits, in many cases the whites will become a minority in their own nation.... the white people don't breed as often for whatever reason. I guess many homosexuals are involved. That is also part of the grand plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the white race.

In Delaware Information is Available to Those Who Ask for It Nicely

Finally we got the answer to the one of the most vexing political questions in Delaware. Delaware government officials have been loath to surrender state governmental records to citizens because they haven’t been pleasant to work with. In what can only be considered a moment of poetic justice, Attorney General Jane Brady delivered the definitive answer:

"Most FOIA complaints come from people who consider themselves adverse to government," Attorney General M. Jane Brady said…. "I think there can be a better relationship." (link)

Jane provided this gem at a forum sponsored by the News Journal on August 15, 2005. The News Journal article about their forum didn’t indicate if Jane considered the possibility that citizens not adversely affected by the state government are not likely to seek information from it through Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act. A point that perhaps would have detracted from the important lesson that needed to be delivered: citizens might have a right to complete and timely provision of information from their government but only if they ask for it nicely.

Delaware political insiders were present to reinforce the point:

Jeffrey Bullock, who served as chief of staff to Gov. Tom Carper, said…media-government relations demand respect from both sides if the public is to be best served. (link)

That cinches it. It's our, the public's, fault that the state of Delaware has a lousy record of providing us with information.

The forum even provided answers to questions no one thought to ask but apparently should have, questions like who exactly speaks for the public’s interests. The answer: the official media:

[News Journal Executive Editor David] Ledford said "some of our folks are more combative than they ought to be." At the same time, he said, citizens depend on the media to represent their interests and make their concerns known to government officials. (link)

I am now compelled to become one of those unfriendly types Jane mentioned above. When DuPont gets slapped with a multimillion dollar court judgment in another state over a dioxin mess and a pile of dioxin sits on the banks of the Delaware River in Wilmington and the News Journal says nothing about the judgment, then organizations like Green Delaware and Common Cause of Delaware among others speak for my interests, not a corporate media outlet.

I was coincidentally told by a reliable source that some Delaware activists were not allowed to ask questions or make comments during the forum, a colossal irony if the allegation is true. At a forum about freedom of information in Delaware citizens were not free to discuss the problem. Instead it was an affair for officialdom: government officials, political insiders, and the official media. Characteristically missing in this troika, the people of Delaware.

More of these soirees are in the works. I hope to attend them. With any luck future panelists might discuss topics that are useful and germane, like what does having a right to information mean and whose government is it anyway.

Vacationing Bush Sings a Beatles' Song for the Press

The man can actually sing!

You can listen to it here.

Green Delaware Alert #436: Mississippi Jury Punishes DuPont over Dioxin

Today a jury in Laurel, Mississippi awarded Mr. Glen Strong 14 million dollars in damages, deciding that his cancer had been caused by dioxin emissions from DuPont's DeLisle, Mississippi titanium dioxide plant. In addition, the jury awarded Strong's wife 1.5 million for loss of consortium. Additional punitive damages are likely to be awarded next week.

Mike Fenasci, one of the principal lawyers in the case, told Green Delaware that "DuPont has caused the death of many people through the dioxins it created at the DeLisle plant."

Strong, an oyster fisherman, has a relatively rare blood cancer, multiple myeloma. He alleged that his cancer was caused by dioxins from the DuPont plant, which he was exposed to through the air and by eating oysters contaminated by DuPont.

DuPont called no defense witnesses. Earlier, Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum had excluded a number of DuPont witnesses, ruling that they had failed to cooperate by "deliberately" avoiding being deposed by Strong's lawyers. These sanctions were upheld by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Court-ordered testing by Strong's lawyers, aided by former DuPont employee Glen Evers of Hokessin, Delaware, revealed the presence of the most toxic form of dioxin, "2,3,7,8, TCDD" in various parts of the plant, including vent stacks. Other testing found dioxin, and other contaminants, in oysters in the fishing grounds used by Strong, and in house dust in the area.Approximately 2000 other DeLisle-area residents are also suing DuPont. Since class-actions are not allowed in Mississippi, DuPont faces 2000 more trials.

Documents obtained by Strong's lawyers revealed that DuPont knew that its plants were generating dioxins years before this information was disclosed, if at all, to regulators and the public.Detailed trial coverage is in the Biloxi-Gulfport SunHerald (http://www.sunherald.com) and the Sea Coast Echo (http://208.62.60.4/40/).

DuPont operates similar plants in Edgemoor, Delaware; New Johnsonville, Tennessee; Altamira, Mexico; and Taiwan. Another plant, now closed, operated in Antioch, California. According to the Toxics Release Inventory, these plants are by far the largest sources of dioxins in the United States. The longest-operating plant, and historically the highest dioxin-emitter, is the Delaware plant.It seems likely that if widespread health damage occurred in Mississippi, similar harm was caused to employees and residents in and around the other DuPont "TiO2" plants.

Meanwhile, Delawareans are demanding that DuPont remove a 500,000 ton pile of dioxin-contaminated waste it piled up, without permits, near the Delaware River. DuPont wants to leave the pile in place, claiming it is too dangerous to move. So far, Delaware environmental regulators have sided with DuPont, but local and county governments have passed resolutions calling for removal of the "dioxin pile."

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This Child was Killed By a USA Cluster Bomb in Iraq

His name is Lamiamh Ali, 6. He was one of four siblings were playing outside their home in Baghdad when a U.S. cluster bomb exploded. Two of the children died that day and their brother died later as a result of his injuries.

More scenes of what war is really like can be found here.

Thanks to Liz Allen for the link.

Governor Minner Attempts to Bribe Bank of America

In a move reminiscent of the bribes that kept the failed MBNA in Delaware, Delaware’s Governor Ruth Ann Minner met with Bank of America executives in her office in Dover on August 15, 2005 (link). Bank of America recently bought MBNA, Delaware’s largest private employer, and Bank of America has announced that 6,000 MBNA jobs will be eliminated as a result of the merger. The states in which the jobs will be cut has not yet been determined, assuming any semi-lucid person can believe for one second that a corporation can determine a fairly precise number of job cuts without having a sense of where those cuts will probably be made.

The meeting was held in the usual Delaware governmental style: no public announcement preceded or followed the meeting:

Minner said she didn't think an announcement was warranted because the meeting was only a "meet-and-greet" session. Had the companies delivered any significant news, she said, she would have made an immediate announcement. Minner said New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, Dover Mayor Stephen Speed, and Richard Pryor, director of Wilmington's economic development office, attended the latter part of the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours.*

"It was nothing other than getting to know them and letting them know we're here if they need help," Minner said. (link)

A “meet and greet session” that took more than two hours. That’s a rather lengthy Hello, nice to meet you. But they did mange to chat about a little business during the getting-acquainted soirée. Minner offered “financial aid” to the exceedingly lucrative Bank of America, but such governmental offers are pro forma in the USA’s “free market” economy. As the News Journal indicates, Maine is also making similar offers to Bank of America. But Minner also stressed how Delaware gladly offers up its citizens for sacrifice to mega-corporations in the credit card business:

Minner said she stressed to the executives Delaware's record of support for the credit card industry, including the state's industry-friendly laws. Delaware has no cap on the interest and fees credit card banks can charge customers. . (link)

There is no indication yet whether Minner’s attempt to bribe Bank of America was effective. But there is ample indication that even when Bank of America has been successfully bribed, they don’t always keep their end of the bargain.

The Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, an advocacy formed in 1987 to protect Delawareans from predatory lending practices, opposes the merger and has catalogued a list of alleged broken promises made by Bank of America:

California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) …opposed the application of Bank of America Corporation [BOA] to acquire Fleet Boston Corporation. In their comments, CRC cited California’s experience under a 1998 merger between NationsBank and BankAmerica. During this merger, the newly formed Bank of America developed a community reinvestment commitment for the state of California in 1999. The ten year commitment established a minimum $70 billion set aside for affordable housing, small business and low-moderate income consumer lending….In the area of multi-family affordable housing development, non-profit affordable housing developers had noted that the Bank has withdrawn from the permanent financing market and had tightened its underwriting criteria for construction loans. Since NationsBank merged with BankAmerica, relationships with non-profits have diminished. Given that CRC opposes this merger, it is apparent that not much has changed! (link)

Massachusetts had a similar experience:

In Boston, there are tales of broken promise. After the wave of mergers, only one hometown bank was left—FleetBoston. Then there was none. BOA made a written promise to keep a major presence in New England—garnering an approval from the state bank regulator. BOA had pledged to base six bank divisions in Boston and to maintain employment levels for “customer-facing positions” such as bank tellers. Within weeks of gaining approval, BOA moved two of the six divisions and proceeded to lay off hundreds of branch-office workers and outsourced hundreds of jobs. (link)

Although Governor Minner knows about the allegations of Bank America’s history of broken promises, she is attempting to craft a deal for Bank of America anyhow. Why? Because she believes Bank of America would turn over a new leaf and keep its promises to Delaware? Because she is counting on Bank of Delaware executives finding her charm too irresistible to break a promise made to her? Surely no one is naïve enough to believe those possibilities.

Governor Minner is doing nothing more than what all corporatist governments do: serve the interests of corporations. This is what is expected and understood. No one should be surprised.

This matter will be the subject discussed on Progressive Radio on Monday night.

* * *

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: Progressive Radio Broadcast

Join us Monday from 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. on WVUD, 91.3 FM Newark, Delaware. (http://www.wvud.org/)

From anywhere in he world you can listen on line at http://www.wvud.org/listen_online.htm

Email questions and comments to pvoices@gmail.com We read emails during the show and respond if possible.

Our guest Monday, August 29, 2005, will be Rashmi Rangan of the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, Inc (DCRAC). See http://www.dcrac.org/.

In a state that kisses the collective butt of the banking industry, and in which the official "Banking Commissioner" is flagrantly an agent of the banks themselves, DCRAC is the only real bank watchdog organization Delaware has. Rashmi Rangan of DCRAC will explain why her organization is opposing the merger of MBNA and the Bank of America.

ALERT: We understand that WVUD is likely to cut Progressive Voices to 1/2 hour per week.

We have some doubts about the practicality of continuing the show on such a limited schedule. If you have an opinion about this, please share it with Chuck Tarver, Station Manager of WVUD: nero@udel.edu For more information about WVUD see http://wvud.org/index.htm. (We understand that actual programming decisions are made by students associated with the station, which of course is appropriate for a campus radio station....)

On Progressive Voices you hear from people who believe in democracy, a healthy environment, the right to organize, peace, and other "progressive" values. If you are interested in appearing on Progressive Voices contact Alan Muller at 302.834.3466, amuller@dca.net or Marian Peleski, msmarian@comcast.net

Feedback on the show is also welcome.

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Less Troops = 14,000 More Troops in Iraq

Remember all those promises coming form Bush about reducing the number of troops in Iraq? Well, he plans to do it by adding 22,000 more troops, making the total 160,000 troops (up from 138,000). The excuse for the escalation is the upcoming referendum on the constitution that seems to controversial to be written and the elections that follow in December 2005 (link).

After December one can reasonably predict that after December the administration will have another pretext for keeping the number of troops in Iraq above the 138,000 figure. Delaware’s Senator Joe Biden will be thrilled. He believes more troops can pacify the insurgency.

Of course, the increased troops will only escalate the conflict because Iraqis will correctly perceive that the increased numbers indicate that the USA has no intention of leaving Iraq. But when this desperate measure fails, will Biden admit he was wrong? Or will he claim that Bush didn’t use the extra troops correctly? I bet the latter.

Pat Robertson Bites

American Christianity is pathetic. Its leaders can often make the most monstrous statements yet Christians in the USA rarely hold them accountable. Although the official news media will report their outrageous statements, they invite these irresponsible leaders onto their programs to discuss political issues again and again.

Consider the Rev. Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition, one time Republican Party candidate for the Presidency and multi-millionaire said to be worth anywhere between 200 million to one billion dollars. He recently stated that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, should be assassinated so that Venezuela doesn’t become a "launching pad for communist influence and Muslim extremism." Robertson then went on to add:

"If [Chavez] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it…We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." (Link)

Beyond the appalling nature of the recommendation, Robertson’s statement is filled with distortions & lies. To begin with, Chavez is a democratic socialist, not a communist. He is friendly with Castro because Castro provides medical and educational services to Venezuela’s 70% poor population in exchange for oil and also because Cuba under Castro is an example of how a nation in the Americas can successfully resist USA hegemony and maintain its national pride and sovereignty. Also, there is zero credible evidence that Chavez supports Muslim extremism. And the notion that Chavez is a dictator is so laughable people would do well to sit on a commode when they hear the charge. Chavez won the Presidency in 1988, was reelected to the Presidency in 1990 after Venezuela adopted a new constitution and easily survived a recall vote (by twenty percentile points) in 1994. The capacity to recall a president was put into the new constitution at Chavez’s suggestion. After he won the recall vote, the Venezuela legislature moved to remove the 2-term limit on the Presidency, but Chavez threatened to veto the bill, effectively killing it. He will run for his final term in 2006. George Bush should be the dictator that Chavez is.

Now imagine if a Muslim cleric called for the assassination of George Bush. The Bush government would be frothing at the mouth in outrage, claiming that the cleric had made a terrorist threat. Yet when the right-wing Rev. Pat Robertson calls for President Chavez’s election, the best word of “condemnation” that the US State Department can manage is Pat Robertson’s remarks were “inappropriate” (link). If the hypocrisy wasn’t obvious, Venezuela’s Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel makes the connection explicit:

He said the U.S. response to Robertson's suggestion on Monday that the U.S. assassinate Chavez would be a test of its anti-terrorist policy.

"What is the U.S. government going to do regarding this criminal statement? The ball is in the U.S. court," Rangel said.

"It's a huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those," he added. (Link)

Of course, one reason the State Department might be soft-peddling Robertson’s comments is because the Bush administration at least knew about and supported the unsuccessful coup against Chavez in 2002 and probably helped to facilitate it. Another obvious reason the Bush administration hasn’t explicitly condemned Robertson’s remarks or moved to have him prosecuted could be that Robertson speaks for a large part of the base for the Republican Party. But given the USA’s involvement in the coup and its criminal invasion of Iraq, I believe that assassination could easily be on the drawing board in Washington for Chavez if other options were also readily available: e.g., terrorist Contra-like attacks from neighboring Colombia.

In response to the widespread criticism for the remark at first Robertson tried to engage in a bit of revisionism by claiming that he never used the word “assassination” regarding Chavez:

The next day, Robertson “clarified” his comments, incredulously stating that "I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out. ‘Take him out' could be a number of things including kidnapping." (link)

Of course, this is a lie. He clearly used the word assassination. The video clip of his comment is here.

