GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Wednesday, April 29, 2009Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgAny attempt by the White House to limit investigation will be an obstruction of justice, say Greens; Witness Against Torture protests planned for April 30Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on related issueshttp://www.gp.org/speakersWASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders called on Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to investigate evidence of torture and punish any and all Bush White House officials who broke the law. Greens urged President Obama to release all torture memos.”Political considerations have no place in this matter. The Department of Justice — which is authorized to act independently of the White House — must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate who broke the law and approved the use of torture,” said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Lavender Green Caucus (http://www.lavendergreens.us).Greens named several former White House officials who have been implicated in evidence already published: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, counsel John Yoo, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney, and President Bush. Some Greens plan to participate in the ‘100 Days to Close Guantanamo and End Torture!’ demonstrations (http://www.100dayscampaign.org) planned for Thursday, April 30, an event initiated by Witness Against Torture (http://www.witnesstorture.org).Green Party leaders noted that some Democratic (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Intelligence Committee chair David Rockefeller, and former House Intelligence chair Jane Harman) and Republican members of Congress were allegedly informed about the use of torture, and said that their silence and failure to object should be investigated as well.”President Obama has said that ‘[n]othing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.’ On the contrary, the President’s oath of office requires that he uphold the law. If he tries to discourage the Justice Department from investigation and prosecution, he is abusing his own power as President and obstructing justice. Any attempt by the White House to immunize those who ordered, allowed, or participated in torture would violate international laws and agreements, especially the Convention Against Torture signed by President Reagan in 1988 (http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html),” said Phil Huckelberry, Co-Chair of the Green Party of the United States.The Green Party, which lists nonviolence among its key values, categorically opposes the use of torture under any circumstances. Greens listed several urgent reasons to investigate and prosecute officials allegedly involved in torture:Torture violates US and international law. In the past, US and international courts have punished war criminals for waterboarding prisoners, establishing an inescapable precedent.The use of torture has damaged the US’s standing in the world and motivated greater hostility against Americans: how many US military personnel were killed or maimed in Iraq by those enraged by the Abu Ghraib abuses? International revulsion over torture may have made US allies less willing to cooperate with the US, thus reducing the US’s ability to gather intelligence. Some of the damage can be repaired by punishing those responsible for torture.Torture places US troops and other personnel at risk of similar retaliatory treatment if captured.The circumstances of Abu Zubaydah’s treatment, including 83 instances of waterboarding in August, 2002, suggest that torture might have been used to extract “evidence” of collusion between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda in order to justify the US invasion of Iraq. No genuine evidence of such an alliance existed, but the Bush Administration’s deceptions led to a bipartisan vote in Congress in October, 2002, transferring war power to the White House in violation of the US Constitution.Torture has never been a reliable way to gain information. Under torture in Syria, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi’s words were used to support the US invasion of Iraq, despite questions of credibility and his later admission that the information was fabricated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Shaykh_al-Libi). Information extracted through torture is especially unreliable in the ‘ticking bomb’ situations that Bush officials have been used to justify it. However, whether torture works is besides the point; Mr. Cheney’s claims that such methods protected Americans lack credibility in light of his past deceptions.Historically, torture has often been employed by lawless governments less to gain information than to create terror among targeted populations. Continued torture of some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay after they were known to be innocent is consistent with torture for this purpose. Under George W. Bush, the US joined the list of terrorist states around the world.The use of torture cannot be separated from other Bush Administration abuses of power and violations of the US Constitution and international law (deceptions to win support for the invasion of Iraq, ‘preemptive’ military aggression, warrantless surveillance of US citizens), or from the Bush-Cheney doctrine of ‘unitary executive power’ placing the president above the law.White House crimes that go unpunished are a license for future administrations to commit similar crimes, and new ones too.MORE INFORMATIONGreen Party of the United States http://www.gp.org202-319-7191, 866-41GREENFax 202-319-7193Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.htmlGreen candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.phpGreen candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtmlGreen Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtmlGreen Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakersGreen Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-electionsGreen Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United Stateshttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

Even if this story is proven erroneous, and I have not seen any sign of that, what about the question of this flu virus’ hybrid lineage? What about how chicken factory farming on the Eastern Shore is polluting the Chesapeake Bay? Flu source or no flu source, unsustainable agriculture is ecological disaster.