Meanwhile the unflappable Hugo Chavez continues to look about the neighborhood of the Americas to see where he can provide help to those who need it most:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline.

"We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.

Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.

The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America. (link)

So while Rev. Robertson calls for Chavez’s murder, Chavez calls for helping the poor. In the perverse system of values that dominate USA cultural and political life, the former is considered a man of God while the latter is labeled a dangerous dictator.

How utterly embarrassing for the USA. What a pity the political rightwing is too daft to see it.
_______________
See here for more infamous quotations from Robertson.

Taking a Vacation for a Few Days

One of my higher powers beckons: my mother. She insists on seeing me—well, her two grandchildren mostly, especially her 15-month-old grandson. So I’ll be gone Monday through Thursday (8/2 – 8/25) and I won’t be blogging again until Thursday night. My mother doesn’t have a computer…she got her first answering machine only a few years ago. So unless I get access to someone else’s computer, writing for the blog will probably be impossible.

I will try to audio blog. But no guarantees there, I’m afraid. Occasionally, the service doesn’t work.

I recommend using the Green Delaware link for the latest environmental news in Delaware. Many important things are happening with the dump at Cherry Island, and DuPont in Delaware and elsewhere.


Oh, and I hate to fly.
Did I say that already?
I really hate to fly.

The Last Pretext Has Fallen: Iraq Will Not Be Free

The outcome of the US invasion and occupation were always perfectly predictable because the US never stated its real war aims explicitly. The real aims differed from the stated “official” ones. The official ones would need to be constantly repackaged over time. First, it was the fantasy: the invasion and occupation would be a cakewalk because the Iraqis people would praise us for freeing them. But as the fantasy gave way to an ever-expanding and increasingly-effective insurgency, new expectations had to be created again and again until they accorded more closely with the predictable outcome of invading and occupying Iraq.

The USA’s real aims were evident from the start: permanent military bases in Iraq and control (not possession of but control) of Iraq’s oil.* All the rest of it—freedom for the Iraqi people, less repression for them, etc.—were merely fluff meant to edify us and justify a war that clearly violated international law.

Each insurgent bomb and the death of each USA soldier made the question “Why are we there?” all the more urgent. Not finding any WMD or active terrorist connections between Saddam and Al Queda meant that previous sub-pretexts for the war had to be re-spun as always the most important ones. Arguably the first repackaged pretext to fall was the idea that freeing Iraq from Saddam would increase the USA’s chits in the Islamic world and decrease recruitment for terrorist organizations. The USA Defense Department’s own Defense Science Board put that pretext to rest:

THE Pentagon has admitted that the war on terror and the invasion and occupation of Iraq have increased support for al-Qaeda, made ordinary Muslims hate the US and caused a global backlash against America because of the “self-serving hypocrisy” of George W Bush’s administration over the Middle East….

On “the war of ideas or the struggle for hearts and minds”, the report says, “American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended”.

“American direct intervention in the Muslim world has paradoxically elevated the stature of, and support for, radical Islamists, while diminishing support for the United States to single digits in some Arab societies."(link)

Another pretext that was floated, a particularly ghastly one although no one I read pointed it out, was that we invaded Iraq in order to fight the terrorists in Iraq instead of the USA. Imagine the immorality of such a notion, even if it is a fabrication. We pick a third-world country and make it and its people the victims of a war only to spare us. Suppose two rival gangs decided to carry on their gun battles inside crowded malls only because they didn’t want to shoot up their own neighborhoods. The idea would be universally recognized as perverse, especially as the mall patrons were carried out, face-covered, on stretchers. The only difference is that in Iraq there have been tens of thousands innocent victims.

But this pretext has been pure idiocy from the start. Perhaps that is why the American people have found it unconvincing. Terrorist attacks have occurred all over the world since the invasion of Iraq and Americans have been among the victims. The increase has been so great that the USA State Department has stopped issuing its legally mandated international terrorism report for the first time in 19 years of reporting. It’s a strategy that hasn’t worked for the people of Great Britain or the people of Spain. Besides, 1800 dead Americans are still 1800 dead American whether they are killed in Iraq or in American cities.

Of course, our best pretext was we were bringing democracy to Iraq, a democracy that would recognize fundamental human rights in a climate of security and prosperity. But the USA only recently began to drop the hint that this “goal” might not be realized:

Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say. (link)

Today we hear the news. Iraq has settled on what essentially Iran has for a democracy. Democracy governed by Islamic law:

THE careful negotiations over the Iraqi constitution appeared last night to be leaning further towards making Islamic law the main source of law for the country rather than a source after US diplomats apparently gave way to the concerns of Iraqi officials.

Sunni Arab negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak said a deal was struck which would mean parliament could pass no legislation that "contradicted Islamic principles". …

One secular Kurdish politician said: "We understand the Americans have sided with the Shi'ites. It's shocking. It doesn't fit American values. They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state. I can't believe that's what the Americans really want or what the American people want." (link)

The Kurdish politician probably has it wrong. Even a superficial understanding of US foreign policy shows that the USA has no trouble supporting repressive even brutal regimes as long as those regimes cooperate with USA strategic aims. The upshot of this idiot war has been that another repressive government will rule in Iraq. The only difference is that the USA will bless this one, just as it did for the government of Saddam Hussien before he invaded Kuwait.
__________________
*Control of Iraqi oil through an Iraqi government obedient to US aims is more important to the USA’s strategic goals than possession of the oil. Possession of the oil would confirm the suspicion of USA outright theft of Iraq’s resources, a diplomatic blunder of colossal import. Controlling the resources still permits privileging western big oil interests under the illusion of Iraq exercising its sovereignty while also denying access to Iraqi oil for other nations that the USA would prefer to keep energy dependent (e.g. China).

Public Announcement: Help Dump the Dump

Volunteer are needed to assist Green Delaware and Let My People Know Coalition with a 'Dump the Dump' --send a letter to DNREC effort. We have the "Top Ten Reasons to Dump the Dump" and a form letter that permits folks to select from the 'Top Ten' list and fill in the blank space add their names, address, zip. One of the lead organizations will hand deliver letters to DNREC before 10/3 (that's when the hearing record closes...if you haven't written you own personal letter in opposition to the landfill expansion it's time to get moving: Secretary John E. Hughes, DNREC, 89 Kings Highway, Dover 19901)

Below are some events where volunteers are needed get folks to sign letters:

Saturday, August 20 ( We got over 100 signed 'dump letters' at Community Day!!! )
Councilmember Charles Potter, Jr./Community Day
Haynes Park, Wilmington 2pm - 6 pm

Sunday, August 21
4th Annual Osun Festival in Brandywine Park, Wilmington
west of the Van Buren Street Bridge, near the rose gaden from noon - 6 pm

Saturday August 27 & Sunday 28
August (Big) Quarterly, Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park, Wilmington
2pm - 5pm (both days)

Saturday, September 10
Wilmington Wellness Day 2005
Rodney Square, Wilmington 11am - 3pm

If you have any questions please call Mac Cochran @ 762-8700 or mdc111@cs.com

Have additional event dates? Please call Alan Muller @ 834-3466 or greendel@yahoogroups.com

An E-mail Exchange with David Horowitz

On one of my occasional insomniac nights, I listened to Mike Malloy of Air America talk about the attacks made on Cindy Sheehan who has been much in the news lately. One of the conservatives who attacked her, he alleged, was David Horowitz.

Davis Horowitz is an editor of Front Page Magazine, a prolific author, the son of Marxist parents, himself a Marxist for several years until the 70s/80s, former editor of Ramparts magazine, a former associate of the Black Panther Party and once a confidant of its Minister of Defense Huey Newton. Several factors led to Horowitz’s transformation from a radical leftist to a Republican conservative, not the least of which was the murder of his friend Betty Van Patter. Horowitz believes that Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther Party member, murdered Van Patter.

Beyond those particulars I know little about Horowitz. However, I have read with interest a quarrel between him and Media Matters about some alleged anti-American test question given to students by a University of Colorado professor. I also read his already infamous comments soon after the death of Peter Jennings condemning him for “his sympathy for Jew-hating terrorists and their supporters.” I found his comments bizarre not because of their timing, which seems to be the complaint of many commentators, but because the claims are unrecognizable given the preponderance of Jennings' pro-Israeli reporting over the years. The complaint seems to stem solely from the fact that Jennings had a personal friendship with Hanan Ashrawi, a Christian Palestinian and sometimes spokesperson for Palestinian concerns.

That’s all I know about Horowitz. I did read his blog entry about Sheehan (reproduced below) and wrote a comment in reply. Within minutes I received a response from Horowitz by e-mail. That began an e-mail exchange, all which is below.

I have taken the liberty to correct some typos in both Horowitz’s and my e-mails. The corrections are placed in brackets.

I haven’t received a reply from Horowitz since my last e-mail to him. I make nothing more from that than he is a busy man. I intend to send him a copy of this blog entry with the invitation to send me a reply. I will gladly include his reply here.

THE E-MAIL EXCHANGE

Original Blog entry by David Horowitz

It's probably because she's too busy hating her country. Casey Sheehan was not a draftee in a war he didn't approve. He volunteered not once but twice, the second time after the Iraq war was well underway. He was a mechanic and there was no reason he should have been in harm's way the day he was killed except that he volunteered to rescue his comrades who were under fire. Casey Sheehan was a war hero in a war he embraced.To listen to the mother only an idiot could volunteer for the war Casey died in. George Bush's war. Haliburton's war. The Jews' war. Cindy Sheehan is a hateful woman. Not all the grief in the world can excuse her reprehensible behavior. And it certainly can't excuse all the America-haters, Bush-haters, and haters of the war for Iraq's freedom who are willing to hide behind this woman's grief to libel their own country and its President and to bring joy to its enemies' hearts. (link)

My reply:

Nice try, David. But your commentary won't do because it rests on a false premise. Sheehan isn't speaking on behalf of her son. She has acknowledged ad nauseam (for people like you who seem to ignore the point) that her view of the war differed from her son's. She is speaking about her own grief and pain (do you doubt she has it?) and her own belief that the war was unjustified and hardly constituted the kind of compelling strategic necessity required to make the loss of her son and the other 1,800 plus Americans worth their sacrifice.

In the end, David, your piece assumes that Sheehan isn't entitled to have and express a view as strongly as she can manage simply because it differs from her deceased son's. Not only is that a logical howler, but it is completely irrelevant to understanding what she is about as well.

Horowitiz’s reply:

I understand she has a different point of view from her son. The problem is that her point view makes her son look like an idiot. You can't present the war as simply a bunch of lies put over on a bunch of credulous Americans without this result. It's Cindy's hate for America and her extremist views that make her respect for her son doubtful.

My reply:

Come on, David. Isn't there anyone in your life that you fundamentally differ w/ on some issue, but you love them nevertheless? Does the fact that you publicly take [a] stand that differs from this loved one in any way suggest that you believe this person is an idiot? That simply doesn't follow.

Yes, she thinks he was wrong and made a bad choice. But she's in Crawford for herself. That's the essence of the matter.

David, I am on the left, but I frankly don't understand why conservatives haven't argued that Bush should meet w/ her. Have the meeting in private, let her speak her mind, and then w/i a week or two, the matter would end as far as media coverage is concerned. Here’s another thing. If he did it, the left would be in no position to say that he didn’t do the honorable thing w/ her.

You guys should be angry w/ Bush for not making this go away. But trashing this sad & angry mom only compounds the coverage.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Horowitiz’s reply:

Sure. But if you insist as Cindy does that there is no way a decent human being could support the war that doesn't leave much room for respect for those who do, does it?

My reply:

I don't recall when Sheehan's son died. But many people believed we would find WMD and collaborative AQ links after the invasion. I never thought so, but I confess having a few moments of pause when I heard Rumsfeld claim “We know they have WMD and we know where they are located” or words to that effect. The people who believed Iraq had some WMD capacity before the invasion includes individuals some people would consider surprising: Chomsky, for example. All of that now has come to naught. (Now even the more abstract justifications are being scaled back by the administration: Iraq as a bastion of democracy in the heart of the Islamic Middle East, etc.)

Sheehan’s son might have died before the mounting non-evidence for the war’s justification became manifest. That simply means [a near redundancy omitted here] he trusted his government but died before the non-evidence came in. So she might think her son wasn’t an idiot, but she could wonder why NOW people continue to believe the war was justified. (To be frank, I have met some supporters of the war that simply cannot imagine any set of evidentiary circumstances that would make them doubt either the wisdom or the justification for the invasion. For them, it is enough that Saddam hated us. Bad thoughts are enough.)

If as you claim, Cindy stated that no decent human being can support the war, then that could simply be a manifestation of where we are in time regarding confirming the original justifications.

Beyond all that, why does she need to respect war supporters to speak for her own grief?

Hororwitz’s reply:

This is a desperation move. He died in March 2004 after three weeks [on] his new tour, long after the wmd issue had already been hacked to death. The troops in Iraq understand that they're fighting for the freedom of 25 million Iraqis and the saftey of American citizens -- something Cindy and her friends don't. This kid died a hero trying to save others. Don't think you a decent mother would want to remind people of her son's noble qualities even if she condemned the war policy? There's something terribly wrong with this woman. She's been disowned by her own family (or didn't you notice?).

The justification for the war was not WMDs and you can't find me a single statement of war aims by the president or the Congress that would justify such a claim on your part. Your statement that supporters of the war think that Saddam's hatred for us justified it is absurd.

My reply:

David:

"This is a desperation move. He died in March 2004 after three weeks no his new tour, long after the wmd issue had already been hacked to death.”

The WMD issue hadn’t been hacked to death in March 2004. The Duelfer Report wasn’t released until 9/30/04, six months after the young man had been killed. Even the UK Guardian didn’t think that the “final verdict” on the WMD question was in until Duefler. Perhaps you are confused about the chronology?

“The troops in Iraq understand that they're fighting for the freedom of 25 million Iraqis and the saftey of American citizens -- something Cindy and her friends don't.”

For someone who has expressed agnosticism about the ability of a mother to speak for her son (something that never was in issue in the first place), you now pretend to be able to speak for over 100,000 troops. The cheek of that is astounding.

“This kid died a hero trying to save others. Don't think you a decent mother would want to remind people of her son's noble qualities even if she condemned the war policy?”

But she has talked about his exemplary qualities. Again, I would remind you. Her point isn’t to talk about her son. Her point is to talk about the loss of her son. Sure, that involves her talking about what her son meant to her, what his loss means to her, etc., but what she is doing is clearly distinct from talking for him.