Excellent post by local blogger Cats Working!

We all need to put Pelosi on notice. Tell the Republicrats we are sick and tired and are not going to take it any more!

SINGLE PAYER NOW!

Dahr Jamail | And So It Goes …http://www.truthout.org/042709R Dahr Jamail, Truthout: “Last week found Iraq swimming in blood once again. Attacks last Thursday brought the worst violence Iraq has seen in over a year, with at least 96 Iraqis killed and 157 wounded in two massive suicide bombings. Over 35 bombings have rocked Baghdad this month alone. There appears to be no end in sight for the escalating violence.” 

Iceland, like the United States, has been hit hard by economic turmoil. This weekend the people there affirmed their champions for reform, the Left-Green party.

by Ralph Nader

“No more fine print; no more confusing terms and conditions.” This is what Barack Obama told a White House gathering of leading credit card issuers this week.Right afterward, President Obama told the press that “there has to be strong and reliable protections for consumers, protections that ban unfair rate increases and forbid abusive fees and penalties.”

This soaring rhetoric places a heavy burden on Mr. Obama to stand up to the giant power of the credit card bosses and their monetized allies on Capitol Hill. Yet he has shown little interest in re-instating a Presidential consumer advisor as did Lyndon Johnson with the formidable Betty Furness and as did Jimmy Carter with the legendary Esther Peterson.Deep recession times are tough for the nation’s over 200 million consumers. Still, no consumer voice in the White House, though consumer groups asked Mr. Obama to move promptly on this tiny advocacy office months ago.The corporate chieftains have easy access to the White House and the new President, whether these bosses come on missions demanding power or missions of beggary for bailouts. When will he meet with the leading heads of consumer protection groups with millions of dues-paying members who could give him the base to hold accountable and regulate the democracy-denying, economy-wrecking corporate supremacists?“Where’s the Backbone?” asked Ruth Marcus, the usually-restrained lawyer-columnist for The Washington Post. On April 15, 2009 she wrote: “When will President Obama fight, and when will he fold? That’s not entirely clear—and I’m beginning to worry that there may be a little too much presidential inclination to crumple.” Ms. Marcus asserts that “for all the chest-thumping about making hard choices and taking on entrenched interests, there has been disturbingly little evidence of the new president’s willingness to do that.” This is the case even with his allies in Congress, never mind his adversaries.Just four days later, The New York Times weighed in with a page one news article that said President Obama “is well known for bold proposals that have raised expectations, but his administration has shown a tendency for compromise and caution, and even a willingness to capitulate on some early initiatives. …His early willingness to deal or fold has left commentators, and some loyal Democrats, wondering: ‘Where’s the fight?’” Like the Post, the Times gave examples.It is not as if Mr. Obama is lacking in public opinion support. Overall he has a 65% approval rating. People know he inherited a terrible situation here and abroad from the Bush regime and they want action. Large majorities believe America is declining, that there is too much corporate control over their lives, and that the two parties have been failing the American people.But the President’s personality is not one to challenge concentrated power. A Zogby poll reports that only six percent of the public supports the financial bailouts for Wall Street. The vast majority of people do not think the bailouts are fair.The upcoming 100 day mark for the Obama administration is a customary time for evaluations by the politicos, the pundits, and the civic community. While his supporters can point to the pay-equity law for women, more health insurance for poor children, and a $787 billion economic stimulus enactment, the general appraisal by the liberal-progressive intelligentsia is decidedly mixed and gentle with undiluted hope.Mr. Obama nourishes these mixed feelings. He showed some courage when he agreed, as part of an ongoing court case, to release the four torture memos written by Bush’s Justice Department. Graphic photos of prisoner treatment in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be released next week. Yet Obama came out against a Truth Commission regarding the alleged crimes of the Bush regime and said he would “look forward and not look back.” For Obama that means immunity for anyone from the Bush Administration who may have violated the criminal laws of the land. It is remarkable to read those oft-repeated words by lawyer Obama. Law enforcement is about looking back into the past. Investigation and prosecution obviously deals with crimes that have already occurred. That’s the constitutional duty of the President.After 100 days it is far too early to render many judgments about Obama. One can, however, evaluate his major appointments—heavily Clintonite and corporate. One can also look at what he hasn’t gotten underway at all—such as labor law reform, a living wage, and citizen empowerment.Next Monday, the Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org) releases a detailed report card on Obama’s first 100 days titled “Thirsting for a Change.” While The Nation held a panel discussion on April 22 in Washington, D.C., the panelists largely gave Obama the benefit of the doubt so far, and declared that only grassroots mobilizing will move him forward on such matters as “single-payer” health care, corporate abuse, and the demilitarization of our foreign policy and our federal budget.Panelist William Grieder coined the phrase “independent formulations” to describe the citizen action needed.It is important to note that a transforming President has to ask for and encourage this pressure from the citizenry, much as Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in the 1930s.