“There's something terribly wrong with this woman. She's been disowned by her own family (or didn't you notice?).

I noticed. I just don’t make anything of it because it is not the least bit surprising. She has happened to garner a lot of attention and much of it has been negative. That along with the loss for the family puts considerable stress on the family. In any case, family disapproval is hardly a worthwhile standard by which to judge the virtue of someone’s dissent. I don’t know if your parents were still alive when you changed your political perspective and began to publicly express it. But I would certainly hope that you wouldn’t hold that any (if any at all) disapproval they might have had for your change in perspective [would] be sufficient grounds for you to stifle your expression of it.

“The justification for the war was not WMDs and you can't find me a single statement of war aims by the president or the Congress that would justify such a claim on your part”

Surely you jest. There are numerous public statements that Bush made to this effect. But let’s just concentrate on his official ones. Take his letter to Congress on 3/19/03 authorizing the use of force against Iraq. Bush explicitly stated:

I determine that:

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Although this not at issue between us, let me just point out that Bush unmistakably links the attack on Iraq with 9/11, a link he later denied after the invasion. But more to the point, he states as a justification for the use of force that “reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will [not] likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.”

What do those resolutions involve? Among others the resolutions [require] Iraq not to produce WMD and/or have WMD programs, as Bush himself claimed to the UN that Iraq was doing (9/12/02). Here is the entire document he submitted to the UN. He clearly states to the UN that Iraq is producing WMD and/or has restarted WMD programs across the entire spectrum of WMD possibilities (short [of] lasers): nuclear, chemical, biological, and ballistic weapons. Here is that portion of his case to the UN.

Moreover, the new National Security Strategy of the USA clearly stated that:

Our immediate focus will be those terrorist organizations of global reach and any terrorist or state sponsor of terrorism which attempts to gain or use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or their precursors…. (emphasis mine) (emphasis mine) (p. 12, link)

The immediate focus is right. It was Iraq. We invaded the country 6 months later, looking for the WMD that weren’t there.

In all seriousness, David, although one could make (in my view) a tenuous case that the White House mistakenly believed Iraq was a WMD threat sufficient to justify a preemptive attack, one would have to be either seriously misinformed or fanatically loyal to Bush to claim that WMD was not a significant part of the justification for invading Iraq.

I had no idea you held this view. It surprises me, frankly. You ought to give that one up. That dog will never hunt now.

“Your statement that supporters of the war think that Saddam's hatred for us justified it is absurd.”

I specifically said: "I have met some supporters of the war that simply cannot imagine any set of evidentiary circumstances that would make them doubt either the wisdom or the justification for the invasion. For them, it is enough that Saddam hated us. Bad thoughts are enough.”

There are some important qualifiers there, David: “I have met them” and “some.” I didn’t say “all.” But, yes, I agree. Being hated is an absurd justification for going to war.

Supreme Court Nominee Roberts: Citizens Have no Right to Be Free from Discrimination

Yet another horror story about Roberts:

On another topic, Roberts, who was nominated as a justice by President Bush last month, advised the White House [during the Reagan administration] to strike language from a description of a housing bill that referred to the "fundamental right to be free from discrimination." He said that "there of course is no such right." (link)

I can’t believe the Democrats plan to roll over on this guy. Why?

From the Trenches at 950 Basin Road

I was fortunate to escape unharmed from the hail of rubber bullets and the billowing tear gas that greeted the protestors today outside the News Journal headquarters. But many individuals from the People’s Revolutionary Party for Reforming the News Journal (PRP-RNJ) were not so fortunate. I saw many individuals in the prime of their life cut down callously and indifferently like weeds and some geriatrics as well (undoutedly much to the relief of Mike Gallagher), but they probably only had a month or two left in any case. The party members valiantly hurled themselves against the 10-feet high barricade of unsold newspapers that surrounded the News Journal building. All copies were today’s edition.

“Oh, the humanity! The humanity!” I cried into my now infamous Radio Shack tape recorder. But someone hastily reminded me that line had already been taken.

Then the windows on the top floor of the News Journal flung open and old PCs rained down on the protestors. Someone next to me cried, “My God! They're going through an upgrade!” We knew it would be a bloodbath. I myself nearly caught it in my rather handsome cranium from an old manual typewriter. I looked up and I believe I caught a glimpse of Ron Williams grinning in a window.

At one point the protestors breached the barricade and Alan Muller rushed though with the People’s Petition in hand to give to Criag DuBow the President and CEO of Gannet. But Alan was surrounded and given the choice between arrest and detention in Gitmo or immediate execution.* He chose execution. (Fortunately, he subsequently recovered with no apparent ill effects.) I then streaked through the breach and gathered the People’s Petition and delivered it myself. Why they took it from me and not Alan will probably become a matter of scholarly debate through the annals of time. Perhaps it was my hulking, intimidating size or that I had soiled myself from fear and they wanted to get rid of me. Personally, I think it was because I wore a necktie.

The revolutionaries who survived the protest reconnoitered afterwards at Arner’s for salad and coffee. One revolutionary was grievously disappointed to discover that Arner’s doesn’t serve milkshakes. The Central Committee is considering a protest at Arner’s to address the injustice.

Undoubtedly, the News Journal will suppress all knowledge of the protest and the atrocities that occurred there. Already, I have received word that their disinformation campaign has begun: they are claiming that only Alan and I showed for the protest.

DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! It’s all LIES!!

Power to the People!! And other revolutionary slogans like that!

____________
*In a seriousness, Alan was threatend w/ arrest before I arrived.

Mass Protest at the News Journal

The masses are gathering for the protest which will begin at noon today. Here's why. Be there or be square.

More to follow.

Supreme Court Nominee Roberts’ Capitalism is Sexist

The issue came up during the Carter administration. If the market won’t ensure that women receive the same pay as men for labor of comparable worth, should the judiciary enforce market equity? Finally, in 1983 a judge in Washington state made the order.

Roberts, then a lawyer working for Reagan in the White House, was incensed with the ruling:

"It is difficult to exaggerate the perniciousness of the `comparable worth' theory," Roberts, then an associate White House counsel, wrote to White House Counsel Fred F. Fielding in early 1984. "It mandates nothing less than the central planning of the economy by judges." (link)

Did you notice the red-baiting phrase “central planning” in his assessment? It gets much worse. Roberts clearly thought that the ruling was akin to a commie plot. In a clear parody of Marx’s famous statement “From each according to his ability to each according to his need,” Roberts wrote:

"Their slogan may as well be, `From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.'” (link)

Yes, it’s such a pity when one sector of the government attempts to ameliorate what capitalism cannot accomplish: ensure some measure of equity.

It’s a shame that the Democrat Party doesn’t have a backbone. If they did, they would filibuster this fossil.

There were Many Lives, Georgie. Almost 2,000.

Green Delaware Alert: News Journal CEO, Meet with US!

Craig A. Dubow, President and CEO of Gannett,

To be in Delaware on Friday, August 19, 2005

Is he "too busy" to meet with the communities

The News Journal exploits?

YOU can help--action items below
August 18, 2005. On January 30, 1978, the large newspaper chain Gannett (http://www.gannett.com) bought the News-Journal Company from E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co. for sixty million dollars.

In July of 2005 John Taylor retired after more than twenty years as editorial page editor of The News Journal. Taylor, who had openly represented the views of the chemical and banking industries, immediately went to work for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, directing a front organization calling itself the Delaware Public Policy Institute (http://www.dscc.com/state_chamber/affiliates/dppi/DPPI.htm).

Taylor's wife Maria continues to be the head of "information and education" for Delaware's state environmental regulatory agency.This week in Mississippi an extraordinary trial opened in the state courts: DuPont is being sued for billions of dollars by over two thousand people alleging that they and their environment have been poisoned by DuPont's DeLisle plant. Testing in the plant (http://www.greendel.org/item.xhtml?name=alert_0433), and testing of shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico (http://www.greendel.org/item.xhtml?name=article_oysters), is revealing toxic contamination previously denied by DuPont and state regulators.

Green Delaware had urged The News Journal to send a reporter to Mississippi, pointing out that a nearly-identical plant is Delaware has admitted even higher emissions that the Mississippi plant.

The Edge Moor, Delaware, plant, for example, has in some years reported releasing more than one-half of all the dioxins known to be released in the entire United States (http://www.greendel.org/item.xhtml?name=alert_0242). This has been mostly covered up by Delaware media.

Did The News Journal send a reporter?

No, but it did begin running a series touting DuPont's latest "miracle of science: "biotechnology." Only the DuPont side was really reported, and Delawareans concerned about a too-quick rush into "biotech" were ignored.

Many thoughtful observers fear a repeat of the careless rush into "chemicals," epitomized by the DeLisle and Edge Moor tale outlined here, or the concurrent DuPont scandal of polluting the whole human race with "Teflon" chemicals. But the powers-that-be in Delaware are touting biotech as "the next big thing" to replace the fading credit-card banks, and other views are probably not wanted.

There is nothing unusual or surprising about the anecdotes told above. Probably almost every observant Delawarean can tell similar stories from his or her own experiences with The News Journal.

We spoke briefly to Craig A. Dubow, President and CEO of Gannett, and sent him the letter below. The sense we are getting, though, is that he will be too busy to meet with the people. The corporate jet will come, he will meet with News Journal managers and maybe some local fat-cats. The corporate jet will go away.

ACTION: YOU can help by

(1) letting us know that you join in the call for a meeting with Mr. Dubow, and

(2) sending him an email or making a call asking him to meet with us:
kmahoney@gannett.com
(703) 854-6000,
FAX: 703.854.2323. (Please send a copy to Green Delaware).

*******************

August 17, 2005

Mr. Craig A. Dubow, President and CEOGannett Co., Inc.

7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22107

FAX: 703.854.2323

Dear Mr. Dubow:

Thank you for speaking with me a moment ago. To recap:We understand you will be in Delaware on Friday, August 19, 2005, for meetings with The News Journal staff.

I am writing on behalf of members and representatives of a broad spectrum of community organizations in Delaware–some are signatories below. We are folk who engage in advocacy and/or public service and have a stake in the independence, fairness and accuracy of our media.

Probably we do not need to tell you that (1) The News Journal is the dominant daily in Delaware and has great influence; (2) Delaware has strong traditions of special-interest control and does not necessarily have strong traditions of independent journalism.

In this environment, what The News Journal does and does not do can make a big difference. There are issues, both positive and negative, that we think you should know about. With the above in mind, we ask you to find an hour on the 19th to meet with us, and we look forward to your response.

Yours very truly,

[signed]

Alan Muller

Green Delaware

Gemma Buckley, Jack Buckley, John Flaherty, Maryanne McGonegal,

Common Cause of Delaware

Ted Keller

Citizens Coalition for Tax Reform

John Kearney

Environmentalists for Truth

Jim Bryant

P.A.C.E.

Albert JacksonJohn Tobin

Dana Garrett,

Delaware Watch

[Add YOUR name or organization to this letter...]

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

The Consequence of So-Called Free Trade

Here comes the “We leftists told you so”:

More than 40 percent of Mexicans in a new survey would opt to immigrate to the United States and more than 20 percent of them would enter this country illegally given the opportunity, a study released Tuesday disclosed. (link)

We told you that NAFTA would create many free-trade refugees. That is precisely what happened:

[I]mmigration has more than doubled since NAFTA’s enactment. (link)

Obviously the free-trade refugees who have immigrated here only reflect a small percentage of those who want to escape the ravages of NAFTA. Wait until CAFTA does its infernal work. There will be even more free-trade refugees and, you guessed it, more “We told you so’s” coming from the left.

Wouldn't it be wiser to sometimes just admit "You know, you were correct" and learn from it?

__________________
Message to Hube: Could you point me to the good website for learning Spanish you mentioned. It appears I might be running out of time.

Do You Need Proof the USA Tortured Detainees in Iraq? Will 60,000 Pages Do?

I’m not making it up. As a result of various court orders, the Pentagon has released to the ACLU “more than 60,000 pages of government documents regarding torture and abuse of detainees” in Iraq (link).

The statement came up during the course of the Pentagon’s ongoing attempt to resist a court order requiring them to release 87 previously undisclosed photographs and videotapes of the tortures of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib. It should be recalled that

until the first photos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib were made public in April 2004, the government had consistently denied that any wrongdoing had taken place, despite news reports to the contrary (link).

Although this is a topic I covered recently, the Pentagon’s tone has become increasingly desperate, so panicked in fact that the Pentagon is making some rather startling admissions:

[Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers] believes the release of the photos would ”incite public opinion in the Muslim world and put the lives of American soldiers and officials at risk,” according to documents unsealed in federal court in New York. ”The situation on the ground in Iraq is dynamic and dangerous,” Myers added, with 70 insurgent attacks daily. He also said there was evidence that the Taliban was gaining ground because of popular discontent in Afghanistan. (link)

Seventy insurgent attacks every day in Iraq? Is this the insurgency that Vice President Dick Cheney recently said was in its last throes? And the Taliban, for God’s sake, is starting to seem increasingly preferable to Afghanis than the USA engineered democratic regime that is in power now? It is difficult to imagine the desperate conditions that could possibly prevail which would make return the Taliban seem preferable. Perhaps it is the extensive network of detention facilities that have sprung up in Afghanistan since the USA invaded the country. Or it could be the result of the torture, murder and rape of detainees in these facilities in Afghanistan.

Meyers continues:

”It is probable that Al Qaeda and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill, which will result in, besides violent attacks, increased terrorist recruitment, continued financial support and exacerbation of tensions between Iraqi and Afghani populaces and U.S. and coalition forces,” he said. (link)

Grist for their propaganda mill? That’s an odd statement to make if the USA’s actions in Iraq and elsewhere are largely blameless. Is that an admission that Middle Eastern people might have good reasons and (if the pictures are released) evidence for violently resisting the USA’s policies and aims in the region? And the concern about “increased terrorist recruitment” is fascinating since the USA was warned precisely of this outcome by, of all organizations, the CIA before the USA invaded Iraq.

What desperation is driving the Pentagon to the point of confession? No serious thinker could possibly believe that it is motivated by a genuine concern for the US soldiers in the field. Go talk to a US soldier on patrol today that lacks body armor or is riding about in a vehicle that still has not been up-armored and then tell us about the Pentagon’s concern.

What seems to be the principal concerns are the announced probability that the judge in the case will order the Pentagon to release the photographs and the predictable consequences it will have on convincing Congress to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and prosecute ALL those responsible for the tortures:

Reed Brody, head of international programmes [sic] for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told IPS ,”The problem is not the photos but the policy of abuse. The release of the first photos last year led us to the revelations that senior U.S. officials had secretly sidelined the Geneva Conventions, re-defined 'torture', and approved illegal coercive interrogation methods.” ”The release of new photos showing crimes perpetrated on detainees could create new impetus to expose and prosecute those ultimately responsible and hopefully prevent these practices from being repeated.” . (link)

It seems that the bigwigs are afraid of going to prison. After all, they know best what terrible things can happen to prisoners.

Mike Gallagher is Changing His Story

I wasn’t able to listen to Mike Gallagher’s program yesterday, but from what I understand he never once mentioned that he and his minions shouted “We don’t care” to Cindy Sheehan. Apparently, he alleged that they merely sang some patriotic songs, prayed and made supportive comments about Bush. From the impression I got from several people who listened to the program yesterday (one of which was John Watson of WILM) I would characterize Gallagher protest as a quaint but hardly objectionable event. Again, there was no mention of chanting, “We don’t care” to Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in Iraq.

This account accords with Gallagher’s official account posted the day after his protest. In response to “bloggers” who claimed that Gallagher’s protest was “as an attempt to harass [sic] and bully Cindy Sheehan,” he describes their actions as following:

When we got to the protest area outside the president's ranch, we stood alongside the road and sang patriotic songs, waved our flags, and said supportive things about the troops and their commander-in-chief. Then we got back in our bus and went home. At no point would we have ever considered antagonizing or confronting Cindy Sheehan. She's suffered enough. All Americans mourn her loss. We just strongly disagree with her accusation that President Bush "killed (her) son." In fact, when a couple of reporters asked me if I would go over to the anti-war protest site and confront them, I asked why in the world I would do that. That wasn't our intent at all. I didn't even want to meet her, and if I had, I would have only told her how sorry I was for her loss. (link)

I listened today to most of Gallagher’s program. A supporter called up evidently concerned about the reports that he and the other protestors shouted “We don’t care” to Cindy Sheehan. Gallagher initially answered by using a guilt trip. He said in effect “Is that the sort of thing you think I would do to a grieving mother?” That’s a good question to ask a disciple but it would be a hellacious question to ask a detractor because I know I would have answered immediately, “Absolutely!”

Gallagher then explained to his groupie that he and the others sang patriotic songs, prayed, blah, blah, blah, but then said that at one point they chanted “I don’t care” a few times but only in (his words) “response to” something he read on the air earlier that week. He is referring to this piece which is posted on his website, part of which reads as follows:

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care. When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care. When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care. When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care. And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care! (link)

Of coursde, this harangue is racist and it shows a callous and sociopathic disregard for the suffering of human beings under torture. Be that as it may, Gallagher’s attempt to pawn off the reason for chanting “We don’t care” on this piece of writing is transparent bullshit for the following reasons:

1. Who publicly chants a phrase in “response to” a piece of writing? That is preposterous. Ever hear of anyone chanting something as a way of responding to, say, the Magna Carta? I thought not.

2. The chant would have no meaning whatsoever to those observing Gallagher’s protest without knowing that it was directed to something he had posted online. It would be an absurd exercise.

3. Any moron would know that chanting “We don’t care” within earshot of a mother whose son was killed in a criminal war can only be understood by her as saying “We don’t care that your son was killed.”

There is a principal in law which states that the predictable consequences of someone’s actions are evidence of his intentions. The predictable consequence of chanting “We don’t care” toward a grieving mother is that she would take it as directed at her.

I believe Gallagher is lying. The only question now is when will he apologize to Cindy Sheehan?
____________
Addendum:

This revealing insight from News Hounds about Gallagher:

Hannity said he didn't have a problem with what Sheehan's doing, despite the fact that she has aligned herself with "all these radical extremist groups" such as Code Pink, MoveOn.org and Joe Trippi. "My problem, Mike, is with the news media." He complained that he has had parents on who have lost children in Iraq who have "a very different opinion" than Sheehan's. "You don't ever hear from these parents on any TV program."

Gallagher agreed, saying that if there was one mother outside the ranch saying she supported President Bush, there would not be the same kind of coverage. Sheehan makes good copy, Gallagher claimed, because "you're not allowed to say anything critical about a woman who buried her son."

In other words, he'd love to criticize Sheehan if only it didn't look bad. (link)

Walmart Sues Brain-Damaged Ex-Employee for Her Insurance Costs

Debbie Shank stocked shelves at a Wal-Mart store in Cape Girardeau, Mo., until five years ago, when her minivan was hit by a tractor-trailer. Her Wal-Mart health insurance paid the medical bills. Proceeds from a lawsuit helped finance her care in a nursing home. Brain damage forces her to use a wheelchair and limits her upper body movement to one arm and two fingers. It stole her memory and her ability to talk to her husband and three sons. "She'll ask about the boys, he'll ask about the cat," said her husband, Jim Shank. "Whenever I'm there, she thinks it must be a mealtime. We don't really hold a conversation." Now the Shanks face a new obstacle. Her Wal-Mart health insurance plan wants the lawsuit money to repay its costs. Last week, the health plan sued Debbie Shank in federal court in St. Louis, demanding the full $417,000 she got in the civil suit - plus at least $51,000 more from the share that already went to lawyers and costs. (link)

It’s practically a new horror story a week with Walmart. It takes many outrages to keep those products cheap.

Ahhhhhhh, but she might be a terrorist

Isn’t she a cute little girl? Innocent, sweet—don’t you just want to scoop her up in your arms and give her some hugs?

Be careful. She might be an Islamofascist terrorist. At least that’s what the USA government believes:

Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."

It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have babies' passports and other documents faxed (link).

I know what you might be thinking: "What’s the big deal, Dana? The world is a big place and these children happen to have the same names as suspected terrorists."

Fair enough. But when the children show up in their parent’s arms at the airport, isn’t their evident small size and youth proof that they are not the suspected terrorists wanted for questioning by the government? Why are their parents missing flights and scrambling to provide documentation that their children are indeed children and not possible suicide bombers? What more proof is there that a baby is a baby than the baby itself?

This is yet another example of how the so-called “War on Terror” has gone on a holiday. Hysteria reigns.

But I will say that recently my son has been cutting new teeth. I’ve yet to find a word to describe him and his behavior, but “terrorist” is close.

Mike Gallagher's and Other Ways of Not Caring

Protesting within earshot of Cindy Sheehan, Mike Gallagher’s and his minion’s chanted to her “We don’t care.” Ms. Sheehan’s son was killed in Iraq.

Following a day in which a neighbor shot a gun in the air to menace the protestors, last night someone, who apparently shares Gallagher’s sentiments, also demonstrated his lack of concern for Cindy’s loss and the loss of other family member’s who have lost loved ones in Iraq. Using his truck, he mowed down the 500 crosses repersenting the fallen soldiers that dotted the roadside at “Camp Casey,” the farm where Sheehan and the other protestors are located while they wait on George Bush to accept responsibility for his decisions by meeting with the grieving Sheehan.

One person at the scene wrote about the incident:

The last 10 minutes have been very difficult here. I am at the Peace House editing video. First came a phone call that someone drove their vehicle over the Arlington West Crosses at the camp. (link)

Although the police caught the uncaring truck driver and he will be arraigned tomorrow, the sad truth is that many will support the driver’s behavior just as they supported Gallagher’s callous behavior in Crawford. Such people would see no contradiction between Gallagher’s behavior and his announced intentions as disclosed by his press release before he boarded the bus:

Gallagher said that this event is going to be a positive, uplifting attempt to show support for America's soldiers, their families, and our commander-in-chief. "This rally isn't about criticizing Ms. Sheehan or the other anti-war protesters", Gallagher said. "We're just turning their negative comments into a positive display of patriotism," he said. (link)

Yet, in a fashion, Gallagher is correct. “We don’t care” isn’t a criticism of Ms. Sheehan and the other grieving family members. Criticism would have been kind given how Gallagher trampled on their grief. Gallagher merely accomplished with his words what another man accomplished with his truck.

When Sincerity Sounds Like Money

Interviewer: “Your mom was a Democrat, your sister, your dad, your wife ... What the heck happened to you?

Mike Gallagher: I just became wise. I matured as a human being. The truth is, I started making a decent income.” (link)

The Last 24 Hours of DuPont

The latest venture for DuPont is biotech. They have already used this technology to create a fabric (“Sorona”) that is more elastic than nylon. They claim they hope to use it to produce ethanol (which is made from corn) more efficiently, thus reducing the USA’s dependence on Mid East Oil:

America would rely on its farms, instead of the volatile Middle East, for energy. Oil refineries would be replaced by "biorefineries" that would turn plants into chemicals, plastics and fibers. They could even produce ethanol fuel so efficiently that it could largely replace gasoline. And thousands of jobs would be created in rural communities to grow crops and operate these new refineries.

By reducing oil use, there would be a reduction in the global warming that's being blamed for everything from melting Arctic glaciers to the increasing intensity of hurricanes. (link)

The problem is that this technology requires Dupont to genetically alter bacteria, and the question is: does DuPont have the kind of track record for us to believe that they can engage in this kind of technology safely?

* * *

The words above were written yesterday. Today the News Journal printed another story about DuPont and this new technology as well as many ancillary stories as well:

• DuPont decides team effort's best
• Biotech took root in late 19th century
• DuPont builds future on biotech
• DuPont's path to biotechnology
• Effort goes from the bottom of the ocean up

It’s an orgy of praise.

* * *

The following story just appeared in my mailbox. It comes from Allen Muller of Green Delaware. It’s a story about DuPont releasing a dangerous dioxin in Mississippi it had specifically claimed it hadn’t been releasing. It's a form of dioxin used in Agent Orange. It turns out that DuPont hadn’t even been testing for this chemical:

Deadly dioxin found at DuPont

The Sea Coast Echo
By BENNIE SHALLBETTER
Aug 15, 2005, 10:30

Tests show chemical in Agent Orange present at plantDuPont DeLisle officials confirmed Thursday that testing at the plant had detected the presence of the compound 2,3,7,8 TCDD, chemically known as tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin, the most hazardous of all dioxin compounds. Many people became familiar with the compound as a component in Agent Orange, used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. The plant produces the white pigment TiO2, titanium dioxide. A notice was issued with paychecks to employees on Thursday advising them of the discovery.

The TCDD was found after a judge ordered the plant to allow plaintiff’s attorneys on site to collect samples for testing. Kathleen Smiley and a legal team are representing close to 2,000 local residents in a suit that alleges that toxic waste from
DuPont DeLisle is responsible for a myriad of serious health problems in themselves and family members.

Plant officials had maintained for years that the manufacturing process at the plant did produce other types of dioxins, but not the more deadly TCDD. Tests performed on samples gathered during a three-and-a-half-day visit to the plant by plaintiff’s attorneys uncovered the presence of the compound. DuPont DeLisle officials confirmed that samples collected by their team at the same time, also contained TCDD.

The compound was found in trace levels in three samples taken by the plant, said DuPont DeLisle public relations director Terry Gooding on Thursday, in the ore dryer baghouse area and in two samples taken from a fume disposal stack, not currently in use.

Two samples were taken from the stack, one at the entry point and one at the exit point, both positive for TCDD’s. The baghouse is an area where ore dust is separated from oxygen, said Gooding.

Bags of the dust are disposed of in a land fill on site, he said. Plaintiff’s attorneys say their samples detected the presence of various dioxin compounds in most of the scores of samples taken all across the plant site. Test results will be presented to the jury next week, when the suit is expected to get underway in Laurel, Smiley said.

“Former Plant manager Aldo Morel denied the existence of TCDD’s on the plant site,” said Smiley. “If we had not fought for the truth for the last four years I’m confident that this would have never have been made public. DuPont manufactures as many false explanations as they do dioxins.”

Gooding said on Thursday that the plant had not been testing specifically for TCDD’s. (more here)

* * *

Will the News Journal cover this story? Or will it only continue its series praising them?

Progressive Voices Radio Broadcast Tonight: Two Poets (& One of Them is Me)

Join us Monday from 7:00 to 8:00 on WVUD, 91.3 FM

From anywhere in he world you can listen on line at http://www.wvud.org/listen_online.htm

Email questions and comments to pvoices@gmail.com

We read emails during the show and respond if possible.

Our guest tonight, August 15, 2005, will be two poets:

Rich Boucher is one of the founding members of the Worcester Poetry Asylum. He is a performance poet who has been active on the stage for fourteen years. A past member of three national poetry slam teams (Worcester, Massachusetts in 1995 & 1996, and Washington, D.C. in 2001), Rich has three chapbooks of poetry to his credit. After moving to Delaware from Massachusetts in late 1997, Rich founded The Tuesday Night Poetry Open Mike and Slam. A guest speaker, lecturer and performer at numerous educational institutions, he is also a member of both the Delaware Literary Connection's Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the Newark Arts Alliance.

Dana Garrett has been published in numerous magazines, journals and anthologies, most recently The Homestead Review, Northeast Corridor, American Writing, ACM and Grrrr: An Anthology of Poems about Bears. He is a past recipient of Delaware’s grant fellowship in poetry in both the emerging and established professional categories. He is a member of the Delaware Literary Connection's Board of Directors and started the poetry workshops for the juveniles at Ferris School for Boys. (Check out Dana's blog, Delaware Watch, at http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/)

A question we intend to raise: What is the role of Delaware artists in the political life of the state?

Join us from 7:00 to 8:00 on WVUD, 93.3 FM in Newark, Delaware. (http://www.wvud.org/)The hosts/moderators for tonight's show will be Alan Muller and Marian Peleski. Ellen Lebowitz may be able to join us.

On Progressive Voices you hear from people who believe in democracy, a healthy environment, the right to organize, peace, and other "progressive" values. Perhaps one might call it the ideological opposite of WDEL's "Ric Jensen Show."

If you are interested in appearing on Progressive Voices contact Alan Muller at 302.834.3466, amuller@dca.net, or Marian Peleski, msmarian@comcast.netFeedback on the show is also welcome.

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues.

We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Proof: Mike Gallagher Shouts "We Don't Care" to Mother of Son Killed in Iraq

Saturday, August 13, 2005 Republicans Chant "We Don't Care" At Cindy Sheehan

This is why we no longer reach across the damn aisle to these people. Conservative knucklehead and radio host Mike Gallagher gathered a group of like-minded troglodytes and headed over to the Bush compound in Crawford to harass Cindy Sheehan and her group last night. As Ms. Sheehan and the "Camp Casey" protesters sang America The Beautiful or stood quietly, the right-wing group chanted "we don't care" at the mother who lost her son, Casey, to Bush's war in Iraq.



Right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher shows what a little, little man he really is.

Cindy will follow the Commander-in-Thief back to Washington in the likely event he does not meet with her in Crawford. You know what that means: Those of us who live on the East Coast can join her much easier. We need to make plans to do that.