From the Daily Reckoning :

04/24/09 Tampa Bay, Florida My eyes fell upon the opening sentence, as I thought that the New York Post was asking a comical question, “How absurd is the price of health care in New York City?” which I thought would be followed by a comical retort, such as, “So high that it makes you sick!” Hahaha!

Unfortunately, I got it all wrong, which I would have known if I had taken the time to read past the headline, “In$ure Poorhouse” to the subhead, “Health Rates Now More Than Rents.”

Anyway, the news is that “It now costs more to buy health insurance than it does to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the Financial District,” which would seem to be signs of serious inflation in healthcare!

Well, not being from New York, I naturally assumed that the Financial District was a dangerous, low-rent slum of some kind, populated (as it is) by lowlife, lying, thieving scumbags stealing everyone blind with trading to rack up fees and expenses while yammering their “invest for the long-term” idiocies.

If so, I can see how rents would be low, low, low, given the low character of the neighborhood denizens, and so for health insurance premiums to exceed that pittance was not very newsworthy. Wrong!

The Post reports, “The average monthly premium for family health coverage has soared from $3,866 last April to $4,354 – a 13 percent increase – according to a Post analysis of new data from the state Insurance Department,” while the monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Financial District was $3,947, in a “no-doorman building downtown.”

The highest monthly health insurance premiums for a family were pushing almost $7,000 a month! A month!

The Green Party solution, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is single payer health care. It would control the inflation of health care costs and set standards of care. Of course it would create some other problems, but IMHO, it is still a worthwhile goal because it would give every American a basic modicum of care. The overwhelming majority of countries in the world already use single payer health care systems.

Sample ballot for (City of) Richmond citizens:

What is the best use of Shockoe Bottom (please rank in preference just as you are NOT allowed to do for Presidential candidates)?

1) More mixed use of residential commercial
2) City parkland and green space (help control flooding)
3) City bus transfer station
4) High speed rail hub and multimodal transportation center
5) Slave history museum
6) minor league baseball park
7) more bars and restaurants
8  farmer’s market
9) more high end condos

LibertyUndergroundNews :“We now know that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was aware of the wiretap on Congresswoman Jane Harman three years ago, as The Hill announces this morning that “the plot thickens.”  The Democratic leadership, it appears, was in on it. Harman is under fire following news reports that she was recorded on a previously secret National Security Agency wiretap offering to help two lobbyists suspected of espionage for Israel, in exchange for their helping Harman win the Intelligence chair position. The suspected Israeli agents reportedly boasted to Harman that Nancy Pelosi was enraged when threatened that her campaign financing would be cut off if she didn’t appoint Harman as Intelligence Chair. An article earlier this week in CQ Politics said an investigation into whether Harman had made the deal with the suspected Israeli agents was quashed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales because he wanted her help in defending the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. On NPR we heard Harman say she was outraged that she had been wiretapped.  Ironically, as the leading Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, she approved the Bush wiretapping program, in violation of the Fourth amendment.  She apparently feels us peasants can be spied on, but not her.”