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2005/08/republicans-chant-we-dont-care-at.html
______________
Link, photo and article provided by Liz Allen

The Outcome of Mike Gallagher's Mean & Pathetic Protest of Cindy Sheehan

Bush’s Lies about Iraq as Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Do you remember Bush’s initial justifications for invading Iraq? I’m not talking about the latter ones Bush trotted out after the first ones turned out to be poppycock. They were:

• Iraq was in cahoots witjh Al Qaeda & other assorted terrorists
• Iraq was teeming with stockpiles of WMD and WMD capacity

The first one, Bush latter admitted, wasn’t true. But the invasion made it true. After we invaded, terrorists pilgrimaged to Iraq to fight USA forces in Iraq. They still are. In fact. Thanks to Bush, Iraq has become a "training ground" for callow jihadists to earn their wings.

The WMD and WMD capacity? Well, they weren’t there either. After three investigations, the official position of the Bush administration is now “Oops, it looks like Saddam destroyed those missing WMD and plants in the early 90s just like he said, after all.”

Yet US forces this weekend found a chemical weapons plant in Mosul:

U.S. troops raiding a warehouse in the northern city of Mosul uncovered a suspected chemical-weapons factory containing 1,500 gallons of chemicals believed destined for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces and civilians, military officials said Saturday.

Monday's early morning raid found 11 precursor agents, "some of them quite dangerous by themselves," a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, said in Baghdad. (link)

And before WILM’s John Watson and other fellow war-mongering travelers get all hot and bothered believing that Bush has been vindicated, it is important to read the entire article:

The spokesman said the operation was new, not dating from before the U.S.-led invasion. The Bush administration used allegations that Hussein's government was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for the invasion. No such weapons or factories were found. . (link)

So this is not a victory for Bush. It is yet another example of how the invasion of Iraq was a colossal blunder. Thanks to Bush, now terrorists really are using Iraq to create WMD to use against Americans.

What idiocy.

Governor Testosterone Likes ‘em Young

Normally, I don’t care about the sexual peccadilloes of politicians, but I draw the line at child rape. In 1975 Arnold Schwarzenegger had sex with 16-year-old Gigi Goyette, breaking California’s statutory rape laws:

According to interviews [given by] Goyette.., the two had a brief fling in 1975 when she was a teenager. They then reconnected in the late 1980s and carried on a once-a-year affair, generally when she was working at the annual fitness convention he hosts in Ohio. (link)

That’s bad enough, but then comes the cover-up and how the cover-up put Governor Testicles' official power up for sale:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, already facing plummeting approval ratings and questions about his business dealings, took another hit Friday with a report that a tabloid publisher with close ties to the former movie star paid an alleged paramour of his $20,000 not to discuss their relationship.

The August 2003 confidentiality agreement between American Media Inc. -- publisher of the National Enquirer, Globe and Star -- and bit-part actress Gigi Goyette was reached two days after Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor, and seven months before he signed on as an editor for two bodybuilding magazines owned by the company. . (link)

Are you asking yourself why a tabloid would pay someone to keep quiet about a potential scandalous story they could profit from? The answer: more money.

…when Schwarzenegger launched his campaign for office, he secretly struck a bargain with American Media, which publishes, among other things, the National Enquirer and a variety of muscle and fitness magazines. The company reportedly agreed to suppress any salacious material it might normally have been expected to publish about Schwarzenegger, and the actor-turned-candidate agreed to work for the publisher — for a price. (Pay close attention, because everybody and everything in this squalid little drama appears to be for sale.)

During the course of the subsequent recall campaign, American Media not only made good on its part of the deal but also published a glowing 120-page magazine tribute to Schwarzenegger and his accomplishments. As The Times and Sacramento Bee also have reported, two days before he took the oath of office, the governor agreed to become executive editor of the publisher's Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines. Schwarzenegger was to receive $8 million for his efforts, and American Media presumably would capitalize on the relationship with readers and advertisers. After the details of the arrangement were published, the governor terminated the agreement, though he continues to write a column for the two magazines. (link)

So Arnie has his fling with the child, American Media catches wind of it, they pay Gigi to keep quiet, and lo & behold Governor-elect Gonads decides to add his considerable prestige to Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines by becoming their executive editor, magazines which happen to be owned by American Media.

How cozy.
_________________________
An excellent sequence of the above events can be found here.

Walmart Murders a Man for Shoplifting Diapers

They caught him, wrestled with him, put him in handcuffs, forced him face-down on the “blistering” summer pavement and held him there with one security person’s knee on his neck and another’s on his back. And he pleaded for his life, claimed he was becoming ill, begged for an ambulance and they didn’t let him up although the crowd pleaded with them because the pavement was too hot, even after he had stopped breathing. Only when someone pointed out that his fingernails had turned gray did they call an ambulance.

This level of aggressiveness with shoplifters is standard for Walmart. But Walmart won’t discuss their policies with the press; nor will they discuss the murder of Stacy Driver, age 30, who died for shoplifting diapers for his 2-month old son. (link)

Public Announcement: Today is a Very Dangerous Day

This combination of heat and pollution can and does kill people (Alan Muller)

 

**************************

Code Orange Ozone Advisory Called For Saturday, August 13, 2005

Unless the weather improves, this could actually be a RED day on Saturday.

"Ground-level Ozone is forecasted to be at unhealthful levels for sensitive children and adults and people with respiratory ailments. This is not a notification for an Ozone Action Day, but the ozone levels are expected to rise to a level that is still important to your health and well-being."

The forecast from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission ( http://www.dvrpc.org/AQPartnership/index.htm )is that ozone will be near the RED zone and that particle pollution will also be ORANGE.

Indications are that Sunday will also be CODE ORANGE for both ozone and particulates. Improvement is expected on Monday.

In addition, from the National Weather Service:

Excessive heat warning remains in effect until 8 PM EDT Sunday

(Officially, a "heat warning" is in effect for New Castle County and "heat advisories" are in effect for Kent County and "inland Sussex.")

heat index approaching 110 this afternoon and 100 to 105 Sunday...

"Hot and humid weather will remain over the region this weekend. As a result, the National Weather Service has continued the excessive heat warning through Sunday. The warning remains in effect for  highly urbanized areas in the following counties... "

"In southeastern Pennsylvania, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia counties."

"In New Jersey, Mercer, northwestern Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties."

"In northern Delaware, New Castle County. "

"Temperatures this afternoon will be well into the 90s and may reach 100 in some locations. Although temperatures on Sunday will not be quite as hot as today, they will still be oppressive with highs in the mid 90s. The hot temperatures will combine with high humidity, allowing the heat index to get close to 110 this afternoon and around 105 Sunday afternoon."

"At night, there will be only a limited amount of relief from the heat with temperatures dropping no lower than the mid 70s."

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues.  We try to provide information you can use.  Please use it.  Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware?  Please consider contributing or volunteering.  Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

USA Claims Release of Torture Photos will Cause Riots

Do you recall those photographs of the tortures of Iraqi prisoners (and murder of at least one such prisoner) at Abu Ghraib, some of the tortures which George Bush apparently explicitly approved?

Those were the least shocking of the photographs. The most disgusting photographs were withheld from the public because they constituted a record of more serious abuse, tortures that even included rape. Only select member of Congress have seen them and those who have characterize them as horrifying:

"I expected that these pictures would be very hard on the stomach lining and it was significantly worse than anything that I had anticipated," Senator Ron Wyden told reporters. "Take the worst case and multiply it several times over." (link)

For months the ACLU and other interested groups have endeavored to get the USA government to release those photographs to the public, but so far the government has steadfastly refused. When a court ordered the Department of Defense to release more (but not all) of the photographs and documents relating to the tortures and abuse, the government filed motions with the court arguing that it should not comply with the court order, but the government’s motions themselves were heavily redacted:

Last week, on the deadline of a court order requiring the Defense Department to process and redact 87 photographs and four videos taken at Abu Ghraib, government attorneys filed a last-minute memorandum of law and three affidavits arguing against the release of the materials. The government's papers cite a statutory provision that permits the withholding of records "compiled for law enforcement purposes," that "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual."

However, the government has redacted significant portions of its public brief, including the conclusion. The government also heavily redacted portions of declarations submitted in support of the brief. One of the declarations is that of General Richard Meyers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ACLU attorneys have been provided with less-redacted court papers pursuant to a protective order that prevents them from disclosing the papers' contents to the public.

"Not only is the government denying the public access to records of critical significance, it is also withholding its reasons for doing so," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney. "This exemplifies the government's disregard for democratic
constraints on the use of executive power." (link) (The redacted documents can be found here, here, here and here.)

Now the government has adopted a new pretext for refusing to release the documents:

Releasing pictures and videotapes of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken Afghanistan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against U.S. troops, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says.

The warning by Gen. Richard B. Myers was contained in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and recently unsealed. The government submitted additional papers to the court Friday arguing that some information in its arguments that remains redacted should not be made public. (link)

The ACLU countered:

In a response to the arguments by Myers, the ACLU submitted a declaration by retired U.S. Army Col. Michael E. Pheneger, who said Myers "mistakes propaganda for motivation."

He said he does "not underestimate the propaganda impact of the release of additional photos of the degradation of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody, but the photos will not be the real cause of subsequent attacks."

He noted that insurgents average 70 attacks a day and that they "will continue regardless of whether the photos and tapes are released."

Pheneger, a military intelligence officer from 1963 to 1993, said he found it difficult as a patriot and a career soldier to criticize the government.

But he said he believed that the release of the photos _ though damaging to the Army's reputation _ would lead to a thorough public examination of the effects of the administration's decision to change long-standing policies and approve interrogation techniques that the Army had long prohibited. (link)

What does the USA government not want the world to see? We won’t know until the government releases the photographs. But for months the Cuban government has claimed that it has obtained copies of some of the more shocking photographs. Whether these photographs are trustworthy or not is something I cannot determine. But the link can be found here. Be warned. They are disturbing.

Mike Gallagher is Taking a Beating over His Protest Against Sheehan

Check out the the criticisms and insights into Gallagher at Daily KOS and also on IndyMedia.

Ouch!!

Mike Gallagher, You Wuss, I Have a Challenge for You

Mikey, I heard about your little protest to show your seething contempt for the grieving mother Cindy Sheehan. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, but shame isn't a luxury you can afford, is it, in the narrow world of right-wing punditry?

I did my part to warn this poor mother about your scheme. I posted this on Daily Kos and on the IndyMedia site in Huston:

Right-Wing Mike Gallagher to Stage Counter-Protest against Sheenhan

Rightwing Radio Shock Jock and frequent guest on Fox News Mike Gallagher today organized a counter-protest that will occur this evening in Crawford Texas at 6:00 p.m.:

http://www.mikeonline.com/

No doubt Gallagher organized the event hastily in order to offset any counterdemonstrations to his. I’m sure that FOX got a heads up and will probably cover the PR event. His express goal is to get more counter-protestors than Sheen has protestors. Of course, Gallagher won’t stay there for the month of August like Sheehan is doing because it might muss his hair and he only wants a quick publicity shot in the arm.

Gallagher, who is notorious for prerecording his broadcasts in the morning but advertising them as live broadcasts in many markets during the afternoon, organized the bus parade to Crawford to begin this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. He was soliciting people to caravan behind the bus if they didn’t want to ride it (he had some takers), to provide food for the participants and to cover the bus rental costs. The man is such a cheapskate. Given the success of his new book “Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America,” you’d think he would pay the costs. His book is published by Harpers, the sister-company of Fox his frequent employer--a fact that neither he nor Hannity are wont to disclose whenever they praise the book:

http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/2005/08/mike-gallagher-many-things-he-doesnt.html

Gallagher recently visited Wilmington DE (my town) on the book tour. I covered the event for my blog. He deliberately misrepresented the protest that greeted him in Wilmington:

http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/2005/07/mike-gallaghers-fantasy-tour.html

My coverage of the event caused him to write some particularly scurrilous comments on my blog.

Cindy, beware! Gallagher might engage in some mischief.

Here's the challenge, Gallagher. Stay at Crawford as long as Cindy Sheehan stays there, until Bush ends his vacation. Spend your time trying to get your listeners to travel to Crawford to enlitst in the military on your program. You can do your broadcasts from there.

What do you say Mikey? Cindy Sheehan is showing her conviction by staying there during the entire time Bush's lounges about the ranch. Show us your conviction by doing the same.

But you won't do it because you know that people won't sign up to the fight the war because you ask them to. You are a coward. Only cowards try to upstage grieving mothers who only want to talk to their Presidents.

Public Announcennt: Industrial Air & High Heat Warning

Code Orange Ozone Advisory

Called For Friday, August 12, 2005

The hot and humid weather forecast for Friday will continue into the weekend, so expect ozone levels to continue to be Code Orange.

Ground-level Ozone is forecasted to be at unhealthful levels for sensitive
children and adults and people with respiratory ailments. This is not a
notification for an Ozone Action Day, but the ozone levels are expected to
rise to a level that is still important to your health and well-being.

Also, from the National Weather Service:

An excessive heat warning for highly urbanized areas remains in
effect until 8 PM EDT Saturday...

Another hot and humid air mass will build into southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for today and through the weekend. As a result, the National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for today and Saturday. The warning is in effect for highly urbanized areas in the following counties...  In northern Delaware, New Castle County.

During the afternoon hours today and Saturday temperatures are forecast to rise into the lower and middle 90s. The high humidity levels should cause heat index values to reach 100 to 105 on both days.

At night, there will be only a limited amount of relief from the heat with temperatures dropping no lower than the mid to upper 70s.

Limit your time out of doors if possible, especially during the heat of the afternoon. Be sure to check on your elderly relatives and neighbors. The elderly are most susceptible to heat related health problems.

The hot humid weather is forecast to continue into Sunday, and the excessive heat warning may need to be extended for an additional day. Some relief from the heat is possible by the early part of next week.

Some more info on ozone from Green Delaware:

For many years all or parts of Delaware have officially been in "non attainment" of the National Air Quality Standard for Ozone.  (We are also in "non-attainment" of the NAAQS for fine particles in the air since that standard was--finally--promulgated.)

This non-attainment triggers various regulatory requirements theoretically designed to get Delaware into attainment.  These include "emission inventories," "rate of progress plans," and so on.  They also include (supposedly) stricter emission limitations for all sorts of pollution sources.

A key part of it all is "transportation conformity."  This means that the Federal government is not supposed to be paying for the building of roads that lead to more traffic and thus vehicle-produced emissions of ozone precursors. 

Some of the money is supposed to be diverted into alternative forms of transportation--such as trains--that would get cars and trucks off the roads and thus reduce pollution.

Need we tell you that the State of Delaware, controlled by development and industrial interests, is not interested in complying with these requirements?

Need we tell you that Federal officials--officially EPA Region III in this case--lack the will to enforce the Clean Air Act in Delaware?

Thus, the paving-over of Delaware accelerates, as does, for example, the rate of asthma among our children.

The cooking-up of bogus attainment plans has become a minor industry of it's own.

Alan Muller

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues.  We try to provide information you can use.  Please use it.  Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware?  Please consider contributing or volunteering.  Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Bush’s TWOT Sets a Record

You don’t know what his TWOT is? I didn’t either until I read the Tommywonk blog.

Let me add, I recommend reading his blog. Tommy is quite good.

Quick! Someone Trash a Dead Soldier’s Mom

Quick! Someone trash a dead soldier’s mom. Tom DeLay has been caught lying about money. He needs us to be distracted now!

A federal audit of a political fundraising committee founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay found that it failed to report more than $300,000 in debts owed to vendors and incorrectly paid for some committee activities with money from another DeLay-connected political committee. (link)

You can read the Federal Election Committee audit here.

Two Public Announcements from Rehoboth Beach & One for NCC

From today’s Cape Gazette:

The Rehoboth Beach Writer’s Guild will hold its monthly Free Write! for adults from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Lewes Public Library.

The goal of the Free Writes! is to provide a place and an opportunity for people to have fun with their writing, to explore different genres, and to do this in the company of other writing enthusiasts. (more here)

* * * *

Here’s one for which some old fart lefty activists I know are eligible:

Senior Beach Day set Spet. [sic] 16 in Rehoboth Beach

In its 29th year, the annual Beach Day event will be held on Friday, Sept. 16 in downtown Rehoboth Beach.

Thousands of mature adults, aged 50+, from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. are expected to attend the celebration. Beach Day is sponsored and organized by Sussex County Senior Services, Inc./CHEER with assistance from Delaware Senior Olympics. Beach Day raises funds for CHEER Programs that provide services such as meals and transportation for Sussex County, Delaware seniors. (more here)

* * * *

2nd Saturday Poetry Reading in Wilmington

On Saturday, August 13th at 5 pm, 2nd Saturday Poets will feature William Manchester at 4W5 Café, 4 W. Fifth St. in Wilmington.

Refreshments and an Open Reading will follow. Original poetry welcome.

$5 cover. Free w/ student ID.

Contact: Joe Allen 302-661-1289

Gordon & Freebery are Toast: Mascitti’s Column Today is a Must Read

Masitti writes:

Whether they're ever used at trial or not, the details U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly released Monday about secret tape recordings of former New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon brought the public some ugly glimpses into how Gordon used the power of his office. (link)

“Used” is too kind. “Abused” is more like it. What did the tapes reveal?

• Gordon ordering a generous severance deal for an employee who “knew too much” about Gordon & Freebery’s shenanigans.

• How Gordon ordered that a phone bank operated from Freebery’s home be put under someone else’s name to conceal the identity of those behind the calls.

• How Gordon, stating the trippingly obvious, predicted that “Attorney General M. Jane Brady would never investigate complaints about him for fear of the power of his ‘political machine’." (see here and here)

• How Gordon successfully targeted County Councilman Rich Abbott for a reelection defeat and planned to “’ruin Abbott's legal career and financial situation’” after his defeat.

Mascitti opines:

Even if Gordon is exonerated by the legal system, though, Connolly's tapes remind us that some acts are so vile that crimes seem humdrum by comparison. (link)

True, but after these and other revelations, if Gordon and Freebery are exonerated, then I recommend a brain scan for the judge.

Dining with the Activists & Bloggers

I’ve done more socializing this week than I’ve done in probably over a year. After the Progressive Radio broadcast on Monday evening, I went to the East End Café with Alan Muller of Green Delaware, Martha Denison from the Civic League for New Castle County, and Marian Peleski, the co-host and producer for the Progressive Radio program. It was a gathering of aging lefty activists discussing what you probably expect: the political outrages of the present age. But there was less of that talk than you might expect. Mostly we discussed the mounting aches and pains of growing older. Our group commiserations were enjoyable.

Tonight I met with Mike M. of Down with Absolutes. I met with Mike before (see “Meeting Mike”). I also met with Hube the blogger of the now offline “Hubes Cube” and a contributing writer for the blog The Colossus of Rhodey. As far as I can tell, Hube is a quasi-libertarian conservative and, to put it kindly, we have locked horns a few times on Delaware Watch and Down with Absolutes. Describing it more accurately, we’ve had some shit fights.

We all met at the La Fonde restaurant in Elsmere at Hube’s suggestion (as was the meeting itself). Hube made an excellent choice. La Fonda offers great authentic Mexican food at reasonable prices. Hube is quite proficient in Spanish and he and his wife have done many things to help the immigrant family who operate the business.

It turns out that I am acquainted with Hube’s wife. Without exaggeration she is one the most genuinely friendly persons I have ever met. She radiates kindness and, as I discovered this evening, so does Hube.

Thanks Hube for making the evening possible. I look forward to the next time you, Mike and I can get together again.

Mike Gallagher: The Many Things He Doesn’t Tell Us

Liz Allen sent me an interesting article about how talk-show host and sometime commenter on this blog Mike Gallagher had his butt handed to him on Hannity & Colmes on 8-5-05. Mercifully, I missed the program, but apparently someone screwed up at FOX and procured a coherent representative of the “left” to be the guest counterpart to Gallagher. The guest was Michael Meyers, of the New York Civil Rights Coalition and the subject was one of Mikey’s favorites: racial profiling (read: Gallagher’s desire for Middle East Muslims to be frisked before they board USA subways).

Not having seen the program, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the claims in the article. However, I am inclined to believe them because of two statements made in the article that will immediately resonate with any objective listener’s experience of Gallagher’s program:

When it was Meyers' turn, he said that Gallagher "misstated the facts" …

Gallagher offered no data, no statistics, no expert analysis but that didn't stop him from providing an emphatic opinion…. (link)

Sound familiar?

But the real news in the article was made as an aside:

[Gallagher’s] main qualifications seemed to be that he hates liberals and has written a book calling them idiots that just happens to be published by a sister company to FOX News. The book was promo'd, there was discussion about it appearing on the bestseller list, and Sean Hannity called it "terrific" but there was no mention of the connection between FOX News Channel and the publisher. There was no mention of Gallagher's relationship to FNC, either. He was introduced only as a talk show host and author. (link)

The book was published by a sister of company of FOX News? I didn’t know that! I’ve never heard that tidbit mentioned before and, apparently, the connection between Gallagher and FOX and FOX with the publisher is something that isn’t discussed either. Could it be because no one would think it much of an accomplishment to get a book published when the boss owns the publishing company?

In any case, the hush-hush quality of this revelation should come as no surprise to the readers of this blog given the “discovery” (although already discovered by others before) that Gallagher prerecords his “live” broadcasts but doesn’t advertise the fact. What a pity. It’s such a simple things to do. Air America does it all time. But perhaps Gallagher would find it too emasculating to learn anything from a liberal.

________________
Readers are encouraged to consult several articles about Gallagher in the June 2005 archives of this blog. This article, if I say so myself, is particularly fun.

Did Jesus Demote the General?

There are no 5-star generals in the USA today, only a handful of 4-star generals. For a 4-star general to be relieved of his command is so rare that it occurs with a frequency probably comparable to being struck by lightening or hitting the Powerball. But it happened to General Kevin P. Byrnes.

His offense? Torturing Muslims in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Gharib? Engaging in military tactics that have resulted in the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi non-combatants?

Nay, it was something far more serious than those trifles. It was for committing adultery with a civilian woman.

No word yet from Rev. Pat Robertson if Jesus agrees.

Excerpt from Counterpunch Article: Watching the Economy Crumble

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

The US continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July payroll jobs release.
The media gives a bare bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises.

Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13%) are tax-supported government jobs. That leaves 181,000 private sector jobs. Of these private sector jobs, 177,000, or 98%, are in the domestic service sector.

Here is the breakdown of the major categories:

• 30,000 food servers and bar tenders;
• 28,000 health care and social assistance:
• 12,000 real estate;
• 6,000 credit intermediation;
• 8,000 transit and ground passenger transportation;
• 50,000 retail trade; and
• 8,000 wholesale trade.

(There were 7,000 construction jobs, most of which were filled by Mexicans immigrants.)
Not a single one of these jobs produces a tradable good or service that can be exported or serve as an import substitute to help reduce the massive and growing US trade deficit. The US economy is employing people to sell things, to move people around, and to serve them fast food and alcoholic beverages. The items may have an American brand name, but they are mainly made off shore. For example, 70% of Wal-Mart’s goods are made in China.

Where are the jobs for the 65,000 engineers the US graduates each year? Where are the jobs for the physics, chemistry, and math majors? Who needs a university degree to wait tables and serve drinks, to build houses, to work as hospital orderlies, bus drivers, and sales clerks?
In the 21st century job growth in the US economy has consistently reflected that of a Third World country--low productivity domestic services jobs. This goes on month after month and no one catches on--least of all the economists and the policymakers. (more here)

War Mongering, Homosexual Hating, Gas Guzzling Men are Wimps

Yes, what we lefties have been saying for years about war-mongering, homophobic, environment-hating men has now received some scientific confirmation. Deep inside these men are creampuffs, weaklings, terrified that people will doubt their masculinity:

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Threaten a man's masculinity and he will assume more macho attitudes, according to a study by a Cornell University researcher.

"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq War more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Robb Willer, a sociology doctoral candidate at Cornell. Willer is presenting his findings Aug. 15 at the American Sociological Association's 100th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

"Masculine overcompensation is the idea that men who are insecure about their masculinity will behave in an extremely masculine way as compensation. I wanted to test this idea and also explore whether overcompensation could help explain some attitudes like support for war and animosity to homosexuals," Willer said.

"Masculinity-threatened men also reported feeling more ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile than did masculinity-confirmed men," states Willer's report, "Overdoing Gender: Testing the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis." (link)

The world would be a lot better off if these wusses would see therapists and not do politics until after they are cured. Too many people die from the “need” of these brittle egos to compensate for their insecurities.

Public Announcement: Common Cause Public Hearing on Family Court

Tuesday, August 9, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Dover Public Library, 45 S. State Street, Dover.

[In spite of laws, resolutions, and constitutional amendments, Delaware's Family Court refuses to open it's proceedings to the public...]

EFFORTS AT OPENNESS IN FAMILY COURT
SUBJECT OF HEARING

Common Cause of Delaware has scheduled a citizens' public hearing to learn how Family Court is implementing the open meeting provisions of Senate Bill 61.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 9, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Dover Public Library, 45 S. State Street, Dover.

Senate Bill (SB) 61, enacted into law on April 26, 2005, is the second leg of a constitutional amendment implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Delaware Courts 2000.

SB 61 provides for the inclusion of the Family Court and the Court of Common Pleas into the court structure of the Constitution of the state of Delaware and makes judges in those courts constitutional judges. Article 1, Section 9, of the state Constitution states that the proceedings of all courts shall be open to the public.

During the fall of 2004, Common Cause held three statewide citizen public hearings to solicit input from those who had expressed concerns to Common Cause about the then-closed nature of Family Court proceedings.

The over 40 speakers represented a wide range of views. They related their experiences with Family Court proceedings and why openness would bring balance between the parties and increase the confidence of the public in Family Court proceedings.

The thread uniting the speakers was that Family Court proceedings should be presumed open, with a provision to allow one of the parties to a case to petition the court for closure.
Senate Bill 61 does not have a provision to allow either of the parties to close a proceeding.

Common Cause has invited representatives of Family Court to discuss their steps toward open proceedings and any problems which they may have experienced to date.

Members of the public are invited to share their experiences with Family Court since the passage of SB 61.

Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizens' lobbying organization dedicated to government reform and accountability.

Al Mascitti on Police Officers Participating in Political Campaigns

Should police officers be allowed to participate in political campaigns? According to Al Mascitti of the News Journal, they shouldn’t be. In fact, he believes that the right of police officers to engage in political activity has “caused untold mischief in Delaware.”

Mascitti’s belief stems from the allegations of widespread political corruption in New Castle County government during the administration of Thomas Gordon and Sherry Freebery, an administration that purportedly infected the operations of the New Castle County Police Department. For example, in papers filed by U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly the government alleges that it possesses:

...recordings that would support the government's case against Freebery and Gordon…some that show that in November 1996, then-police Chief Freebery ordered the county police drug unit to report to a phone bank instead of conducting police work.

Officers also will testify, according to prosecutors, that they were ordered to conduct a campaign literature drop rather than execute a pending search warrant for a suspected drug dealer's apartment in New Castle. They will tell a jury that they were later forced "against their will, to have their time for Nov. 4 recorded as eight hours of vacation," according to court filings. (link)

Another concern motivating Mascitti’s is the “spate of lawsuits” filed by police officers who felt “they were bypassed for promotion because they backed the wrong political faction.” Apparently, Officer Cpl. Trinidad Navarro has filed a lawsuit making a similar allegation. According to Mascitti:

...there's an obvious solution to the politically based lawsuits:

State lawmakers should repeal a key section of the law known as the Police Officers' Bill of Rights.

In many jurisdictions, particularly in big cities with police departments that in size dwarf any in Delaware, such politically based lawsuits don't happen for the simple reason that police are barred from engaging in political activity.

For example, Philadelphia bars all civil servants, police included, from political activity. They are allowed to vote, of course, but cannot endorse or work for candidates, even on their own time. (link)

Even on their own time? Huh?

I like and respect Al Mascitti. He is an honorable person and I often agree with him on various issues. But on this matter I disagree.

To begin with, I don’t think it is self-evident that a proper function of government is to change laws and policies merely for the sake of reducing lawsuits, especially if the laws preserve fundamental civil rights as I will argue below. Filing lawsuits is a way that citizens, when successful, get redress for the injustices perpetrated against them. It’s question-begging to assume that the mere fact of many lawsuits indicates that the system isn’t functioning properly or that the lawsuits are without merit.

Second, any corrupt elected officials that would compel public employees to engage in political activity contrary to extant law will not be thwarted simply by passing another law stating that the public employees cannot engage in political activity. Pass one hundred new laws, but if corrupt elected officials believe they can violate them with total impunity, they will. For example, banning police officers from political activity wouldn’t ipso facto stop a corrupt politician from using them to man a phone bank or to place campaign literature under the windshield wipers of cars in a parking lot.

Finally, participating in political campaigns is a form of engaging in political speech. This is the stuff of the first amendment. To limit the political expression of police officers to merely voting is to do little more than to make them anonymous periodic participants in a government in which their primary role is (or should be) that of a full-fledged citizen. Not to pun but I see no need to make certain people into second-class citizens because of their jobs.

The real problem is that Delaware’s Attorney General is AWOL from enforcing the Delaware’s anti-corruption laws, a point often made by Al Mascitti. Al rightly feels frustrated by this since Jane Brady’s lassitude limits the range of charges that the US Attorney for Delaware can bring against corrupt politicians in the federal court.

That’s why there should be some legal mechanism that allows citizens in counties and statewide to petition the state government to appoint a special counsel if the Attorney General is not doing her job. The perennial problem in Delaware, one that pervades most of its governmental functioning, is that the people have far too little direct control and influence over their government.

In any case, I do not support changing the rights of select groups of citizens when changing the Attorney General of the State of Delaware is the primary need.

Sacrificing the Pawns: The First Casualties of the Acquisition of MBNA

There is a reason why the pawns occupy the frontline on the chessboard. If any piece should be sacrificed for the sake of preserving the king, the pawns should be the first to go.

When MBNA went under and was bought by Bank of America, I wondered who might take the fall for it. Apparently, Judy McKinney-Cherry, Delaware’s Economic Development Director, selected 20% of her staff. MBNA is a big loss and, in the perverse sense of justice that characterizes nearly all hierarchical structures, it required a big sacrifice.

Of course, McKinney-Cherry didn’t invent sacrificing the “little people.” It’s a ruse that has been with us since time immemorial. It goes on today. Is the USA torturing prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay? No problem. Just prosecute those who were following their orders and ignore the known evidence that the bigwigs in the Whitehouse and the Pentagon specifically provided both the legal justification for the crimes and the approval for some of the specific tortures used.

Perhaps the most mystifying aspect of this kind of “justice” is how happily the pawns fling themselves on the “enemy’s” swords. When it was revealed that Mark Phelps was Deepthroat, some of the pawns in the Nixon administration spoke contemptuously about him outing the president. Liddy, Colson and Buchanan are but 3 examples. It must require a considerable degree of self-contempt to despise justice for the sake of blind loyalty.

Somehow the notion of sacrificing myself for the sake of a king never took with me, especially a bad king. If the king is bad, then he should leave. Why must I leave or someone else who isn’t chiefly responsible? If I chose the bad king, then that is my responsibility and it’s my moral duty to depose him. Why should I or others continue to suffer from the ravages of a bad king just to avoid the conclusion that I made a bad choice? This is straight out of Ethics 101, yet hierarchical structures resist even this smidgen of ethical subtlety.

The usual response by those who sense injustice in the sacrifice of the pawns is to blame the person in charge. Sometimes that is appropriate, but sometimes it is not. I’m sure that some, if not all, of those dismissed by Ms. McKinney-Cherry would point out that she was in charge when MBNA decided to end itself. Why them and not her, they might ask. It’s an understandable response.

But the response misses the real culprits in the MBNA fiasco. The culprits were the politicians who encouraged MBNA’s presence in Delaware in the first place. Didn’t anyone guess that a business which engages in legal usurious lending practices would attract massive competition from like-mided sharks, ones that would cause many in the market to fold? The credit card business has been largely unregulated and, like the airlines and the savings and loans after deregulation, it has created many casualties. What did the Delaware legislators think would happen? Or were they only thinking of beholden campaign contributors with deep pockets?

But let’s also commit the great taboo in American culture and blame the corporation, MBNA itself. The elite stockholders seized an opportunity to engage in massive profit taking and damn MBNA’s workers and the communities of which they were a part. That’s why MBNA was sold. That should surprise no one. By and large, corporations are sociopathic entities that are obligated to think only of themselves. Yes, MBNA gave considerable amounts to charities, but so have members of the mafia historically.

The truth is McKinney-Cherry sacrificed 20% of her staff because we think “someone has to take the blame.” But it is because we displace the blame for the activities of corporations that we do not control onto governmental structures that we, in principle at least, can influence, we expect the consequences to fall on them. But government leaders, like Ms. McKinney-Cherry, aren’t willing to take the fall, so they choose those with the least power possible to take the blame--the pawns, the pieces that virtually no one defends--on the hope that this sacrifice will satisfy us. Sadly, it often does.

It’s time for us to think the unthinkable and consider ways we can exert more democratic control over corporations, unless we don’t mind countless sacrificed pawns.

This Delaware Man is a Hero

Story found here.

The Guests for Progressive Radio Broadcast Tonight: Martha Denison and Me

Join us Monday from 7:00 to 8:00 on WVUD, 91.3 FM

From anywhere in he world you can listen on line at http://www.wvud.org/listen_online.htm.

Email questions and comments to pvoices@gmail.com. We read emails during the show and respond if possible.

Our guest tonight, August 8, 2005, will be Dana Garett (check out his blog at http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/) and Martha Denison (from the Civic League for New Castle County).

On August 1 and 2, 2005, a "public hearing" was held on an application by the "Dirty Sloppy Waste Authority" to expand--and continue operating indefinitely--it's Cherry Island garbage dump. Dana and Marty both spoke at the hearing.

This dump is well known to be a model of everything waste management should not be. Why are Delaware officials proposing to let it be expanded?

How were members of the public treated at the hearing? Why does the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control continue to try to reduce public participation in environmental permitting?

How do people feel about the performance of DNREC Hearing Officer Robert Haynes?

The dump is closest to neighborhoods of low income people-of-color. Why were these communities mostly unrepresented at the hearing? Where was the NAACP, the Urban League, the Kingswood Community Center, the People's Settlement Association, UHELP, and so on?

Join us from 7:00 to 8:00 on WVUD, 93.3 FM in Newark, Delaware. (http://www.wvud.org/)

The hosts/moderators for tonight's show will be Alan Muller and Marian Peleski.

On Progressive Voices you hear from people who believe in democracy, a healthy environment, the right to organize, peace, and other "progressive" values. Perhaps one might call it the ideological opposite of WDEL's "Ric Jensen Show."

If you are interested in appearing on Progressive Voices contact Alan Muller at 302.834.3466, amuller@dca.net, or Marian Peleski, msmarian@comcast.net

Feedback on the show is also welcome.

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Tax All the Internet or Just the Porn?

Some members of Congress are at loggerheads on how *not* to tax the internet. Delaware Senator Tom Carper is part of the debate.

Meanwhile some Democratic Senators want to levy a 25% tax on pornographic websites. Of course, determining what exactly is pornographic is (if you’ll pardon the expression) the rub. Some individuals in the IRS would need to spend their workdays surfing porn sites on the web to make the determinations.

Perhaps the nine recently fired DelDOT employees could be recruited for the job if their appeals aren’t successful.

At Least Some NCC Police Officers are Laughing

Rightwing Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate

A group from the Westboro Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas intends to protest the funeral of Adam Harting, according to his hometown newspaper. Harting, a soldier, was killed by an explosive device in Iraq.

The protest has nothing to do with Harting. In fact, the protesting Christians know nothing about Harting at all. Rather, Harting’s funeral is an occasion for the parishioners to make the theological point that soldiers are being killed because of the USA’s tolerance of homosexuals. The group plans to protest more soldier funerals in Minnesota, Alabama and California.

* * *

Today the News Journal reported an increase this summer in “

hate-filled vandalism.” Since the vandalism has been confined to mostly racist graffiti, local authorities dismiss the vandalism as the work of teenagers.

Would racist graffiti be more serious if it came from adults? Actually, isn’t it more serious when teenagers broach their adult years already dedicated to hate?

* * *

Yesterday and today WILM’s John Watson has advocated using a racial profile (do they appear to be from the Middle East?) for searching subway riders. His reasoning: some people of Middle Eastern dissent are known to present a threat to subway riders.

WRONG. Few if any Middle Easterners have committed acts of terrorism on USA subways. But many white men have committed acts of violence on subways. There’s been no word from Watson on profiling them.

* * *

This morning Watson spoke favorably of the free-speech hating measures of George Bush’s poodle:

Tony Blair today announced new measures to deport religious extremists who incite hatred.

The prime minister said the government was launching a short one-month consultation on new grounds for excluding and deporting people from the United Kingdom. They would include fostering hatred, advocating violence to further a person's beliefs or justifying or validating such violence. (link)

Blair particularly hates what some people read:

Once the new grounds take effect, there will be a list drawn up of specific extremist websites, bookshops, centres, networks and particular organisations of concern," Mr Blair said. "Active engagement with any of these will be a trigger for the home secretary to consider the deportation of any foreign national." (link)

But Blair’s hatred includes more than immigrants:

Existing powers to strip people of their British nationality if they act against the interests of this country could be extended to apply to naturalised citizens involved in extremism, he added. (link)

Clearly, the rightwing has ample hatred for anyone who isn’t like them.

Code Orange Ozone AdvisoryCalled For Friday, August 05, 2005

Poor air quality will again cause problems for sensitive groups as thereis predicted to be a marginal exceedance of the ozone standard.Ground-level Ozone is forecasted to be at unhealthful levels for sensitivechildren and adults and people with respiratory ailments. This is not anotification for an Ozone Action Day, but the ozone levels are expected torise to a level that is still important to your health and well-being.

Also: Excessive heat warning remains in effect today... Afternoon heat indices 100f to 105f...(http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=19731)

* * * *

Some more info on ozone from Green Delaware:Ozone is unlike most other air pollutants in that it is usually not discharged directly into the air. Rather, ozone "precursors" are emitted and they mix and react with oxygen in the ambient air to produce the ozone. Two main classes of ozone precursors are recognized: "volatile organic compounds" (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen ("NOx"). (The "x" refers to the fact that oxygen and nitrogen combine in different proportions: N2O, NO2, etc.)

VOCs have a wide variety of origins: The evaporate from fuel tanks and organic liquid storage tanks. They are emitted when fuel is incompletely burned. They come from drying paint and fingernail polish and many industrial processes using solvents.

NOx comes mainly from combustion and some high-temperature industrial processes. These include gas and diesel engines, power plants belonging to our friends Conectiv and NRC, and home furnaces and gas stoves. (four-fifths of our air is nitrogen, and when this air is used to burn fuel in a furnace or engine, some small proportion of this nitrogen is also "burned" into NOx.)

The extent to which these compounds react and cook up ozone depends greatly on sunlight, temperature, and wind. This is why ozone is not usually considered a problem in winter, and why hot sunny days are when we get our ozone alerts.

Overall, key causes of ozone are cars and trucks, along with big dirty power plants.Bear in mind that these are simplified comments on a subject that can be made almost infinitely complex.

Alan Muller

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Delaware Man Busted for Yard Plant & Chicken

It was growing like a weed, and in fact, it was "weed". County Police say they found a marijuana plant growing in a back yard in New Castle, and the homeowner faces charges. Police say they found a large pot plant in Jamie Ramirez' yard Monday afternoon, after they were tipped off that the plant was there. Not only was the 122-gram plant in the back yard, but an officer also found a live chicken walking around the home's kitchen. Ramirez is free on bail after his arraignment on charges of manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a dwelling, endangering the welfare of a child, and keeping a prohibited animal in a residential area. (link)

Democracy as Gesture (Part 1): The Cherry Island Permit Modification Hearing*

I had been in bed sick nearly the entire day and I had almost convinced myself not to attend the Cherry Island Permit Modification Hearing scheduled that night. But when my wife brought home our 15-month-old son from daycare at 5:15 that afternoon, I changed my mind.

We reside in Belfonte, just a few short miles from the Cherry Island Landfill, clearly within stench distance of the landfill. My son has asthma and the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) wants to expand the dump, to make it higher. Sick or not, I had to go and make my view known.

I was surprised at the number of people in attendance. In my view, the News Journal low-balled the number of attendees. They said 50. WILM placed the number at 75 and WDEL at 100. My estimate is somewhere between 75 and 100.

The number of attendees was remarkable for a couple reasons. First, DNREC, which must review DSWA’s proposal to expand the dump, did little to advertise the public hearing. But that’s not a biggie to Delawareans because it’s pro forma for DNREC.

Second, it’s August for God’s sake. Many people are taking vacations. Some accused DNREC of deliberately scheduling the meeting for August in order to reduce the number of attendees…the number of those who would almost certainly resist expanding the dump. The accusers are probably correct. The state government in Delaware is notorious for pulling these kinds of shenanigans. For example, Delaware used to schedule its executions during the early evenings. The problem for the government was that many protestors against the death penalty would stand outside the barbed-wire at the correctional facility in Smyrna and sing, chant, hold up their signs and candles, etc. I know. I was one of them. TV cameras would record the protests and it became embarrassing to Delaware. So the Delaware Legislature passed a law in 1994, which then Governor Thomas Carper signed, mandating that executions occur between 12:01 – 3:00 AM. Delaware is quite adept at marginalizing democratic dissent through scheduling.

Mr. Robert Haynes, the DNREC Hearing Officer for the event, began by stating the purpose of the hearing, introducing the parties in the hearing (DNREC & DSWA, although he later denied that there were any parties) and introducing a few DNREC employees in the crowd. During this time, veteran activists began to make various motions and ask a variety of questions about procedure, most of which Mr. Haynes said he would deal with later. A few of these motions/questions were significant because they go to the heart of how the Delaware government stifles democracy.

Consider this example. The DSWA application is 13 volumes in size, most of which DNREC has placed online and has distributed to various local libraries. It’s a huge application. All 13 volumes/binders sat on the stage during the meeting. Before the meeting various individuals and advocacy groups submitted written objections to expanding the dump. Now from where I was sitting in the auditorium (about three-quarters toward the back) the citizen submissions didn’t even make a noticeable pile on Mr. Haynes table. Someone asked Mr. Haynes if he would place these submissions online along with DSWA’s application and place them in the libraries as well. From what I could hear, Mr. Haynes didn’t make any response to the request to place the submitted objections online, but he specifically expressed reluctance about providing libraries with the submitted objections because he didn’t want to “burden libraries with too much paper” (or words to that effect). Probably needless to say, Mr. Haynes comments brought peals of cynical laughter. He seemed (I hope sincerely) perplexed. Alan Muller of Green Delaware then rose to explain the point Mr. Haynes evidently was missing: after DNREC provides libraries with 13 volumes of paper from the DSWA, it is hardly troubling to libraries to also receive a handful of written objections from citizens.

Although Mr. Haynes’ reflexive reluctance to provide libraries with this additional material is ludicrous and indefensible, it is also telling about how the state government instinctually ranks opportunities for free speech. If the “speaker” is a member of the ruling elite (a government organization, corporation, individuals speaking on their behalf, etc.), then such speakers cannot possibly have too much free speech (even 13 volumes of it) and the government must do everything it can reasonably do to distribute this speech (e.g. placing all of it online and in libraries). But if the “speaker” is a not member of the ruling elite or, worse yet, is someone speaking contrary to their interests, then such speakers must have their free speech limited in length, topically narrowed by various rules (even ad hoc ones, to be discussed in a future part), and the government has no comparable obligation to widely distribute their speech. In short, non-elite and, especially, anti-elite speech are merely tolerated.

By allowing some confined free speech, the government can create the illusion that dissenting Delawareans have as much free speech as anyone else. But by carefully managing it and limiting its distribution, the government can marginalize the speech of dissenting Delawareans and encumber its effectiveness. I must give it to them. That is quite ingenious.

_________________________
* More to come. I intend to obsess on this meeting for a while.

Poem: "Why There Can Be No More Chinese Departure Poems"

Why There Can Be No More Chinese Departure Poems

by Dana Garrett

Under the digital blue theater sign outside the mall,
White faces stream out behind us.
Here we must offer our “Later” and “Yea, later,”
And trek a thousand feet of parking lot in broken glass.

Mind dizzy like a video arcade.
Headlights diverge off distant onramps.
If we can’t meet here tomorrow,
I’ll try your beeper, or cellular, or send e-mail.

____________________________
Published in the Homestead Review, Volume 17, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2001

PUBLIC WARNING: Code Red Ozone Action Day Thursday, August 04, 2005

This message is brought to you by DNREC's Air Quality Management Section and the Department of Health and Social Services' Division of PublicHealth, to advise you that Thursday, August 04, 2005 has been identifiedas an Ozone Action Day!!

DELAWARE'S AIR WILL EXPERIENCE HIGH LEVELS OFUNHEALTHFUL OZONE. [ ...]

In addition:Excessive heat warning in effect through Friday...

Afternoon heat indices near 100 today and 100 to 105 on Friday... Possible record breaking high temperatures this afternoon...(http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=19731)

Some simple background on ozone from Green Delaware:

Most people know that about one-fifth of our air is made up of oxygen, a gas existing as paired oxygen atoms (02). Oxygen is a reactive gas--that's why it supports combustion and why we breathe it to help power our biochemical systems. Oxygen also has it's physiological downside, which is why "antioxidants" are considered beneficial to eat.Ozone is O3--three oxygen atoms linked together. Ozone is more reactive than ordinary oxygen. It has a "sharp" odor associated with electrical equipment, laser printers and "Xerox" copiers, and lightning. This is because high voltage electric fields tend to cause ordinary oxygen molecules to rearrange themselves into ozone.Ozone is more reactive that ordinary oxygen. It has it uses--mostly as a powerful disinfectant. For example, ozone can be used instead of chlorine to treat drinking water. It also damages human lungs, crops, wildlife, and so on. For this reason it has been regulated as an air pollutant for many years. (Here we are talking about "ground level" ozone. Ozone in the upper atmosphere is considered beneficial because it absorbs ultraviolet radiation that causes skin cancer and other harmful effects. Human tampering with Earth's atmosphere has both reduced the beneficial high level ozone--creating the famous "ozone holes" over arctic and antarctic regions--and increased the harmful ground level ozone.)

For many years Delaware has been in violation of the "National Ambient Air Quality Standard" for ozone and is supposed to be trying to correct that situation. (That is why DNREC sends out "Ozone Alerts.") Some of Delaware's ozone originates within the state, but some of it blows into Delaware, especially from the Baltimore-Washington area.

More with the next Ozone Alert, expected for tomorrow. (Alan Muller)

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Bush Takes Vacation #49

• 49: the number of vacations that Bush has taken since he was inaugurated in 2001

• 5: the number of weeks that Bush will spend on vacation, starting yesterday. It is the longest presidential vacation in at least 36 years.

• 319: August 3, 2005 was the 319th day Bush has spent on vacation since his 2001 inauguration.

• 20%: the percentage of Bush's presidency he has spent on vacation

Did anyone seriously think that Bush would stop acting like a rich man simply because he became the president? (link)

Biden Would Run with McCain on the Presidential Ticket

Too Bizarre to Be Believed: The Delaware Republican “Howard Dean Scream Contest”

It had been several years since I had been to the Delaware State Fair. Fairs are not my cup of tea so it mattered little to me if I ever returned. My wife, a Delaware native, had never attended the fair—hard to believe but true. But we attended the fair this year. I just had to see the “Howard Dean Scream Contest” held by the Delaware Republican Party.

I learned of the contest from listening to WILM’s John Watson News Talk AM program. I wondered what kind of person would be sufficiently tasteless to participate in such a contest. That Watson intended to be one of the judges of the event wasn’t surprising as nearly anyone would attest who regularly listens to his program. Tastelessness is effortless for a man who routinely dismisses the suffering experienced by the Middle Eastern prisoners tortured in Guantanamo Bay as “discomfort.” But the contestants…I wondered about them.

As I walked through the fairgrounds dwelling on these weighty matters, it didn’t take long to recognize evidence of the kind of mentality that would consider participating in the contest as an important political statement.

The Republican Party’s statement began at the entrance to the event. This jackass—the Democratic donkey, I presume—greeted everyone as they entered. Later, when the event needed warm bodies as participants, the jackass became a contestant.

There were 10 contestants in all. It’s easy to be deceived by the number. Apparently, a fair number of people had signed up for the event but didn’t show. About 4 contestants in all had both signed up for the event and participated in it. The rest were solicited from the crowd. 2 were children, 2-3 (including the jackass) were part of the staff, and the rest joined the event only after State Auditor Tom Wagner, one of the contest judges, promised to buy people scrapple sandwiches if they participated.

I suspect the event lacked participants principally because it was poorly attended. It certainly had more of an audience than did Mike Gallagher’s Wilmington book signing event. But that perhaps sets too low a standard for the Delaware Republicans.

A television sat on the stage and played Howard Dean’s speech and scream on a continuous loop. Contestants were admonished to try to emulate Dean’s performance. No mention was made of the fact that Dean was “[f]orced to shout over the cheers of his enthusiastic audience” and

Dean didn't realize the crowd noise was being filtered out by his unidirectional microphone, leaving only his full-throated exhortations audible to the television viewers. To those at home, it sounded as if he was raising his voice out of sheer emotion. Recordings from within the crowd made it clear that Dean was shouting in order to be heard over the cheers of the crowd. (link)

Had they mentioned this fact, I would have thought better of the event. That would have made the event a harmless joke. But they didn’t mention it, transforming the “joke” into a misleading political smear about Dean. Accuracy and fairness in reporting was not a priority for this event. Speaking of which, here is a photograph of John Watson at the event.

In the end there were three winners. The Delaware Republican Party website identifies them:

Nathan Robinson of Newark was judged to have the most "Lack of Poise," Mary Ellen Landry of Dover delivered the "Loudest Scream," and Grant Russell of Hockessin won the award for "Quality of Insane, Agry [sic] Ranting." (link)

The proud winners won a book by Newt Gingrich and DVD about him as well.

My wife didn’t watch the contestants with me. An animal lover, she was more interested in witnessing other contestants. I leave it to the reader to decide if there was really a significant difference.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Bush Supports Teaching Theology as Science

Bishop James Usher knew when God created everything: on the evening preceding October 23, 4004 BC. What a pity he couldn’t be more exact.

Nevertheless our erudite President George Bush believes the latest version of this mumbo-jumbo (“Intelligent Design”) should be taught in public schools alongside scientific theories like evolution:

WASHINGTON - President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and "intelligent design" Monday, saying schools should teach both theories on the creation and complexity of life.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters, Bush essentially endorsed efforts by Christian conservatives to give intelligent design equal standing with the theory of evolution in the nation's schools….

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

The National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have both concluded that there's no scientific basis for intelligent design and oppose its inclusion in school science classes.

"The claim that equity demands balanced treatment of evolutionary theory and special creation in science classrooms reflects a misunderstanding of what science is and how it is conducted," the academy said in a 1999 assessment. "Creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science." (link)

Public Notice: Important Cherry Island Landfill Meeting Continues Tonight

From Christina Wirtz of DNREC:

Please note that the public hearing for the Cherry Island Landfill permit modifications will be continued tonight at DNREC's Lukens office building located at 391 Lukens Drive in New Castle, DE. The hearing will start at 6:00 PM. You may park in the lot surrounding the building, and enter from the back of the building. Here's a link with a map showing the location:

http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&ed=xyLzQ.p_0TpInkWW4LTCRvWmIa73f9AY

8VQt3K3NBa5sFaPpsg2xitZZDmV4&csz=New+Castle,+DE+19720&country=us

* * * *

Last night's garbage hearing began at a few minutes after 6:00 and lasted until almost 11:00. Still, dozens of people didn't get to speak against the dump, so the hearing was continued.

People had to endure delaying presentations and insulting, patronizing behavior from Hearing Officer Robert Haynes. (Haynes, on the other hand, sucked up to the DSWA's lawyer from the firm of Parkowski.)

People were passionate, well-informed, and determined to have their say. No one--not a single person--spoke in favor of expanding the dump. (People listening to WILM and WDEL may have heard an interview with a probably-planted dump supporter and gotten a misleading impression.) A compelling presentation was made by Jake Kreshtool, dean of Delaware environmentalists. (Kreshtool was rudely cut off by Haynes.) Linda Whaley made this writer a tee shirt saying "Dirty Sloppy Waste Authority."

A sign visible in the room said "Recycle Vasuki." Another said "DSWA lies--insults communities."

The permit is opposed by DSWA's OWN LANDFILL GAS CONTRACTORS, Cherry Island Landfill Gas Company and Cereza Energy. Their lawyer R. J. Skaggs accused the DSWA of failing to design and operate the dump properly, and showed dramatic pictures of exposed garbage, burning garbage, flooded areas, and other problems. (These parties are in litigation with DSWA.)

Anger at Hearing Officer Haynes was general.

One person emailed us: "I rarely feel violent, but I wanted to kick Hayne's butt. How dare that asshole cut anyone off when they are making a perfectly valid point."

Another person called the hearing "completely appalling." Another told us "I've probably been to 2000 hearings and I've never seen anything like this."
(For years it has been a policy of the Minner administration to reduce public participation in public hearings, replacing real inquiry into the merits of permits with dog and pony shows.)

Many expected voices were missing.

No public officials spoke. No one spoke from People's Settlement Association or the Kingswood Community Center. No one from the Delaware "Nature" Society or the Delaware Audubon Society spoke. Some may have had to leave before they could speak. Hopefully these and other voices will be heard tonight.

Some letters were put into the record but Haynes refused to make these readily available. Only one was read out--this was from Wilmington Mayor "Bully" Baker and appeared to support both the dump and an incinerator.

People were asking for the record to be held open for at least sixty days, but Haynes appeared to be refusing.

ACTION:

If you are able to appear and testify tonight, please do so. Public comment and questions will probably begin fairly promptly.

Comments for the record can also be sent via Green Delaware.

Contact Governor Minner's office (800.292.9570) and ask that:

o the public be treated with respect at public hearings;

o ASK THAT THE RECORD BE KEPT OPEN AT LEAST SIXTY DAYS;

o Ask your elected representatives to take a stand.

Green Delaware is a community based organization working on environment and public health issues. We try to provide information you can use. Please use it. Do you want to continue receiving information from Green Delaware? Please consider contributing or volunteering. Reach us at 302.834.3466, greendel@dca.net, www.greendel.org, Box 69, Port Penn, DE, USA, 19731-0069

Public Announcement: Another Code Orange Bad Air Alert

A high ozone alert today for Delaware, especially troublesome for those with extant respitory problems. More important details here:

http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/dnrec2000/ozoneadvisory.asp

The New Official Enemy: USA Born Immigrant Children

Always hungry, hate requires new enemies. Now it’s the USA born children of Middle Eastern immigrant children:

Terrorism investigators worry particularly about the American-born children of immigrants from countries known to harbor international terrorists or their training camps. An ability to move easily between cultures, and to travel widely on U.S. passports, would give such citizens a unique set of skills should they pursue terrorist intentions.

"These are second-generation Americans, people who grew up here, were educated here or were raised in this country and are now adopting this extremist view, and are now viewing their home country as the enemy," said Joseph Billy Jr., who heads the FBI's international counter-terrorism operations. (link)

The article nowhere discusses how USA Middle East policy breeds terrorism even though Pentagon’s Defense Science Board determined last year that was precisely the cause:

‘Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.’ (link)

But hate requires no self-responsibility.
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Addendum

Yesterday in England:

A black A-level student from Huyton, Merseyside, England has been murdered with an axe in what police have called a racist crime. He was 18 years old. Over 800 racist and religious hate incidents have been reported in London since July 7, a sharp increase from before the bombings. A hooded white man in his 20s directed a torrent of racist abuse at Anthony Walker who was at a bus stop outside the Huyton Park pub where Walker waited with his white girlfriend and cousin. The three walked away from the racial abuse without retaliating, but a gang of up to four white men caught up with them as they crossed McGoldrick Park. Mr. Walker's girlfriend and cousin ran to get help. When they returned, they found Mr. Walker on the ground with an axe embedded in his skull. (link)

Bush Gets a Wake-Up Call for King’s Death

Last night Saudi Arabia's King Fahd died at 2:30 a.m. EDT. He was 84 years of age. “President Bush was alerted within minutes of Fahd's death” (link). Given that Bush isn’t known for insomnia, he was probabkly awakened to be told the news. The contrast between the immediacy of notifying Bush of the long-ailing Fahd’s death and failing to tell him immediately earlier this year during a bike ride that an airplane was believed to have been on a suicide mission flight path toward Washington DC couldn’t be starker.

OPEC and oil future speculators commemorated the king’s life by raising crude oil prices to $61 a barrel, a two-week high on a price already inflated by more than 40% during the last year. Although analysts cited possible “unsettled markets” resulting from the king’s death as the pretext for raising the price, King Fahd has been little more than a figurehead ruler since his stroke in 1995. Crown Prince Abdullah, the king's 81-year-old half-brother, has ruled the country since 1995 and he is now the new monarch of the kingdom. He is not expected to change his own oil export policy because his brother died (link). Bush is a close friend of Abdullah and frequently holds his hand…not that there is anything wrong with that.

Although President Bush won’t be attending the funeral, the White House will send a delegation to the event. It’s not clear which, if any, members of the Bush oil barons’ family are likely to attend the King’s funeral as well, although, health permitting, Daddy Bush is a virtual certainty.

(click image to enlarge)